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Illustrated Textual Tour


A Scenic Site

A Compelling Design

Leon Jaworski Center

Harold and Carol Ann Nix Academic and Advocacy Center

Sheridan and John Eddie Williams Legal Research and Technology Center

Technology Within the Law Center

Project Cost and Construction

 

 

Technology Within the Law Center

Technical innovation is a hallmark of the law center, giving students and faculty members access to the best technology that can be easily incorporated into the classroom. The new facility features advanced audio, visual and electronic networking capabilities that rank with the most technologically advanced law schools in the nation, as well as an infrastructure that is designed to accommodate continually evolving technology applications.

The law center features seven independent audio and video systems. These systems consist of audio equipment housed in equipment racks located in or near several of the classrooms and courtrooms. The sound systems are designed to provide sound reinforcement from direct speech and from other audio sources, such as video and computer equipment.

Each of the classrooms in the law center also features automated projection screens for use with the audio and visual equipment. Seven of the nine classrooms include video projectors that are suspended from the ceiling. The lecterns in these classrooms can feed data to the audio and visual equipment in these classrooms.

The law center features three separate local area networks, each of which can be accessed from inside the law center. The secure, high-speed Ethernet networks are designed for faculty and staff use. Their connection speed ranges up to more than 1000 times faster than the speed of an average modem.

The AirBear network is intended primarily for student use. The wired "AirBear" network provides capacity for more than 1,500 data connections located in the classrooms, courtrooms and other areas throughout the law center. The wireless AirBear network provides network access within the law library, the student lounge, and the patio area on the northeast corner of the facility. The wireless network can be accessed by any student who has a laptop computer with a wireless network card. Students may also check out laptop computers and/or wireless network cards from the law library. The AirBear network already has become very popular, especially because of the large number of law students who own laptop computers.

The law school network consists of more than 1,600 high-speed Ethernet connections and nine wireless access points. Six state-of-the-art Dell PowerEdge 2550 servers provide network services to the entire facility.

The appellate advocacy classroom and courtroom features an audio system consisting of twelve 12" JBL-brand speakers. These are mounted in the ceiling of the room, and are driven by a Crown CT 410 amplifier. The sound sent to the amplifier routes through a Rane GE-30 equalizer from two Shure SCM 810 automatic mixers. This equipment is designed to ensure the quality of the audio that is sent to the speakers. The mixers are pre-set to a specified audio level, and need only occasional adjustment to compensate for unusually loud or soft sounds. The mixers automatically activate a microphone when sound is detected and mutes the microphone when no sound is present.

Input connections for the twelve microphones are found in six boxes located in the floor. The control rack provides a single microphone jack that can be used to provide a wireless or remote microphone. The room is equipped with a "smart lectern," which includes an interface panel and connections to the various audio and visual components in the room. All cables from the lectern are routed through the bottom of the fixture and connect to cables that are located in a floor box. Power and data connections are provided in every seat. The other classrooms feature similar technology and audio-visual capabilities.

Two of the four courtrooms have identical audio/visual systems. Each features a state-of-the-art audio/visual control console with input for digital audio and visual feeds, a VCR for recording, a second VCR for playback, three automated camera monitors and a master monitor that displays the selected input to control the cameras and record video from the cameras.

The automatic cameras in the courtrooms can be aimed at a desired location in the room through use of joystick controllers mounted in the console table tops. Users may pre-set camera locations, such as the places where the judges and advocates sit during a mock trial. All camera functions are operated with the controller in the console. Each camera has its own dedicated controller and a preview monitor. Users may display information from their computers or other electronic devices through the five in-line interface connections. These connections are located under the judges’ bench top, under both of the counsel tables, in a floor box in the center of the room, and on the operator’s console. Each of these locations also features audio input.

The law library provides power and data connections at virtually every seat, including the soft-seating areas. The reading tables, carrels and study rooms are serviced by both an 11 megabyte-per-second, 802.11b wireless network and a high-speed, 100 megabyte-per-second Ethernet network

The third floor of the library has two computer labs equipped with fifty-two Dell Optiplex GX150 desktop computers. Many of these computers are also equipped with Dell flat-panel screen monitors. The facility also features an instructional computer lab, which provides an amplifier, mixer, and VCR in the lectern. A video projector is mounted in the ceiling. This classroom/lab is equipped with ten Dell Optiplex GX150 desktop computers with flat-panel screen monitors.

All faculty and staff offices are equipped with at least two high speed Ethernet connections and are equipped with either a high-end Dell Optiplex computer or a Dell Latitude laptop computer.