OVER THE EDGE March 14, 2007 Smart Card Failure Explained Repecca CARMICHAEL Co-Eprror iN CHIEF As I reported last week, the Smart Card “e-wallet” system has been discontinued. I was able to discuss the reasons-for this in more detail with Lynda Pattie (Director of Administrative Com- puting Services)-and Rob van Adrichem (Director of Media and Communications). The Smart Card failure oc- curred on and off throughout the term before finally being stopped by the end of January. The failure was technical in nature, the exact details of which can only be ad- equately explained by techies and not your average student news- paper writer. The system was five years old, which is a relatively long time in terms of this kind of tech- nology. The Smart Card system is fairly sophisticated and cannot be repaired locally. For the system to be fixed, people would have to travel here from San Diego to re- pair it. The company responsible for this system offered to upgrade the system to a newer, more func- tional model. However, the op- tions of repairing or upgrading the system were both rejected as too ‘cost prohibitive. It would be fairly expensive to continue the system, even for the remainder of the year, so the university decided the most sensible decision would be to dis- continue it. Due to recent budget issues, spending substantial sums of money on improving the Smart Card system was considered a low priority in comparison. While an equivalent system to the Smart Card will not be re- instated, the university is looking into potentially expanding upon existing technology to increase its functionality, such as the mag- netic strip system and the print ac- count system. The magnetic strip technology found on the student cards is stilt working. This can be used for the Chart plan or book plan, as well as for door accéss in residence and the medical build- ing. People are being encouraged to transfer the Smart Card funds over to the Chart plan. This sys- tem has been in use on student cards since the beginning of the university, while the Smart Card system has only been in use since 2000. To get coins in order to use some of the machines formerly serviced by the Smart Card, stu- _ dents can visit the Corner Store or the fitness center. There is a pos- sibility of coin machines being introduced in future years. As noted before, students can visit the cashier’s office before April 30, 2007, to receive a refund. or transfer of a current Smart Card balance, which most students have already done. Refunds will not be issued this year for the general Smart Card student fee that all students pay. This fee is somewhat misnamed and covers the entirety of the student card function. How- ever, the university will be evalu- ating lowering the cost of this fee in future years with the removal of the Smart Card functionality. While the former use of the Smart Card did offer students great convenience without having to carry cash to school, students seem to be adjusting well without it, and many agree that the univer- sity has better ways to spend its money during this current budget crunch. Scientists: Global Warming Detected on Mars, Too JEREMY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER New research has brought the scientific community into another debate, but it’s not about whether or not global warming is occur- ring at all. It is, however, ques- tioning whether global warming is caused by humans or not. Indeed, a lot of studies have brought the question forward on whether or not humans are the cause of global warming, and these new findings suggest that the whole global | warming might be completely out of humanity’s hands. An article published on dailytech.com entitled ‘Global Warming Detected on Mars’ points to several research docu- ments that point out that the Mar- tian Landscape is undergoing climate change. The evidence was brought forth by studying the southern pole. The conclusion is that the snow on the southern ice- cap is “hard as ice” (according to a linked news report on National Geographic) and “melting at a perilous rate” 3 According to the posting on ‘news.nationalgeographic.com’ by “Kate Ravilious’ entitled ‘Mars. Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Says’. As the headline suggests, ‘global warming on Mars might be caused by an increase in solar activity by the sun. Of course, the claims didn’t fly without con- troversy. A researcher by Colin Wilson suggests that the warming Scientist- isn’t really solar activity increas- ing, but much rather a change in the Martian orbit. DailyTech.com also points to research by Professor Eigil Friis- Christensen of a Danish Space Center which suggests that, here on Earth, an increase of temper- ature correlates with fewer clouds thanks to increased solar activity here on Earth. While global warming is an extremely touchy subject for many — especially for those in the scientific community — namely climatologists — there’s likely two ~ possible outcomes for these new. findings: 1. The news vanishes from sight again or 2. The new findings wil] cause new debate on the issues of global warming. Emily Carr Comes to UNBC LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA Emily Carr on horseback. Jeremy JOHNSON Srarr WRITER The Emily Carr Institute was founded in 1925. It emphasizes Visual Arts, Media Arts and De- sign. tination on the mouth of the Fraser River for both visitors and citizens alike. It also sports the title of one of British Columbia’s oldest post- secondary institutes. It is also an institution named after one of British Columbia’s most famous artists, Emily Carr. While Vancouver has been it’s home for about 82 years now, Emily Catr is now expanding north. UNBC and the Emily Carr ~ Institute have joined forces to pro- vide UNBC’s students with a new program — a bachelor of fine arts. This new program will offer, in Prince George what Emily Carr offers in Vancouver. Including be- It is situated in Vancouver _on Granville Island, a scenic des- ing self-renew- ing, demonstrat- ing professional excellence in all areas of spe- cialization, cele- brating and supporting the ; importance of the centrality of creative practi- ces in all of the. arts, media and design, achiev- ing diversity within the of- = fered curriculum =. and equity in all _ student and staff- ing _ activities, ® and so on. The program is starting this year. To get in, one needs to submit a portfolio that offers 10 pieces of creative works — five of which must be un- published creative writing. The- deadline for this year is March 30", though seats are limited. Of- ficials at a seminar held recently to announce the program and of- fer information said that programs like this tend to be rather competi- tive. During the seminar, one stu- dent asked if there can be various cuts to other programs, why. the fine arts program is starting up and will the program be perma- nent. The,answer was that the fine arts program was one that has had high demand, so the new program is to fill a void that is otherwise apparent in the programs offered in UNBC. They also said that English and the arts is an essen- tial type of program which is why this program is starting up even though other programs are being cut. Jim Randle assured potential students that the program won’t be cut on students who are part way through getting their degree. He said, “This course is going to be something here to stay” There was also emphasis that, despite the slow processes of start-. ing a program, all the necessary paperwork to help make the pro- gram official was “getting done as quickly as possible” The program will be 50% at UNBC and 50% online or at Emi- ly Carr. Students are given the choice of either staying at Prince George for the other 50% of the course so it can be done online, or they could visit during the Summer to complete some of the courses in Vancouver at the Emily Carr campus. One representative predicted that, while this year, student en- rollment will be low for the seats offered, enrollment for students years down the road will increase dramatically, keeping the course competitive at the-entry. He said that this, was based on the opening of a different program at UNBC. Another representative said that currently, they are going into this blind as well, so they don’t know for sure what to expect, but it would seem that any necessary improvements that could crop up in the future will be resolved as they surface to ensure a smooth road for students ijn the program. It is certainly a refreshing change to UNBC given some of the not-so-great news surrounding the campus. It also appears to be a program with plenty of promise.