TECH gets new Macs

For its fourth anniversary, the TECH Center installed 27-inch Macs, as well as other upgrades.

This year, the TECH Center celebrates its fourth anniversary with widespread changes and upgrades, including 100 new 27-inch Mac computers and the proposed replacement of 400 to 500 PCs.

“When the TECH Center opened, everything was brand new. Now that it’s been around for a while, people just kind of accept that it’s there. We try to keep it new with new features,” Executive Director of Computer Services Jerry Hinkle said.

Sandip Patel, a lab manager at the TECH Center, said the new Macs are equipped with a 2.66 GHz processor and four gigabytes of RAM.

“I like how big they are,” sophomore pre-nursing major Lauren Fernald said. “It’s easier to catch mistakes when writing papers.”

Sophomore communications major Stephenie Foster agreed.

“It’s nice for paper-writing. You can put different documents side by side to do work rather than go back and forth,” she said.

“One thing I’ve noticed is the login speed is a lot faster. The old ones used to take three to five minutes to start, but these only take 30 seconds,” university studies sophomore Pete Lundy said.

“You need more memory to process faster,” he added.

Hinkle said the cost for the Mac computers, which have additional memory and high-end processors, was about $1,700 per unit.

“This is several hundred dollars per unit less than we paid for the original iMacs four years ago,” he added.

The old computers were sent to Temple’s Computer Recycling Center.

“Our goal is to take old computer equipment, clean off all information and get them back into circulation,” CRC employee Jonathan Latko said.

When the computers go back into circulation, they end up in one of three places – they can be redeployed to other schools and buildings across campus, students and faculty can buy them, or they are donated to local schools, community groups and nonprofit organizations.

For students and faculty interested in buying refurbished equipment from the CRC, the price of a computer depends on the amount of restoration it underwent, Latko said.

“It’s about a $25 base, but the more work or specialty added brings it up to about $150 to $175,” he said.

The TECH Center also plans to replace as many as 500 PCs.

“[Replacing the PCs] would definitely help, because [they] are a lot slower, especially when it’s busy,” senior computer science major David Lebson said.

Students waiting for the upgraded PCs will have to wait, though, as the TECH Center employees search for the best deals.

“Because we got very good pricing on our Macs at this time of the year, we have delayed the purchase of the Dells by about six months and will be installing them over the summer,” Hinkle said.

Much like a business, the TECH Center tries to find what people want when they use the facility. Employees survey students every spring in an attempt to find out who uses what, how often and what changes students would like to see.

Breakout rooms and other space for students to work together are some of the reasons students spend time at the TECH Center. Soon, the TECH Center will introduce “open-air booths.” These rooms will be built where the current upstairs lobby area is now.

“Students [will be able to] come in, sit down and eat, while working together on a computer,” Hinkle said.

It seems many Main Campus students will welcome the addition of open-air booths to the TECH Center.
“Breakout rooms should be designed to let students make noise. [The open-air booths] would probably encourage more students to come out, and it would be a great expansion,” Michael Ashery, a freshman university studies major, said.

“With the comfy chairs, I can definitely see an advantage [of the open-air booths] over [the breakout] rooms,” sophomore film major Zachary Auron said.

Another useful tool for students is the map of the TECH Center on the plasma TV screens upstairs, which indicate the availability of different sections in the TECH Center. An improved version of this tool will soon be available online.

“That way,” Hinkle said, “if you’re on the subway [or] in your room and you want an idea of how busy the TECH Center is, you’ll be able to check your phone or the Internet to get an idea.”

Lara Taylor Strayer can be reached at lara.strayer@temple.edu.

TECH Center sports hefty lost bin

Stressed students often leave belongings at the TECH Center while studying, but employees save all lost items in a box underneath the Help Desk.

With the stress of finals upon them, students can be more forgetful. Some students forget to eat breakfast, charge their cell phones or take their flash drives with them from the TECH Center after printing countless final papers at the end of the semester.

TECH Center employees collect missing USB flash drives that many students leave behind. In most cases, those thumb drives are loaded with important and private information, such as students’ documents, photographs, music and videos.

