Can anyone tell me why a college would need an internet cafe? I have to give a speech on this and I'm looking for some information on internet cafes- how they would help the school, any costs it would entail, etc. etc.

Well it all depends on what your definition of an Internet Cafe is. If your definition of Internet Cafe is one where you supply the Hardware, there can be some major costs. Just the Internet portion of the business alone would be fairly expensive to maintain i.e.:


Internet Connection
Hardware Costs
Hardware Up-Keep Costs
Part-time Computer Technician

Or you can do it the Starbucks way and provide a wireless connection for a fee or no fee if you wished. Really your only costs would be:


Wireless Router
Internet Connection

These costs would be allot easier to offset with you cafe sales. You also wouldn't have to worry about people spilling their latte's on or in your computers.
Everfresh

Sounds tough on campus. Virtually everyone has a computer and free high speed internet access.

Yeah, I think my group are going to try to make it appealing for the social factor. People actually hanging out, TALKING to each other instead of being locked up in their rooms playing against each other. Another thought I have is to make the games LAN possibly. That way, people can compete against each other.

Very few folks are going to *pay* for a connection since you can pick up a free wireless one all around a lot of campus' now days.

The best way to go is to provide a place to meet and chat with friends and/or study or read. The sales would be the basics of a coffee shop (like Starbuck's or Caribou Coffee) - coffee's, cocoa, tea, juice, muffins, etc. Wireless access would be free...perhaps need to purchase an item to get the network name/password or something. You could update the name or password every 12 hours or so...

Remember, coffee is "cool" while in college. It becomes routine when you graduate to the workplace. (Note, I still don't drink the stuff).

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Please don't forget the poor students that do not have the luxury of living on campus. I was one of those who lived at home and went. I spent a lot of time in the cafeteria because I had no place else to go between classes. Now, we won't go into how long ago that was, but the premise is still the same.

So the idea of a social atmosphere where students can hang, is a good one. Without such a place, carrying around a laptop is pretty useless without a place to connect (again, the ones that don't have living quarters nearby).

And what about visiting personnel? Guest speakers, visitors, etc. who have time to kill. Don't forget providing maybe a little corner for meetings. Do you not have to collaberate on this project? Wouldn't it be nice to do it in a nice coffee shop?

Well, from what I'm thinking is that its a persuasive presentation to a fake Ms. Moneybags, the local philantropist. Need money, yadda yadda yadda. So we decided, maybe an internet or cyber cafe would be good to talk about. Five parts- What problems there are, how this would address them, the financial costs, management and future plans, and the location for the building.

I'm handling the financial costs which will be a pain for two reasons: 1) The price for all the hardware, the building, and land (lease? Own?). 2) Management costs. Plus, it has to be a 10 minute speech as well (for my part at least! give or take 2 minutes). Now, what I was thinking maybe make it a cyber cafe. Have a spot for x-box gaming, another spot for people to eat and drink (the cafe), a section reserved for relax studying or talking, and another area for PCs (the building's) for online gaming. In the process, wireless access (free or no?) will be available throughout the building. This way, we answer several problems:
1) Its a spot for off-campus students to work and relax in
2) Promotes a leisure and peaceful environment for those to study in while
3) Allowing an area for people to play games at for a low fee
4) Promotes social interaction, especially among those on the PCs and X-boxes so they dont isolate themselves
5) Provides an area, or forum, for a group of people to assemble in
6) Has promise as a hangout, a place to meet new people or hang out with current friends.
7) Provides good food (I hope!) and beverages. Something that can compete with other coffee shops around West Lafayette, such as Starbucks, but also compete against the gaming area (called Headgamers). It meshes the two together.
8) Located in a convenient area for on AND off-campus students to visit

There's a whole bunch of other reasons I could think of, but thats the main. What I think this persuasive speech has to be based on is a Business Plan, which I've been advocating for to my group. My greatest concern is: What advantages does this provide to PU? or why should this club use it? The cases I stated are pretty strong, but is it strong enough to impress the class, or a donar of money to help with the project? Can it last about 40-50 minutes long?

BTW- if any of you want to do my outline for the financial topic, feel free to go on ahead and do so.

UPDATE

I got annoyed and vexed with this assignment. Was very impractical to do in the short timeframe we had, so I'm initiating a hostile takeover of my group with the support of another group member. The new topic is- Campus Security. Thanks for the info everyone and sorry for wasting your time.

lol

hrmmmmmmmm.......

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