The Observer, December 8, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 13
Case Tech Co-op to provide
Fans of Scheduler Jones and other student-created projects at Case will be glad to hear that these projects will soon have a more permanent home.
The Case Tech Co-op, an offshoot of the USG IT Committee, hopes to provide a secure system to host projects created by students even after the creators leave the university.
Popular projects include CaseLife, photos.cwru.edu, and Scheduler Jones are currently hosted by opensource.cwru.edu, a site that allows students to put up works in progress to be viewed and edited by other students. The site is maintained by Greg Szorc, who will be graduating this month.
Many students at Case have projects like these that have a great basis while the students are on campus but wane once the students move off-campus or graduate.
The members of the Co-op want to take these projects and create a loose organization that encourages students to create more new projects, according to junior Matthew Crowley.
"We can provide infrastructure support and keep the computers maintained so that projects are kept alive," said Crowley.
This initiative will especially benefit off-campus students who may not have ready access to the Case computer network.
The Co-op will complement Student Internet Services, which maintains staples such as the Start, Filer, and Forum sites on secure systems.
"With the job uncertainty at Case, the Co-op can provide a backup plan for these sites and others," said Crowley.
The group also hopes that students will take the opportunity to experiment with new ideas.
"We want to encourage class projects and show them to the community," said Crowley. "It benefits everyone, so why not?"
Having a centralized hub for student work may bring some welcomed attention to the university. This sort of initiative exists at only a few universities in the country, most notably Oregon State University.
Co-op members hope that building such an infrastructure at the university will encourage other schools to do the same. This will perhaps provide impetus for open-source sharing of student projects on a larger, inter-college scale.
Membership in the Co-op is not limited to undergraduate students; faculty, staff, and graduate students are also welcome. Because of this, the group does not have USG recognition and must raise funds on its own.
Currently, the biggest roadblock for the Co-op is its lack of financial support. All of the equipment used to host projects is donated by members of the group.
"We're strong enough to keep it running for a while, but we need something more permanent," said Crowley.
The group hopes to find support from Case's ITS and local corporations who may be interested in using ideas shared by Case students.
"Having a home in the university would allow us to become more established," said sophomore Andrew Witte.
For more information about the Case Tech Co-op, e-mail coop@cwru.edu.