Sophomore kinesiology major Brigid Lyons said she considers herself lucky, having recovered her missing flash drive after she left it plugged into a TECH Center computer last Thursday. On it, she had stored two important papers and a class journal.

Lyons said she was “freaking out” when she got home and realized she left her flash drive at school.
“I’d be in a lot of trouble if I didn’t find my flash drive,” she said. “I’d have to re-write two papers and an entire journal. I’d be very upset.”

The TECH Center staff members regularly collect thumb drives left behind. They’re then put in a storage box underneath the Help Desk. When a student comes to claim his drive, he may be asked to identify its size, design and content in order to verify its ownership.

Director of Information Technology at the TECH Center Gene Mayro said an employee may open a document inside the drive to compare the name with the claimant’s. After a while, though, Mayro said the USB drives are turned over to Campus Safety Services’ lost and found office if students haven’t picked up them up. CSS has its own retention policies for lost articles.

Freshman biology major Ruturaj Rana said he also came close to losing a flash drive in the TECH Center.
“I almost had a heart attack,” Rana said, adding that his school documents, PowerPoint presentations and final papers were all stored on the thumb drive he nearly lost.

From then on, Rana said, he has been careful to remember to check the area before he leaves. He also takes necessary precautions by saving his work to his laptop’s internal hard drive and e-mailing the file to himself.

But USB drives aren’t the only items commonly left behind in the TECH Center.

Junior elementary education major Katie Karch said she had a brief scare last month when she realized hours after leaving the TECH Center that she left her cell phone at a computer.

“I got up from the computer in kind of a hurry and went on with the rest of my day, and about five hours later, I realized my cell phone was gone so I came back to check that area, but it wasn’t there,” she said.

Karch said she went to the front help desk and was asked to identify her cell phone before it was given to back to her.

Mayro said he is frequently a witness to students’ relief when they get lost items back.

“The typical reaction is extreme relief,” Mayro said. “[They] occasional[ly] bow to the consultant at the desk, thanking the anonymous person who turned in the drive – and God.”

Sergei Blair can be reached at sergei.blair@temple.edu.

New “Ergo” design for peripherals helps save students from tech strain

Disability Resources recently launched Project Ergo in computer labs.

The TECH Center now offers a selection of ergonomically designed computer equipment as part of an effort to prevent repetitive strain injuries caused by computer use and teach better computing habits.

Disability Resources and Services and the Computer Services Department added 100 specialized keyboards, mice, monitors and pieces of furniture to computer labs through Project Ergo.

“It’s not so much that there’s a problem with the original equipment, it’s that the original equipment was really designed to meet the needs of the machine,” DRS Student Services Coordinator Karen Latimer said. “It wasn’t meant for people to sit at for eight hours a day, or even four hours a day.”

The new equipment is intended to improve the ordinary kind by reducing strain and supporting users as they work for extended periods.

“I like the ergonomics,” senior Jesse Lockett said after trying a vertical mouse, shaped to fit the outstretched hand. “I’m a kinesiology major, and I figured that was the design behind it.”

In addition to the vertical style, the TECH Center offers new trackball-style mice, which are designed to cut out unnecessary motion. They sit in place on the desk and hold a rotating ball that controls the user’s cursor.

“My mom has issues with carpal tunnel, so I definitely know the effects on the wrist and elbow. Something like this would definitely be effective for her,” Lockett said.

Ergonomic disorders like carpal tunnel make up the fastest growing category of work-related illness and comprise 56 percent of illnesses reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Chronic injuries caused by computer use are prevented by combining the right equipment with regular breaks, Latimer said.

“I didn’t really like it,” senior risk management major Angela McBride said about a sloped Microsoft keyboard that splits the keys into right and left halves.

“I had to get used to it, and it’s not flat,” she said. “The majority of the time, I use my keyboard at home, and it’s a flat keyboard.”

Split keyboards like this one are slightly larger than ordinary keyboards and appeal to users who want extra typing space. For the opposite purpose, smaller keyboards were also installed.

