The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2 - 99

ResNet Symposium Programs 1995-2006

over identifiable periods of time. Second, some categories of presentation remained relatively constant throughout these years, indicating stable topics of interest and areas of concern shared by many attendees over this 12-year span of time.

number of presentations, potentially indicating that initial implementation of residential computer networks extended beyond 1998 even if that is not reflected in ResNet Symposium presentations. This time period was also marked by intense interest in network design as suggested by presentations such as “Bandwidth Issues and Residential Networks” and “For Decision Makers: A Basic Overview of Networking Technologies.” Although presentations categorized as “Network design” were presented at nearly every symposium analyzed, they were particularly prominent during the first few years. On average, nearly four presentations each year were categorized as focusing on network design. During each of the first three years, however, the number of such presentations greatly exceeded the average, with the first year, 1995, having by far the largest number (11 presentations). Growing pains. The second time period reflects shifts taking place in managing the installed network and in society at large as the Internet grew in popularity. As early as 1996, there were presentations that focused on or discussed “Network authentication and registration,” describing processes that enabled residential students to be identified and registered before or as they used the network. The number of such presentations grew until 2001 when they sharply declined and remained low until 2004. Similarly, the number of presentations categorized as “Network design” also plummeted during approximately the same time span. In their place, other presentation topics such as “Bandwidth management,” “Copyright,” “Peer-to-peer,” and “Policies” emerged and gained prominence, demonstrating a shift
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HISTORICAL TIME PERIODS
Implementation. Not surprisingly, the initial time period was characterized primarily by a high number of presentations categorized as “Initial startup.” During this time, many institutions were creating their first ResNet support structures and developing processes to efficiently connect students to the network, particularly at the beginning of Fall term when most students moved in. Many of the presentations of this period focused on the challenges in launching a new residential computer network, and these programs had titles such as “War Stories: Deploying the Net in Occupied Territory” and “Rapid Ramp-up & Activation: The Trials and Tribulations of a New Switched Network,” reflecting the challenges of initiating these new residential network and computing services. The number of presentations categorized as “Initial startup” peaked in 1997 with nearly one-third of the presentations offered that year in this category. Soon afterwards, the number dwindled. Although 37 programs were categorized as “Initial startup” from 1995 to 2000, only 2 such presentations occurred from 2001 to 2006. This decline makes sense as it is likely that the number of institutions in the initial startup phase of ResNet operations dwindled over time. In addition, the ResNet Symposium introduced pre-conference sessions in 2000 where initial startup concerns were addressed, and this may have led to reducing the

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2

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