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Information Technology has several projects underway to begin the construction of a comprehensive campuswide information system (CWIS) at UC Davis.

What Is a MIS?
In its narrowest sense, a CWIS is a menu-driven computer application that provides networked access to information of general interest to an organization. Often referred to as an electronic bulletin board, a typical CWIS provides access to such information as directory listings, job announcements, schedules of events, and library hours.

In its broadest sense, the term CWIS includes any information-access applications that support new ways to assemble and relate information.

CWIS Group Established
To study the status of CWIS in the broadest interpretation, Information Technology has formed the UC Davis Campuswide Information System Workgroup. This group has been tasked to identify the campus requirements for a CWIS and to recommend short and longterm strategies for providing this type of system to the campus.

As part of this process, IT has created a bulletin-board-style CWIS accessible primarily through software called Gopher. Other supported applications for gaining access to this information include: Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) software for key word searching, the Almanac system for electronic mail requests; and anonymous FTP for file transfer.

UC Davis CWIS Configuration
One unique feature of this information repository is its use in support of instruction. Through the CWIS, a collection of materials of interest to Environmental Studies and Political Science students has been made available. Text files include US government documents, reference articles, and exam materials.

Since some students are interested in the relationship of art to the political process, this collection soon should include images as well.

Through Gopher, you currently have access to the following CWIS information:

• the UCD Information Kiosk System (including a periodically updated list of newly donated software at the Center of Advanced Information Technology);
• the Blue Pages of the campus phone directory (listing departments only);
• a calendar of events, seminars, and colloquia. from the staff newspaper Dateline UCDavis;
• documents and newsletters from Cooperative Extension Services;
• papers and background information of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF);
• publications of the Environmental Health & Safety department;
• several directories of Information Technology information;
• articles and back issues of IT Times;
• articles and papers of the Cantral Valley Regional Environmental Database;
• bulletins and other news from Na tional Institutes of Health (NIH);
• other Gopher servers on the Internet; search project;
• documents from and about UC Davis,
• networking how-to documents;
• current UCD software site license information; and
• a menu-driven interface to the Whois system (for retrieval of electronic mailnames and other information about specified Internet users).

The UC Davis CWIS contains no multimedia applications at this time. However, the IT Advanced Networked and Scientific Applications group plans to adapt three prototypical systems: 1) the ImageQuery software developed at UC Berkeley to be used to create image databases that can be shared across the campus and wide area networks; 2) a database for the Nematology Museum linking images, scientific notes, journal articles, and specimen catalogs to a geographical information system; 3) a system to provide desktop videoconferencing across the Internet offering shared data and images.

Future Directions
Short term development will continue to feature software such as Gopher and WAIS. These applications further the development of low cost campuswide systems linked to wide area information servers. However, they are not robust or full featured enough to satisfy the requirements of more mature campuswide information systems. New robust or full-featured information retrieval systems will have to be developed. The long term strategy for CWIS development likely will focus on the standard widely used in library information systems. This standard will allow library in formation systems to be linked with other institutional information. It will also facilitate systematic cataloging of online resources and provide a uniform method of information exchange.

Accessing the UCD CWIS
Information Technology has prepared a short document to help you get started using the CWIS. Titled "Quick CWIS Access Tips - Using the UCD Campuswide Information System," it includes instructions for using Gopher, Almanac, and anonymous FTP Contact the IT Campus Access Point at 752-2548 to ask how you can obtain a copy.

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