“The experience of trying out some different things and different products without having to buy them all and find out that they aren’t comfortable for you is really a unique opportunity,” Latimer said.

For those who find they like the equipment, “it doesn’t really cost a lot more to buy an ergonomic keyboard over a standard keyboard,” she added. “In some cases they’re exactly the same cost.”

New large-screen monitors in the TECH Center help users with poor vision and are a favorite for types of work that call for a larger display.

Height-adjustable workstations — another new technology — allow users to shift their desktops up or down with the press of a button.

Armrests that extend a swiveling elbow support are also popular, but many people are not sure how to use them.

“I think that’s part of the problem is that people just don’t know what they’re for, and they get in their way instead of using them properly,” Latimer said. “You don’t realize how you’re holding your arms and shoulders in position until you don’t have to anymore, and it feels like sitting in a La-Z-Boy armchair.”

Thomas Driscoll can be reached at thomas.driscoll@temple.edu.

Oversharing can be overcaring

Although sites like Facebook and Twitter serve as platforms for personal expression, columnists Kathryn López and Maria Zankey say some users of the social networking sites take it too far.

“Still feeling rather icky. My bowels are being evacuated quicker than a plane sinking in the Hudson.”
We wish we could say we read this quote in a nurse practitioner’s notebook, but we can’t – it’s a Facebook status update.

It should be safe to say when you’re publishing “what’s on your mind” and it shifts to “what’s running through your intestines,” you’re revealing a little too much.

But whether you’re updating about something as medically personal as your diarrhea or something as emotionally invasive as your recent breakup, the theme of oversharing has become common within a vast majority of Facebook statuses, tweets, text messages and other forms of mass and personal communication.

Oversharing has always existed, but the advent of social networking sites among millennials has extended beyond the levels of previous generations. Webster’s New World Dictionary even chose the term as its Word of the Year in 2008, defining overshare as a verb meaning “to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.”

“We abuse, and have been abusing, every technology we have to use to socialize, from mail and telephones to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook,” said Temple psychology professor Dr. Donald Hantula, who specializes in behavior analysis and consumer choice on the Internet and technology applications. “It’s a matter of sharing with more people, especially within the 15- to 25-year-old age bracket, when the whole world’s going chaotic on you.

“Aristotle referred to humanity as the social animal,” Hantula added.

It’s the reason you passed notes during class in middle school and the reason you spark conversations with the lady in front of you in the grocery store checkout line. People are innately compelled to form connections with other human beings.

So today, they take to social networking sites like Twitter and form relationships in the form of 140 characters.

One Twitter user writes, “leaving the page of the book carelessly open, something unsaid, the phone off the hook
and the love, whatever it was, an infection.”

This update may seem like a few beautifully written lines to be shared, but a quick Google search reveals they are from an Anne Sexton poem about suicide called “Wanting to Die.”

Such cries for help, whether subtle or blaring, often take the form of status updates. While people have always expressed their needs for comfort and attention, they have only recently gained the ability to megaphone them to an audience that, more often than not, extends far beyond their trust circles.

But even seemingly harmless posts about giving your cat a bath or pulling an all-nighter in the TECH Center studying for your math final can conjure negative reactions.

“Somewhere between the time Facebook became a club even Great-Aunt Suzy wanted membership in and Twitter went pandemic, we began to exalt the mundane and worship the inane,” writes Janelle Randazza in her book, Go Tweet Yourself: 365 Reasons Why Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Other Social Networking Sites Suck.

But can you bond with people over the Internet? Randazza says you can’t.

“The more we talk, the less we listen, and the more Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn connections we acquire, the greater chance that any sliver of meaningful contact we could forge will get lost in the din of nudges, pokes, prods and virtual two-steps,” she adds.

We disagree.

Maybe we don’t need to know what you ate for lunch or what time you woke up this morning, and you should probably keep updates on your bowel movement to yourself. But a little openness doesn’t hurt.
When it all boils down, we might be absorbed with our own thoughts, problems and goings on, but we’re still commenting on, retweeting and “liking” each others’, as well.

Kathryn López and Maria Zankey can be reached at templeliving@temple-news.com.

