All of last year we held student experience forums that asked students what they think would make life better on campus. One of the most commonly asked for commodities was for the WiFi across the university to be massively increased so students can access the Internet wherever they are. This seemed to me like an appropriate use of Uni resources, and so was happy to hear that this was indeed the plan moving forward.
In the last couple of days however I have been approached by a lecturer and in fact followed an interesting stream over email about the health implications of WiFi. In fact I have been asked to lead a campaign against the installation of WiFi, on the basis of the health implications.
I have looked into some of the resources that have been offered by both sides of the argument, but still it seems to be to be another global warming situation, where experts are on both sides and there is not clear consensus coming out, and this inevitably leads to a lack clear direction that organisations should be taking.
Would be very interested in hearing others views, as my job is very much to represent students views, that they want and need Internet connectivity, but at the same time prevent harm from coming to students wherever possible.
Catch 22 anyone?
Here are some of the resources that have been thrown around in the general debate for peeps to look through at their leisure
Not to Wifi:
http://www.wifiinschools.org.uk/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjZZ29TtkJI
http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/occupationalcancer.pdf
http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf
http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta11/ERES1815.htm
To WiFi
http://www.badscience.net/2007/05/so-simple-a-child-could-spot-it/
http://www.badscience.net/2007/11/bbc-editorial-complaints-unit-debags-the-panorama-wifi-scare/
http://thenextweb.com/ca/2010/10/20/wifi-in-schools-isnt-bad-for-students-bad-science-is/
All views welcome :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Brighton SU
I would very much like to see wi-fi across the campus.
ReplyDeleteEd, There is a scientific consensus on global warming. There is no balance in the evidence, it significantly favours the hypothesis that the activities of humans are a direct cause of global climate change.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, it's hard to get into a debate about wifi. For example, your first link above to wifiinschools.org.uk is based on an article about radio frequency emissions from mobile phones. Mobile phones operate on "electromagnetic waves with frequencies between 800 and 1800 MHz" whereas wifi operates around 2.442 GHz (channel 7 of 802.11g). The spectra are about as different as visible light and infra red. My cursory reading suggests that the results don't generalise to wifi.
In a list of risk factors affecting well-being such as stress, diet, friendships, nicotine intake, etc... wifi comes well down the list. Furthermore, access to wifi could, for people like me who expect to be online, reduce the stress of preparing for lectures.
I think that this would be the consensus from students as well and that WiFi is more and more important as the university experience moves towards blended learning techniques.
ReplyDeleteThe references I have provided here where ones sent to me in an email from a lecturer who strongly believes that this is a grave cause for concern.
Personally I would also like to see the outcomes from some of the institutions that have turned their WiFi systems off, as a result of some of the research, and also from some court cases making their way through the courts in relation to this.
Adian, I think in relation to the list of factors that affect a person’s wellbeing this is probably not nessicarilly the case and that individuals wellbeing and the factors surrounding that can only every be defined by that particular person and therefore I would be interested to hear more views that may differ in their views of factors affecting their personal wellbeing.