To the Editor:
Your story titled “New policy: students will pay to print” quotes a student who has the impression that the box that pops up when one prints in the computer labs or libraries is a survey. It is NOT a survey.
It is intended to inform students that a charge will be instituted by the fall semester and to get them to ask themselves if they really need that printout. I was contacted by the reporter writing the article and questioned about the “survey”.
I told the reporter that the pop-up box is not a survey. Rather, it is informational and students must click the “Continue” button if they really want the printout or “Cancel” button if they do not need the printout. Yet, the reporter wrote “Nickerson said that the survey is ….” Still calling it a survey after being told that it is not a survey can only cause more confusion in users’ minds.
Merton Nickerson
Director University Computing