This edition of For Tech’s Sake is Part 2 in a five-column series exploring the link between the attitudes of the Millennial Generation and technology.

Traveling to end domestic adversity

Freshman sociology major Alex Epstein is planning a service trip for Temple students and North Philadelphians.

In 2006, Alex Epstein took a trip with about 50 students from his New York City high school to New Orleans to assist in the post-Hurricane Katrina efforts in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Upon his arrival, the current freshman sociology major realized he’d gotten into something much larger than he initially expected.

Epstein helped gut and rebuild numerous homes. He knocked on the doors of those who had returned and spoke with them about what they had endured, in hopes of convincing them to attend survivor council meetings held within the community. He also became exposed to the injustice that residents of the Ninth Ward faced.

Wealthy neighborhoods remained intact due to their highly sophisticated levee systems as opposed to the Lower Ninth Ward, which was only protected by a mere 6-foot wall of concrete. Despite this factor, the government remains reluctant to assist those living in the Ninth Ward, although the French Quarter has long been repaired and lively.

After the 2006 experience, Epstein decided he could not walk away from such an overlooked dilemma and created his nonprofit organization, the New York 2 New Orleans Coalition, in December 2007. Since then, he has organized 22 trips for more than 500 high school students in New York City and has created a community service and internship program so students can get involved in their own communities.

Now that he’s in Philadelphia, he is expanding his efforts. This year, Epstein organized two groups of students to go down to New Orleans during the winter break: one group of Temple students and the other consisting of high school students living in North Philadelphia.

The overall goal of these trips is to expose students to the New Orleans crisis and to help out, as well as to gain a learning experience. Student organizations have also become involved with this operation, including the Honors Immersion Program, the Progressive NAACP, Students for Responsible Business, Temple VOICES and Temple Reel Society.

“Together, we could create a strong community led by the Coalition that will hopefully start to tackle a lot of these issues once these students return home,” Epstein said. “We have walked directly into the heart of a movement to combat racism, classism and all forms of injustice and oppression.”

Natsai Todd can be reached at natsai.todd@temple.edu.

Club TECH for studying, not napping and FarmVille

While some students may spend more time at the TECH Center than at home, they shouldn’t treat the study facility as if it’s their living room couch.

I’m totally going clubbing tonight – but I’m not going to Shampoo or Woody’s. I’m heading to Temple’s most popular club, “Club TECH.” The first time I heard someone call the TECH Center this, I thought it was hysterical. But I’m not laughing anymore.

Some students take advantage of the TECH Center and treat it like an actual nightclub rather than a study facility. The stress of classes is enough to deal with; the environment we study in should not add to that.

One day, during peak afternoon hours at the TECH Center, I was lucky enough to land a Mac in the blue section. As I worked on whatever assignment was due within the hour, I got distracted by the train of people circling the room, waiting to pounce on an open computer. While watching the hawks waiting to swoop in on their prey, I noticed a guy a few computers down from me, sleeping. He wasn’t resting his eyes or having an excessively long blink – he was out cold.

School is exhausting, but how could anyone sleep with the guilt of hogging a precious Mac that houses necessities like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop?

“If a student is sleeping at a computer station, a manager will wake them up and say, ‘Hey, maybe you should take a rest outside,’” said Joe Williams, manager of system of operations at the TECH Center.

The chairs scattered throughout the TECH Center are a much more appropriate place to nap, not to mention much more comfortable. I would know, considering the hours of slumber they have given me.

I cannot decide which is worse: drooling on the keyboard or abusing the acceptable amount of time spent on Facebook in the labs. We all need a break while studying, but playing FarmVille in a public area is annoying and downright embarrassing.

“I hate it when people are at the TECH Center using a computer but are only using Facebook,” junior art major Kate Coxx said. “They are just taking up space.”

There is an Internet lounge that is pretty hard to miss, considering you have to walk past it to get to any other computer. These computers are dedicated to providing the Internet. Please realize this. and help them with their mission, or at least think of those who need to print.

