Yale pilots printing kiosks

New cloud-based mostly printing kiosks have appeared in a number of residential schools more than the past number of weeks.

Yale is presently piloting a new printing services called WEPA, which stands for “Wireless Everywhere. Print Anyplace,” that could exchange the recent UniPrint technique. Produced by an Alabama-based company that aims to capture the school printing marketplace, the kiosks have lately been set up in pc clusters in Branford, Timothy Dwight and Saybrook. Even though WEPA allows college students to print from a number of units at a less expensive cost than the current UniPrint service, most college students interviewed said they have nevertheless to consider the new kiosks.

“The spring 2013 ITS student survey uncovered that printing was an region of dissatisfaction,” Derek Zhao, assistant manager of the Student Technology Collaborative, mentioned in Tuesday e-mail. “As such we are piloting the WEPA print kiosks at picked spots to attempt and enhance print solutions and fulfillment at Yale.”

After college students set up the WEPA “print to cloud” driver on their units, they can print at any WEPA kiosk from their computers, smartphones or USB devices, John Copeland, the Basic Manager of WEPA, advised the Information. WEPA also offers colour printing, he said.

Though college students pay out per page for printing, Copeland explained WEPA does not charge the universities it functions with.

“We carry the technological innovation and the equipment to the campus without any economic price to the institution — we really don’t make them sign a contract,” Copeland said. This enterprise model helps make WEPA a more price-effective and interesting resource, he mentioned.

Regardless of WEPA’s versatility and lower expenses, the new printing kiosks have yet to command the interest of college students, a lot of of whom stated they are perplexed by the new user interface and have so far continued to print using UniPrint or their own printers.

Johnathan Terry ’17 explained he has not tried utilizing the kiosks but since he has his personal printer, however he extra that the combination of decrease charges and colour printing — a feature unavailable on most of Yale’s current printers — tends to make the kiosks a good addition to campus.

XinXin Xu ’16 said she tried to use 1 of the WEPA kiosks but did not finish up employing the new system.

“I do not know how to use them,” she stated. “I attempted swiping my ID but that’s apparently not how it functions.”

Xu mentioned the original complexity of the kiosks may possibly put off numerous likely consumers.

To advertise the use of the new system, Zhao mentioned the STC is actively functioning to simplify the use of these printers and make students more conscious of their existence.

“We operate with residential colleges’ Master’s Offices to assist us announce and distribute details about the new WEPA printers,” he mentioned.

He extra that an outreach campaign involving Gil Phish, which is the mascot for STC and Yale ITS, is in the operates. Campus-wide announcements have nevertheless to consider place, as not each residential university has a WEPA kiosk but, he explained.

Copeland stated he remains optimistic for the future of WEPA printers on the Yale campus.

“Once it’s on the campus, the degree of its integration as a campus utility depends on a number of items, including whether or not it will be obtainable to only undergraduates,” he explained.

The next phase in the approach will be expanding the technique to graduate college students and faculty, he additional. The extended-term expectation, Copeland added, is that WEPA kiosks will grow to be offered at non-classic places, allowing students to use the cloud to print everywhere.

WEPA was founded in 2008.

Yale pilots printing kiosks