Sitting in his glass-enclosed Science Center office, surrounded by all the newest techno-gadgets, it is clear that Steen, like Georgi, is on the cutting edge.
But without leadership from the Houses to apply the technology, Steen's work can only go so far. He has helped provide Harvard students with access to a "bleeding edge" computer infrastructure that is increasingly out of sync with the not-so-digital management of the Houses.
All of the Houses are equipped with the same technological infrastructure. What makes them different is the way those Houses use their resources to build community.
And the technological capabilities for Net-connected student life have grown faster than the central College administration and Houses have been able--or willing--to deal with.For example, Steen says, upcoming network improvements will largely serve to increase the entertainment potential of each student's desktop computer--thereby circumventing a decade-old argument between students, College administrators and House masters about installing cable access into dorm rooms. The Tangled Web
For Eliot House Webmaster and resident tutor Glenn P. Wong, developing the House's website has been a personal initiative, influenced primarily by students.
"For us, it has been a very organic process. Nobody has given us direction from the top-down," Wong says, adding that he hosted the first House website on his personal computer.
A graduate student in physics, coordinator of the House woodshop and member of the intramural crew team, Wong says that being a webmaster isn't really a part of his job as a G entryway tutor. Today, he's trying to "decouple" himself from the responsibility of maintaining the site.
But at a time when Eliot residents are coming to expect more from their House website, Wong laments, resources are scarce. "Perhaps this should be a paid position. It has to be more formalized, either in the House, or the University as a whole," Wong says. "Who pays for this? For maintenance? The House? The College?"
And Wong's problems are not unique to Eliot.
House websites--online today for all 12 Houses--sit on some half-dozen computer servers across campus and vary wildly in their content, vision and importance to the House community.
Some, like Leverett's site, are bustling, dynamic hubs, including facebooks, daily birthday announcements, lost and found postings and House calendars. "I hope that students make it the homepage that they go to when they wake up in the morning," Georgi says.
Others, like Currier House's, haven't updated their website in months--even years.
And some digerati--including Wong--are glad that Houses are given the opportunity to express their personal style on their own websites, without centralized direction.
"We've pretty much invited the House leadership to tell us what they want to do," Steen says. Listening to Students Read more in NewsRecommended Articles