“It is always hard to tell if a student is actually working, and we try to enforce common courtesy with the signs and automated recordings,” said Gene Mayro, the director of the TECH Center. “Students come to us saying they need a computer, and we do our best to get one for them. Always let a manager or a student-consultant know if there is an issue.”

At least one manager is available at all times, but students who are trying to focus shouldn’t have to depend on watchdog managers to calm the wildness that sometimes ensues after dark at the TECH Center.

“This computer lab was designed to house collaborative work, within reason of course,” Williams said.
Some people do not understand “within reason” and feel the need to raise their voices beyond the level an iPod can drone out.

“It is always so crowded and noisy,” Rana Shenawi, a sophomore art major, said. “It is too much of a hassle to go to the TECH Center.”

“People will be people, and some of them are always just going to do what they want,” Williams added.
What needs the most improvement at the TECH Center is the maturity level of some students. So, while we wait for some of our peers to grow up, don’t be afraid to be a bit of a tattletale and let a TECH worker know someone is boiling your blood.

Samantha Krotzer can be reached at samantha.krotzer@temple.edu.

TECH keeps crowds to one floor

Finding a seat at a terminal in the TECH Center is like playing a game of musical chairs for Brian Meck.

“Instead of walking around, I just try to stand in one spot and wait,” the senior English major said. “It is kind of frustrating. I wish we had more computers.”

The TECH Center is popular among students who need to print papers, edit videos or update Facebook statuses.

In December 2008, the TECH Center had 3 million visitors since it first opened in 2006.

On Dec. 8, 2008, it reached an all-time high for most visits in a day with 9,301 visitors.

This semester, Computer Services officials are looking at the changes in student traffic as they adjust to the influx of Tyler students and their needs for technical software.

“On one hand, with the Tyler students, we are going to have an increase [in student attendance], but we will also see a lowering because Alter Hall has opened up, and people are staying over there,” said Gerald Hinkle, director of computer lab management and operations.

Officials are experimenting with a crowd management system, in which electronic ears are placed around the building to measure noise levels over four-week periods. From data collected, they can determine what times are busier so more staff is present to assist students.

The ears will display green, yellow and red lights so students can see what noise levels are appropriate, with green lights representing acceptable noise levels and red lights denoting excessive levels.
“It is kind of a cool thing to look at,” Hinkle said. “It might raise people’s awareness that people are trying to study.”

Expansion past the second floor of the TECH Center is unlikely, as hardwires, phone lines and administrative offices on the third and fourth floors do not offer much available space, Hinkle said.
Instead, usage of terminals will be watched, and computers not used frequently will be swapped for popular equipment in order TECH Center.

“A lot of our choices on hardware are based on what software is needed by students,” Hinkle said.

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

Macs see high demand, low supply

While some students who visit the TECH Center may simply need to access the Internet or Microsoft Word, others may need to use technical software that can only be found on Mac computers.

Of the 700 workstations in the TECH Center, only 20 percent are Macs. The rest are Windows personal computers.

The demand for Macs in the TECH Center has increased as more students need to use audio and video editing software and other advanced programs.

“I needed Audacity, and Macs are the only computers that have it,” said Gail Austin, a sophomore journalism major.

“The area that we have seen really grow has been video editing,” said Gerald Hinkle, director of Computer Lab Management and Operations. “We started out with 15 workstations, and it was one area of the TECH Center where we had lines to use the equipment.”

Recently, the TECH Center replaced all PC workstations in an under-used section of the center with 30 Mac workstations. This was done in preparation for the influx of Tyler students who have specific projects that require technical software.

“One of the goals for the TECH Center was that any software that is available or is required for courses from the university have to be in the TECH Center,” Hinkle said.

While Macs may be in high demand, there are plenty of Windows workstations available.

“One of the features of the new Macs is that they run both Windows and Mac OS,” Hinkle said. “You can do a dual boot, and if someone really wants Windows, they can have Windows.”

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

TECH Life

Whether it’s a cup of coffee from Starbucks or a pack of NoDoz pills from the vending machine, the TECH Center is self-sufficient, running on the energy of more than 3 million visitors since its inception.

