"We have intensive discussions on how to dealwith certain kinds of problems," Steen says.

"Not everyone can know everything, but eachperson has to have a certain basic knowledge,"Steen says.

Kim says he has seen noticeable increase in theperformance of UAs.

"HASCS has really made large strides inimproving general user assistance," Kim says. Kimcredits recruiting and an increase in startingsalary from $7 to $8 an hour for that improvement.

"They now have weekly training meetings, andthey had a postering campaign to try to encouragemore people to apply and become a UA," Kim says.

Steen says HASCS has tried to improve the UAsystem by moving assistance out to the dorms andhouses so that users do not have to call in to thecentral phone hotline.

"The phone line has been swamped withrequests," Steen says. "This way, students can gethelp with problems without having to go throughthe central phone lines."

But Ishir Bhan '96, co-president of Digitas, astudent computer group, says he is not sure howmuch difference moving the UAs has made.

"I don't really know how much [the housesystem] has been used," Bhan says. "I haven'treally seen it publicized that much and I thinkthat people turn to their friends when they are intheir rooms or houses."

Students have recognized and appreciated anumber of the changes and improvements withinHASCS, but they are clamoring for more.

"I think publicity and educating its users isthe one area in which HASCS has shown the leastimprovement and understandably so considering whatthey are trying to do with the limited resourcesthey have," Kim says.

"They have to become more visible and take aclear stand on where they lie on issues of privacyand security," he adds. "They have to do a betterjob of keeping users informed."

"Publicity and awareness is a very difficultthing, and I think organizations such as HCS havetried to make up for it but in the end it isreally up to HASCS to educate its users and makethe students aware of its rules and policies," Kimsays.

Steen says HASCS is placing a renewed emphasison the issues of privacy and security. HASCS isreworking its guidelines on privacy, partly as aresult of the Crimson investigation into Internetpornography this year.

"Privacy issues are always on the table," Steensays. "The Crimson article certainly brought it tothe forefront."