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Who's Laughing Now, or, I Sure Am Glad I Didn't Go Corporate
4/28/2004
A few days ago I noticed and skimmed an article reporting on a survey conducted last fall of CIOs at a number of higher education institutions. It found that they were experiencing some budget reductions, were working hard to do more but without more people, and that there were some concerns that the innovative and creative parts of what higher ed IT staff do might suffer.
I don't think that will happen. I happen to think that many of us who are in the higher education realm, even if lacking a faculty position, are here for the same reasons that the faculty are - for precisely the creativity and innovation possibilities. "Playing" is part of our job, and the future looks bright for that part of our job description staying put.
Just after I read that article, I happened to see a bright, fluorescent green dinosaur staring up at me from the inside of a box of old papers and magazine as I crossed by my office's storage area. I picked it up, and read, in big letters across the front "Forget the Dow! Here Comes the New Economy! You might have already guessed, if you've got a collection on your bookshelf, that I was looking at the June 1998 issue of Wired magazine, with the logo "Capitalize on the Future" under the "w" in the magazine title. (This was published just after Alan Greenspan's famous "irrational exuberance" remarks.)
Boy, did skimming through that bring back some memories. I bet every one of the following items stimulates some memories and thoughts for you, too:
· Right away, there's a Kinko's ad emphasizing "the new way to
office" and promising "total support," 24x7. I don't know about
where you are, but I haven't run across an all night Kinko's in quite some time.
And now, Kinko's is being purchased and renamed by Federal Express.
· Then there's an ad for the "Long Boom" symposium in Brazil,
where experts were to discuss how the long economic boom which had started in
the United States would sweep throughout Latin America, eventually flowering
in 2020.
· That's closely followed by an ad for high-density floppy disks. (I
think it's been more than a year since I've touched a so-called "floppy"
disk.
· One opinion piece noted that a "recent" (1996, remember)
survey of mutual fund investors showed that they expected a 34 percent annual
return on their investments for the next 10 years and finished with this statement:
"If the market is right - and we know it is! - there's nothing to worry
about."
Anyway, browsing through the issue, I recalled going to conferences in New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta where my buddies in the Internet professionals association (which I helped to found and served on the board of for many years) were mixing, socially and professionally, with - and themselves becoming, on paper - multi-millionaires. And there I was with my decent but low-paying job in academia, unable to afford to buy or even rent the Porsches and the Ferraris my friends were driving around in. And desperately hoping at major meals not to get stuck with the incredible check. I was, frankly, often quite envious.
But for some reason, I was rarely tempted by the occasional offer of a West Coast or an East Coast job offer.
Recommended Reading
- News Update :: Tuesday, November 25, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Institute for Cyber Security at U Texas, San Antonio Opens Incubator
: ISO/IEC Publishes Office Open XML Standard
: Dynamics NAV 2009 ERP Coming Next Month
: Southwest Baptist U Adopts Angel LMS
: IE8 Release Candidate Coming on Q1 2009
: Hodges U Credits Lecture Capture for Online Enrollment Boost
: Mitsubishi Debuts WXGA Projectors for Education
: Slippery Rock U Applies SAS to Data Management and Reporting
: Moodle Gets SCORM Improvements, Security Fixes - IT Trends :: Thursday, November 20, 2008
:::::: CASE STUDY
:: DePaul Sets the Bar in Student Relationship Management
:::::: IT NEWS
:: Microsoft Unveils Exchange and SharePoint as Services
:: Penn State Pilots Proctored Online Testing System from Kryterion
:: State-wide New Mexico E-learning Program Adopts Wimba for Collaboration
:: IBM Launches 'Pass It Along' Social Networking, Knowledge Sharing Tool
:: MIR3 Adds Recorded Response Feature to Mass Notification Service
:: Northern New Mexico College Moves to Latest AVG Anti-Virus
:: Ubuntu ARMed for Mobile Expansion - SmartClassroom :: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
:::::: SPOTLIGHT
: 6 Ways Not To Become Rote Using Instructional Technology
:::::: NEWS and PRODUCT UPDATES
: CSU System Adopts Moodle LMS Services
: CourseCast Integrates Closed-Captioning Service
: Wimba Pronto 2.1 Adds Accessibility, Spanish Language Features
: Mitsubishi Debuts XD95U 'Pico' Projector
: InFocus Launches DisplayLink Projector for Education - Web 2.0 :: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
:::::: THE BUZZ
: Bringing Student Web "Stuff" to Campus Enterprise Systems
:::::: WEIGHING IN
: Tipping Point for "Content"--Dynamic Interaction, Not Static Stuff
:::::: PRODUCTS AND APPS
: Delta iTunes U Helps Meet Student Expectations for Web 2.0 Apps
: Penn State Pilots Proctored Online Testing System from Kryterion
: State-wide New Mexico E-learning Program Adopts Wimba for Collaboration
: CSU System Adopts Moodle LMS Services
: Office Web Apps Will Work on iPhones - News Update :: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Carnegie Mellon Validates Production Xirrus 802.11n Network
: Ave Maria U Deploys In-Building Cellular Gear
: ASU Campus Nixes Fiber; Chooses Gigabit Wireless for Network Connectivity
: Sun Unveils Family of Open Storage Appliances
: Office Web Apps Will Work on iPhones
: Sun To Cut More Than 15 Percent of Global Workforce
: Texas A&M Upgrades Supply Chain Lab Curriculum
: Texas Lutheran U Implementing Jenzabar EX for ERP
: Anna U Chennai Partners with Cypress on Embedded Systems Engineering - Campus Security :: November 14, 2008
:::::: SECURITY SPOTLIGHT
: Smart Phone Security: New Challenges for Road Warriors
:::::: CAMPUS SECURITY NEWS
: SMobile Releases Antivirus To Protect Google Android Phones
: Blue Coat Integrates Network Appliances
: e2Campus Provides Twitter Integration in Emergency Notification System
: Moodle Gets Student Verification Capabilities
: Rave Wireless Adding BlackBerry Devices to Notification Service
: U Miami Trades IPS for Top Layer Security System
: Cornell Hardens Campus Network with Gigabit Wireless Radio Links
: U Pittsburgh Turns to Verizon Business for Automated Notification Services