CLUB TECH
Maybe it’s the caffeine or the hum of technology in the air that makes the TECH Center come alive after-hours.

Because of its round-the-clock schedule during finals, student workers like Jackie Smith have seen it all at “Club TECH.”

Smith, a senior advertising major, assists students who encounter computer problems.

“If someone’s document gets lost or deleted, we have to play Dr. Phil to comfort them or run away before they kill us,” she said. “There can be a lot of yelling.”

Not all the late-night visitors are confrontational. Some are just out for a nap.

“People will sleep anywhere – chairs, floors, computer desks, breakout rooms. People will also make out anywhere,” Smith said, adding that she’s even caught several people masturbating to porn at different times of the day.

WAKE-UP CALL
Student naps are common, but TECH Center workers try to make sure everyone is awake.

“One concern is if you see somebody who’s in there literally every night,” said Executive Director of Computer Services Gerald Hinkle. “Sometimes it might be an indication of a bigger problem. They’re homeless, or they’re having a bad relationship with their roommate.”

He said there was a student who showed up at the same time every night, didn’t touch a computer, went to sleep, woke up in the morning and caught a bus.

“If we see a situation where it looks like somebody may have a problem, and they’re sleeping there nightly, the police will come just to counsel them and see if there’s anything wrong,” Hinkle said.

WILL YOU WATCH MY STUFF?
In December, Campus Police approached TECH Center executives to create an awareness campaign in which they issued employees Post-its to leave on unattended belongings.
But for many, TECH Center theft is more a myth than a reality. Students often leave valuables unattended, but the TECH Center does not have an excessive amount of incidents.

According to the 2008 Campus Safety Annual Security Report, there were 387 thefts on Main Campus during the previous year. During Fall 2008, the TECH Center reported six unattended items missing, two of which were outside the building.

“The good thing about the TECH Center is that we can lock it,” said Computer Services Associate Vice President Sheri Stahler. “We don’t want anyone hiding in little nooks and crannies. We want everybody to feel safe.”

Hinkle said this is one reason for the swipe system and front-door security.

“If someone who’s not a student comes in, there’s a bigger risk of theft,” he said.

There are also panic buttons behind the desks, as well as newly installed emergency call buttons throughout the computer labs with direct lines to police.

PAPER JAM?
TECH Center printers are in high demand. Hinkle said the center uses roughly 17,500 sheets of paper daily, but the number dropped since the switch to double-sided printing.

“No set of books would cover all the material that I wanted to cover,” said Elliot Ratzman, a professor from the Jewish studies department. “When deciding which texts to require for purchase, I have tried to be mindful of the cost.”

He previously taught at other schools where students have unlimited free printing.

“I was shocked to find that printing was so expensive at Temple,” he said. “However, given all this, I discovered that many of my students never printed the readings out but downloaded them to their computers.”

The TECH Center currently has 14 black-and-white laser printers, two color laser printers, two inkjet printers and two poster printers.

During the Fall 2008 semester, a total of 1,719,963 sheets of paper were printed, from 587,913 individual print jobs.

Marilyn S. D’Angelo can be reached at mdangelo@temple.edu.

Top secret study spaces

Annoyed by those loud cell phone gabbers? Tired of TECH Center monotony? Fed up with corporate free-form jazz? Well, for just two easy payments of $19.95…

It’s a shame Temple didn’t produce such an infomercial because in all likelihood, finding a good place to study can be quite stressful. And with an essay or test due tomorrow, Temple students don’t need to cope with added pressure.

Perhaps receiving an A on a paper takes more than just proper planning and copious editing. Where studying occurs can make a difference. The real dilemma is that university-deemed study locations are often infested with people who aren’t really interested in quiet page-turning Zen.

Every person has a different method of learning, but for those who truly need an oasis, here are some good locations to try:

The quiet sections on the second and third floors of Paley Library
Though posted signs suggest that an unattended laptop could be jacked at any moment, there are no other reasons to feel threatened. The second and third floors of Paley Library may be overlooked because of the recently renovated first floor computer area and café, but as any librarian will discern, never judge a book by its cover.

