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Technology UpdateLast semester, Yale Herald Online ran several pieces on new technological features in place at Yale, and a few that were still in the works. This week, we take a look back at three of these features—online sports broadcasting, the classes.yale.edu server, and online applications—and investigate the progress that Yale has made in each area.Yale games on the 'net
This winter, if you can't make it out to all the Yale hockey or basketball games, you can tune in on the 'net. Broadcast.com, a company that specializes in airing sporting, entertainment, and other special events over the Internet, has an exclusive deal with WYBC 1340 AM, which broadcasts a selection of Yale winter sports. However, Yale alumni and students looking to get live reports from games not on WYBC-AM's broadcast schedule will have to search through broadcast.com and see if the company's other collegiate partners, such as Princeton and Columbia are showing their games against Yale on the broadcast.com site. Also, Yale still has a contract with Teamline, a phone service that costs $30 for each sports broadcast. Next fall, however, things may change with Yale sports on the Internet. Steve Conn, director of Yale Sports Publicity Office, has been trying to negotiate a deal with broadcast.com since the 1998 fall season. "We've made a lot of progress...it's a good situation," Conn said, indicating that broadcast.com has presented a contract for the exclusive rights to air Yale sports, including WELI 960 AM's broadcasts of football games, as well as WYBC coverage. However, the Yale administration, according to Conn, is reluctant to enter any sort of exclusive arrangement. In the meantime, Conn is also considering other means to broaden sports coverage, including hiring some staff to broadcast games over a phone. Broadcast.com, or another radio station, could then pick up this phoned-in broadcast. "We may try to expand the sports coverage," said Conn, but added that that the phone broadcasts would not pan out "unless there's someone who's willing to do it." In the meantime, set your web browser to broadcast.com, your radio to WYBC AM, and cheer for your favorite Yale team.
Classes.yale.edu shows increases use, but students are unimpressed.
Classes.yale.edu, the new system created by Yale Information Technology Services that allows teachers to put up websites for their classes, returned this semester with 74 percent more class web pages, and three times as many students logging in. There are now 1,553 students on the system, with 130 new students singing on daily. Last fall, 37 classes had a main webpage, but this term 50 do. However, even more may be using newsgroups or file transfers, but without creating a web page. Edward W. Kairiss, director of Instructional Computing at Academic Computing Services explains that the server was promoted through word of mouth, directly to teachers using other servers, and via a newsletter mailed to all instructors. "Feedback generally has been very enthusiastic as well as helpful in improving the system," Kairiss said. Yet, some students expressed dissapointment that not all classes at Yale were available on the classes.yale.edu server. One student also questioned why there was a seperate classes server when many professors still use their departmental servers for class websites. John Brittingham, BK '00, became a new user this semester, as he logged in to access the web page for his Macroeconomics class. "The page is very convienient, but my econ class is my only class up there," Brittingham said. "It's a good page, but I don't really see why they made a separate webserver for it."
Online apps appear underutilized This fall, the office of Undergraduate Admission at Yale launched an online application. Prospective studetns for the class of 2003 could fill out the first parts of their applications online. However, only a small percentage of applicants opted to use the service. Out of 12,300 applications submitted this year to Yale, 416 had their initial portions submitted on line. Margit Dahl, the Director of Undergraduate Admissions, explained that the office did not really have any predictions about the use of the online application. However, the staff did appreciate the time saved on data entry and the paperwork involved with traditional applications. "We really had no idea what to expect this year, and I'd be very surprised if the number of on-line applications didn't go up quite a bit next year," Dahl said. "But even this 416 represents a great deal of data entry time saved this year."
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All materials © 1999 The Yale Herald, Inc., and its staff.
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