Present:
Dr Robin Hirsch, Chair (Departmental Undergraduate Tutor); Professor Steve
Wilbur ( Head of Department); Dr Graham Roberts; Professor Bernard Buxton
(Programme Director, MRes CVIPGS); Dr Steve Hailes (Programme Director,
MSc DCNDS); John Washbrook (Director of Studies); Dennis Timm (Technical
Support Group); Barry Stein (Technical Support Group); Rafael Carbonnell
(Technical Support Group); Sarah Berke (Departmental Administrator); Jonathan
Hull (minutes - Undergraduate Administrator); Mark Delacour MSci 2; Adam
Hardy CS 2,Louise Morrow MSC CS;;
Raakhee Jagwani CS3; Dheraj Dagar CS3; Ben Halton MSc CS; Rob Dupuis MSc
DCNDS; D Lynch MSc VIVE; JJ Giwa (Departmental Officer).
Robin
Hirsch (RH) opened the meeting and asked for items to be discussed under
any other business, there were four items raised for discussion
1).
Apologies
for absence
There
were apologies for absence from Rajender Bakhshi CS2, Gillian Wilson and
Simon Prince
2).
Approval
of minutes
Rob
Dupuis wished to correct item 4, vi “Simon Prince on behalf of R Dupuis”
should read “Luis Allejandro Flores on behalf of R Dupuis.” The
minutes of the meeting of 29th November 2000 were then approved.
3).
Matters
arising from the last meeting:
Robin Hirsch raised the matter of the BCS membership, Raakhee Jagwani reported that despite putting up posters and sending emails there had been no interest.
Group
photograph Robin asked for advice from the reps as to whether there was
strong interest in this matter, there wasn’t and it was decided not to
pursue it further.2
4).
Charging
for Lecture notes
JJ Giwa explained the position in response to the petitions posted outside labs. The charges cover the cost of printing, however, where £5 was charged for booklets the actual cost is somewhere in the region of £12. Some notes were available on line, however, this depends on the lecturer. Students would prefer a small free pamphlet rather than a complete set of notes that is bulky. Sarah Berke advised the students to let the lecturers know which format they preferred.
5.)
Drinks
machine in the basement
Dan Lynch noted that the drinks machine is invariably empty especially after a 2 hour lecture. JJ advised that this machine is owned and supplied by Coca Cola/Pepsi and is likely to be moved to either the lobby of the Pearson Building or the student common room although it would need to be a smaller machine. The College will not provide a hot drinks machine, as there are safety issues and cost implications, which militate against its provision. Students can use the Union shop but queues are always long especially at break times. The Students’ Union is pursuing the issue of supplying the machines with the vendors.
6.) Coffee machine access
This was covered under 5.) above.
7.) Extra workstations in B24
Dan Lynch enquired as to when the 6 extra workstations promised for B24 would be available. Bernard Buxton said he would remind the hardware people, Rafael Carbonnell stated he was waiting for Bernard to decide on the type of machine required. Action: BB to decide on machine type and advise R Carbonnell.
8.) Air Conditioning in basement
Dan Lynch wished to know why the controls had been removed from the air conditioners. Dennis Timm advised this was because people kept turning the air conditioning off, and believed they had been incorrectly set on installation. Robin asked if they could have a simple on/off switch. Rafael advised that they should be set at a constant temperature. Mark Delacour said that the airflow blowing in the face caused watery eyes. Sarah Berke advised to email building faults. Steve Wilbur that the air conditioning needs to be working properly along with the workstations to utilise fully the space in the basement. The stuffiness and smell caused by proximity to the basement lavatories was a recurring problem.
9.) Taco downtime
Problems arising with Taco not responding. Robin advised that the staff were discussing upgrading; the system is a prototype and needs investment for an overhaul. The departmental knowledge of the system is limited. Action: Teaching committee
10.) Examination timetables
Jonathan Hull advised that the exams section were currently printing timetables and they had expected to send them out in the next week.
11.) Past exam papers
Louise Morrow said some past exam papers were not available on line, particularly MSC CS and IT. Action: Sarah Berke
12.) Second year lab smells
Mark Delacour said the second year lab smelled badly as it is opposite the basement men’s lavatory. JJ Giwa advised that the ventilation system in the lavatory is faulty and that College maintenance had been notified. Action: JJ/Mark Delacour to monitor the situation.
12.) Lack of reliable syllabus for E732 Microcomputer
Systems
Complaints had been received that the course did not have enough content. A petition had been drawn up by the Engineering students for presentation to the Dean of Engineering, and the matter was raised at the Engineering department’s SSCC meeting. Syllabuses had been released after the course had finished. The Dean of Engineering has said the situation is not satisfactory. Steve Wilbur asked for the CS students to be contacted for their views. Action: Mark Delacour to email Robin Hirsch.
13.) Any other business
i)Mark Delacour: Disk quotas the undergraduate mini project required an increase in quota to run web servers and data files. Graham Roberts advised it was not necessary or desirableto use SQL but Mark Delacour thought it would make the project easier. Adam Hardy said some students tutors had increased their quota to 30mb whereas some remained at 15mb, the extra quota was retained after the project had been completed. Graham said increases may be granted if necessary. Steve Wilbur wondered if the problem could be solved by shared file space. Mark Delacour asked if Oracle accounts were permissible. Raakhee Jagwani said that last year Mark Levene had arranged for increases in quota. Steve Wilbur said that a mechanism for increasing quota ought to be available but both he and Robin were unsure of it. Rob Dupuis asked what the technical difficulty was increasing quota for 70 odd people, the problem was cost of the disk, up to £30,000 according to Barry Stein. Action: Systems group to discuss; Students to make cases to Graham Roberts for increases in quotas.
ii.)Professional issues 2001, attendance is compulsory and lecturers have been cancelled for the day. Steve Wilbur advised there would not be a problem rearranging lectures as there were more slots available. Action: SAB to email lecturers a reminder, to check with Anthony Finkelstein, Robin Hirsch to speak to degree coordinators
iii.) Lockers: the meeting was in favour of using
the 22 lockers available, the discussion was centred on the way to allocate
them. Action: RDH to email students for further views.
iv.) Calendars: students would like access to staff calendars. Robin advised they can look at the lecture timetable. Sarah Berke advised that admin staff did not have access as the user can restrict access, and not all lecturers have electronic calendars. Some staff have a list on their doors. Action: Robin advised that this could be raised at Teaching Committee but would be impossible to enforce.
There being no other business Robin thanked those who had attended and declared the meeting closed.