Case Studies: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network

For ten years the North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network (HECN) has been a significant participant in international computer networks. Since the early days of our BITNET connection, through our current high-speed Internet connection, we have been active users of network resources. Nonetheless, we have also been good network citizens by contributing to the valuable resources available on the network.

Much of the power and utility of the Internet today has been developed through voluntary contributions by many participants. Given our geographic location in North Dakota we were never a major network switching hub. Nevertheless, we began providing services in the emerging realm of automated electronic mail lists and file services via electronic mail. We have used LISTSERV^® software from L-Soft international, Inc. to become a world-class service provider, consistently ranked in the top twenty of all such sites based on traffic statistics. As of October 2002, more than 1,700 lists are hosted at North Dakota HECN LISTSERV mailing list server, with more than 160,000 messages delivered on an average day.

In the beginning, the mailing list services were provided using available resources on our central mainframe computer systems. Since then, we have moved this service to a dedicated PC server running Windows NT Server, L-Soft LISTSERV management software, and L-Soft LSMTP software for mail delivery.

LISTSERV offers easy access to Internet resources for our users in the North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network. Many faculty and staff have established internationally known mailing lists on topics from Cell Wall Biology to Wildlife Rehabilitation to the official list for the American Psychological Association Division 12 (Clinical Psychology). We also host many local lists for working groups and committees at NDUS institutions. Approximately one sixth of our lists are "public" and the rest are internal or private working groups.

Over the years we have also hosted lists in various areas of interest to North Dakota such as Economic Development, Higher Education Issues and Groups, K-12, Regional Issues, and Handicap/Accessibility. For instance, we are currently the host for the lists of a popular international forum, KIDLINK, a grassroots project aimed at involving children in the age group 10-15 in a global dialog. (KIDLINK received the Student Internet Innovations Award from L-Soft in 1995). We host prominent lists that include topics such as the ISO 9000 quality standard, ADA Law, Academic Advising, higher education staff governance, and many more.

Besides the direct benefit of the resource of mailing lists to the entire North Dakota University System, we have also benefited by published references in hundreds of books and articles. We have also developed expertise and contacts which have been invaluable in enhancing our access to the Internet.

Case study written in April 1998 with the assistance of Marty Hoag, Information Technology Services, North Dakota State University.

---

LISTSERV is a registered trademark licensed to L-Soft international, Inc.

See Guidelines for Proper Usage of the LISTSERV Trademark for more details.

All other trademarks, both marked and unmarked, are the property of their respective owners.