Canadian university says no to Wi-Fi over health concerns
In recent years, laptops have increasingly become the computerof choice for college and graduate students. The advantages areobvious: you can take notes in class or work on a term paper in thelibrary. Best of all, you can usually surf, chat, and check e-mailfrom just about anywhere on campus, thanks to nearly ubiquitousWi-Fi networks. That is, unless you’re a student at LakeheadUniversity in Thunder Bay.
Citing the possibility of health risks associated with the usageof Wi-Fi networks, Lakehead University president Fred Gilbertrefuses to sign off on their campus-wide installation.
Noting a California Public Utilities Commission study which saidthat the possible risk of tumors and other diseases due to exposureto electromagnetic fields (EMFs) needs to be further investigated,Gilbert says he’s going to hold off on the installation of acampus-wide Wi-Fi network.
Currently, Lakehead has a handful of Wi-Fi access points, butthose are only installed at places where there is no wiredaccess.
Read the full story by PC enthusiast Eric Bangeman here http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060222-6235.html
University of Windsor goes wide with wireless
When the University of Windsor decided to make its entire campuswireless, help was needed to actually get the network up andrunning.
The university partnered with Bell Canada last August to managethe project. There was an urgency to quickly set up the wirelessnetwork and a lack of in-house IT staff to quickly do itthemselves.
Why the rush?
“The university had a strategic imperative to make the campus alearning centre geared toward the students and wireless fitted thattheme,” said Roger Lauzon, University of Windsor’s executivedirector of information and technology services.
Marketing also played a part, he said.
“You want to attract and retain students because they are comingin looking for wireless (connectivity) and asking, ‘Do you havewireless access and how much access do you have?'” Lauzon said.
Initially, the university planned to roll out its wirelessnetwork over three years, but that new requirements demanded thatit be done much sooner — within five months, according toLauzon.
Read the full story by IT World Canada’s Vanessa Ho here http://www.itworldcanada.com/Pages/Docbase/ViewArticle.aspx?id=idgml-b8a19dbf-631e-423f
Mitel, University of Ottawa bridging nation’s past to itspresent
Press Release
Herndon, Virginia-based Mitel, the University of Ottawa andother top universities have teamed up to complete a task that hasas much to do with history as it is historic itself.
The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure (CCRI), a five-yearpan-Canadian initiative, will employ Mitel IP communications toenable researchers from seven universities across Canada tocollaborate in an effort to address an as yet unanswered question:What characteristics, processes and circumstances explain themaking of modern Canada?
Centrally administered at the University of Ottawa under thedirection of team leader Dr. Chad Gaffield, the goal of the projectis to build databases from documentary records and manuscriptcensus reports for the period of 1911 to 1951. The periods of 1871to 1911, as well as 1971 to 2001 have already been placed indatabases, leaving a mysterious gap in the unfinished bridge to thenation’s past.
To enable the diverse group of colleagues to work together onthe project while being geographically scattered, the team calledon Mitel to connect them in a fashion that until recently wouldhave been very difficult.
The result enables researchers at the University of Victoria;York University; the University of Toronto; the Universit