The special quiet sections usually live up to its bestowed honor, though an occasional ringtone may blast through the room, followed by the ominous voice of a loud cell phone talker. There aren’t any AlliedBarton security guards there ready to arrest the silence incapable, but usually a stern glance at the offender will do the trick.

The library’s upper floors are a great place to study, but the stifling aroma of periodicals combined with vomit-colored furniture could be a deal breaker.

The fourth floor study lounge of 1300 residence hall
The fourth floor is quiet enough to hear the outside electronic chirps beckoning the blind to cross Broad Street. Enter the fourth floor study lounge, and a sea of quiet is found. It’s warm, carpeted and full of wooden cubicles for privacy. Outside noise is minimal to nonexistent.

The best parts about this place are the large windows that provide a great view of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, inviting one to daydream or take in a dose of sun and sky. Glance up from a textbook every once in a while and watch the campus grid unfold. Just don’t stare too diligently; it creeps out the people below.

The basement of Paley Library
Now, who would ever want to study in a basement? Don’t confuse the damp and the dreary with the library’s basement, which is adjacent to the university’s Urban Archives.

Furthermore, as of Jan. 20, 2009, the basement computer lab boasts sleek new LCD screens for watching media, be it an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or a frame-by-frame analysis of the Zapruder film. The library’s basement is also extremely quiet and a good resource for history and maps of the city, microfilm and government documents.

There are assorted comfy chairs and plenty of room, but it is best to leave before dark. The spirit of Russell H. Conwell has been known to come alive and hunt down those with overdue book fines.

Alter Hall
The Fox School of Business’ Alter Hall is architecturally hip and futuristic. Many windows and a marvelous elliptical stock ticker give the place a Wall Street glitz. The paint is new, and the brightly-colored mural on the lower level near the auditorium is nice to look at during the winter doldrums.
Every few paces, there are four leather chairs surrounded by a table with laptop battery ports, so it’s a cool place to hang out between classes, but it may or may not be the greatest place to write a best-seller.

If a little background noise doesn’t interfere with studying, then try Alter Hall. If impermeable silence is a goal, it is probably better to head to the library or a study lounge. The huge ceiling and open-air design reverberates every step of a businesswoman’s high-heeled shoes.

And now, here are some places to try to avoid when an important assignment is due.

The TECH Center
Temple’s famous computer lab is the largest on the East Coast. Yet, with so many computers and people packed into the main labs, the decibel level is equivalent to Center City.

The TECH Center represents the best and worst of America’s technology addiction. Numerous printers come in handy at this location, but take a gaze throughout the massive space, and undoubtedly every other computer screen displays a Facebook page or a YouTube video.

While breaks are necessary every 40 minutes or so of studying, the TECH Center provides too many distractions. There are too many people screaming into their cell phones, too many students gossiping away the time and too many overly caffeinated individuals on edge. The eeriest part is the random classmate only a few computers away looking at mutual tagged photos from that one party two years ago…

Campus Starbucks
Sipping lattes and Web surfing may go hand-in-hand during a vacation, but the two don’t mix well during a busy school day. Starbucks at the TECH Center would serve its purpose if its location allowed Owls to pick up their caffeinated beverages and leave.

It’s best not to linger in a tiny Starbucks. The tables are cramped, the place is loud, the espresso machine’s milk steamer is constantly roaring, and the background jazz can drive a person insane. If combining Starbucks and studying is a necessity, grab a coffee and head someplace quieter.

The Bedroom
Well, yes and no.
The bedroom is home base, where all textbooks and supplies are. It’s comfortable with enough space to work.

Yet, for those who spend a considerable amount of time here between classes and sleeping, too much time in the dorm could fry one’s nerves. Factor in a next-door neighbor’s loud music and a roommate who has friends over, and nothing will get accomplished.

Also, the best place to study is at a desk and chair, not lying with a laptop on a bed. The body becomes too relaxed, and the studier gets sleepy. If the timing is right and the atmosphere is good, the bedroom can be a place where the magic happens — like a good study session.

Mark Newman can be reached at marknewman@temple.edu.

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