Hit: Update of ZapMe Part 2

[maureen aube <mdaube@together.net>]

This is the continuation of the Hit: Update of ZapMe

4. Have there been any major technical problems? Who troubleshoots
these problems? Is it true that you must wait for the ZapMe's
technicians from California to take care of the problem? "The main
problem is they don't work. The satellite system they have in place
isn't consistent in its transmissions so they aren't reliable. Yes, we
aren't authorized to do any work on them." (B. Anderson) "All
maintenance must be done by them. Generally, it is done by a
subcontractor in your area. In speaking to a couple of them here, they
expressed a great deal of frustration with the company. One of the
subcontractors here was so frustrated that he quit, leaving all the
schools in our district . . . dead in the water for weeks. The company
is very secretive with their subcontractors by only telling as much as
they have to know to fix a specific problem, often leaving them unable
to fix things in a timely manner. Any replacement equipment must be
shipped out from ZapMe which creates even greater delays." (J. Lyon)
"No technical problems. Think they do - via phone, apparently they can
check problems by on-line methods." (C. Quillin) "We don't know how
this whole thing will work since it is so new. This week there has
been a problem logging on so the help desk gave schools a "short cut"
that sort of worked. By Friday, the company provided a better short
cut which probably cuts down on their ability to manage the system,
but al least schools could log on. You do wait for a technician unless
you have one on staff who can do some things. Our school has not been
informed that we must depend on a staff person for anything, however."
(V. Meier) "ZapMe in California totally takes care of all technical
problems. They may talk me through changing something on a workstation
but they usually fix it from California. We leave the hard drives on
at night." (D. Redlinger) "They installed one satellite dish, then
changed their plans and installed one with different technology. If
the lab is not working, I call tech support. Usually no waiting. They
walk me through a procedure over the phone. They are very good. If
someone needs to come out, it usually takes a day. They have
subcontractors for the satellite dish and the server here in Houston.
You need to have a phone so that you can talk to the technician while
your are in the lab. We use a mobile phone (not cellular) Tech support
(phone) is in Arizona." (D. Hall)

5. Is it true that if there are software problems that it is up to the
school's tech coordinator to take care of the problem? Some of the
answers were addressed in Question #4. "Generally, it has to be
handled by them. They are very reluctant to let anyone else touch
their stuff, creating all kinds of time delays." (J. Lyon) "Don't
know. They've never worked long enough to try. Our computers have been
operational less then 5 days since they were installed in October."
(B. Anderson)

6. All students and staff have e-mail accounts via ZapMe. How do you
enforce AUP which states that e-mail is only for
educational/professional purposes which are directly related to an
assignment/school project/curriculum development? "We only allow
access to s school district moderated e-mail account." (J. Lyon) "They
don't have them. If you request not [to have e-mail accounts]. Our
Middle School Library also has 5 of these computers and their students
can't access the e-mail portion. Of course, they can get into HotMail,
etc. We didn't make our AUPs that specific. Ours just require no
obscenities, inappropriate materials, etc. We think e-mail is just a
modern way of passing notes, more globally of course. Chat is strictly
prohibited, however." (C. Quillin) "E-mail is not allowed at our
school." (V. Meier) "An AUP would be harder to enforce concerning
e-mail. When a student registers, it sets him up for e-mail. We allow
e-mail during lunch and after school. We do not have an AUP." (D.
Redlinger)

7. Do students and staff receive ZapMe advertisements via the e-mail?
"No. Nor are their real names made available." (C. Quillin) "The
advertisements are in the lower left corner of the screen at all
times. The students pretty much block them out. It reminds me of the
ads on Ch. 1. Students are pretty used to being bombarded by ads." (D.
Redlinger)

8. Since the ZapMe computers have no CD-ROM or floppy disk drives, do
you have other computers available for your other software? How does
this impact your automated CIR/CAT system if you have one? Also, if
your library subscribes to EBSCO Online, NewsBank Online and other
online services, how do you access these online services? "I was
assured by the tech coordinator that the ZapMe computers had floppy
disk drives." (C. Burden) "They have floppy disk drives but no CD-ROM
drives." (B. Anderson) "They do have floppy disk drives. We access
Electric Library through their web site with our school user ID and
PW. No problem, just work with the individual site providers. They
have MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint already installed on them." (C.
Quillin) "The ZapMe computers have an A drive. Our CIR/CAT system is
independent of this set. Regarding online services, we are just
beginning to investigate this. We have a state supported service for
magazines, etc. and we are able to access this site via the ZapMe
computers. We needed the IP for the ZapMe server only in order for the
technician to place our state supported service on. At the moment this
seems like a plus for us. As a result, we canceled our ProQuest
subscription. Soon, I'll check to see if our Gale online service can
be accessed via ZapMe computers when the students bring up our media
center web page. Otherwise, we have 6 other T-1 internet computers for
these services. (V. Meier) "This creates a huge problem if you have
online database subscriptions which we do. Their approach is a
one-size-fits-all one. Any deviation from their confusing interface is
a major chore and they don't make it easy." (J. Lyon) "The computers
do have floppy drives where the students can use their disk or they
can save to the hard drive. There are no CD-ROM drives." (D.
Redlinger) "ZapMe computers have a floppy disk which is so that
students can save their work. We access our Proquest account through
ZapMe. We use other computers for catalog and word processing. You can
use ZapMe computers for word processing." (D. Hall)
--
Maureen D. Aube, LMS
mdaube@together.net
Franklin High School Library
Franklin, NH 03235
Children remind us of who we were while helping us to
see who we have become.

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