Adventures of M. Fabulista...

THE WIRELESS FIASCO - ANOTHER EMPTY PROMISE.



- by Vincent Immanuel Pang





The Learning Hub at the NIE Library promised to be a wonderful portal of digital capabilities including wireless Internet services. After more than 6 months of expectant bubbling and speculation, the CSC had delivered a dud that fizzled despite the initial sizzles. Proving once again that they are more capable of providing empty fluff and effervescence than honest-to-goodness materials of substance.



Remember the glorious announcement over six months ago over the announcement of integrating the wireless network system into the library?s compendium of digital services? Well, apparently the system is now up and running. However the service is far from satisfactory or adequate.



With the capabilities of the 802.11b wireless protocol, there are endless Internet applications that we can access to via our desktops or laptops equipped with a wireless card.



As students in NIE, where digital age technology has become synonymous with pedagogy, many of us received the news of the upgrade and enhancement with wide-open arms and joy. Many of us had also pried into our savings and made investments on a wireless card. Afterall, the authorities had revealed news on the intention of integrating wireless Internet access throughout the entire campus. All these promises of Zion justified the investment ? seemingly a wise decision that would extend beyond our period as trainees in NIE.



Unfortunately, we were all grossly deceived. Like the wolf that promised the red-hooded girl of greater blooms beyond the regular route of the forest, which turned into disappointments, so did the promise of a glorious new service.



Many of us would have realized that although surfing the Internet is possible, one could not access the other Internet services. We could not, for example download POP3 mails into our email programmes (i.e. Outlook, Outlook Express, Entourage, Eudora, etc), neither could we communicate with our friends through the ICQ, MSN or any other instant messaging services. Our people in CSC have denied this capability.



This has greatly hampered the progress and process of our (trainee teachers?) learning. I am sure that many of us communicate with our assignment group mates, lecturers and other mentors through emails. When I check with CSC for the reason why the service was unavailable, the excuse given was, ?for security reasons, we have denied this service on all our internet access portals.?



When I asked about the 128bit WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) that is in place to protect from unauthorized Internet access to NIE?s server, the excuse given was that ?POP access would provide hackers with a loophole to crack into the servers.? However there is no mention of what the consequences may be. It was mentioned, nevertheless, that such an incident had occurred in NTU before. Now, doesn?t this prove that NTU provides its users with the service? And since this service is still available, it would signify that NTU had taken steps to up its security measures and had improved their services.



I mentioned to the person behind the counter at the CSC that it would be their responsibility and their obligation to inform all library users and potential wireless card investors of the limitations and denials that they are imposing on the wireless network. Unfortunately, the respond was a very off-tangent remark that ?we will standardize the access and service for both wired and wireless access?. Excuse me? But that doesn?t even remotely resemble the topic we?re on!!



From what I know, a 128bit WEP protection is a very advance form of encrypting protection; this could be further enhanced with a firewall together with a surveillance of Internet activities within the campus? servers to detect irregular actvities. However, this may require constant watch over the servers.



From the above evidence, one could not help but come to the conclusion that it is probably an issue with idleness rather than security that had induced the decision to cut off the service of inclusive net access.



As a regular user and with the groups of trainee teachers I know, I sincerely and emotively hope for the authorities to reconsider their decision and action. We really need the services to be complete and running. This is imperative to our efficient communication with the people involved in our studies (i.e. lecturers, tutors, group mates, etc), which directly affects the effectiveness of our training as teachers.



It may a small difference in providing the service, but the effect is tremendous and synergistic to our overall development.



Thank you for reading this article. I would appreciate your feedback and comments and views on this topic, we would all appreciate it if you would respond with your views on the issue.