IT Trends for Thursday, December 11, 2003.

  • 12/11/03
Thursday, December 11, 2003

In This Issue
OPINION IT NEWS

RESOURCES

NEW TECHNOLOGY

SPONSORS

OPINION

Terry Calhoun, IT Trends Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan

Unintended Consequences of MIT’s Open Course Initiative

The leaders of MIT’s Open Courseware Initiative (OCI) admit they’re already hearing from people who are asking faculty and staff at other schools if they are using “the MIT curriculum.” During a panel discussion at the Syllabus conference in Boston this week (Webcast: http://stellar.mit.edu/S/project/opensource/index.html), they made it clear that “adoption” of the MIT curriculum by other institutions is not part of its purpose, but that “adaption” of the MIT curriculum is a good thing.

It seems as though OCI is leading to a more far-reaching “peer review” of curricula than ever before possible. Sounds good to me! In at last one small way, it’s reminiscent of G. Randolph Mayes’ call here last August for a more “transparent” university...

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IT NEWS

Who Will Build Our Future?

The concept of open source is spreading even outside the software industry. Where are we going with these "networks of strangers?" (Christian Science Monitor)...

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Will Blackboard Go Public in 2004?

Washington Post writer Shannon Henry says the signs are all there...

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What's Happening with File Trading and the RIAA?

This comprehensive article discusses attempts recently to measure file trading and the effects of the Recording Industry Association of America’s campaign, and also examines some of the very interesting legal issues that have arisen - like the use subp'enas, which have not been before a judge. (Cnet News.com)...

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U. Texas Power Outage Teaches Tech Dependency

The outage came from work to repair circuitry and connections from an earlier fire that had destroyed UT Arlington’s Central Utilities Plant last month. Lessons are being learned here about technology dependency and power supply. (The UT Shorthorn)...

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Some Jackson State Students Resist Laptop Requirement

Jackson State d'esn't have enough computers in labs for students, so it's thinking about requiring students to own them. But some students are resisting the move. (South Mississippi Sun Herald)...

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Student Grades Hacked at Claflin University

Some students suggest that as many as 300 students' transcripts may have been altered. As many as 75 students have been disciplined. (South Carolina Times & Democrat)...

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Internet2 Moving Ahead From Headquarters in Michigan

"When we started out we didn't have any notion of how long we'd be around," said Doug Van Houweling, Internet2's president and CEO. "Years later, it's clear there's still a lot of work to be done." (Detroit News)...

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UC Berkley to Get New E-mail System at Start of 2004

Following a major outage last spring, Berkeley is replacing UClink with CalMail. CalMail is undergoing pilot testing this month. UClink is more than a decade old!...

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RESOURCES

How to Set Up an Inexpensive Live Webcast Station

Television production studios are overkill. This article provides the basis - how to do it cheap! (HotWired)...

Learn more
Sponsored by:
Redline Networks
Santa Clara University CIO Ron Danielson talks about his experiences as an early adopter of PeopleSoft 8 and how he reduced bandwidth expense, increased server capacity and extended the network life cycle. 19 minutes. Sponsored by Redline Networks. Watch this Webcast today.

Click here for details


Sponsored by:
Conference on Spam Fighting Strategies
The only industry conference addressing the issue of spam from both a technical and business perspective takes place March 17-19 in San Francisco. Hear from top experts working on curtailing e-mail abuse including spam, worms and viruses. Review the best tools, hear about current and upcoming technologies and the latest legislation.

Click here for details

POLL

Sponsored by:

Mitsubishi Electric

What is your most common method of projector control?
Local control using IR or RF remotes
Remote control using RS232 based control system
Desktop use (no remote used)
Other method



NEW TECHNOLOGY

Can WC3 Get Standards Accepted For All Our Devices?

Now that standards for browsers are pretty widely accepted, the WC3moves on - on our behalf - with DIA (Device Independence Activity). This excellent article covers DIA, the Mobile Access Interest Group, Television and the Web, and more. (HotWired)
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D'es the Past Become Erased? JPEGs and PDFs to the Rescue!

This write believes that our digitized cultural heritage is safe, but notes that there is a huge price to pay for the use of nonstandard formats. (MIT Technology Review)
Read more

Educational Discounts on Linux Available from Red Hat

Students can get the OS for $25/year and schools can get server software for $50/year, but there's no phone support. There's also an unlimited usage plan for $2,500/year. (Cnet News.com)
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Sponsored By

Increasing Quality in Online Instruction
This week's interview features David Starrett Director, Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, Southeast Missouri State University.



Since 1997, technology institutes at Southeast Missouri State University have helped faculty to use technology effectively. Starrett discusses roles and rewards, assessment, and other issues regarding faculty development.

Click Here to Listen

Sponsored By

Discussion of the Week:

A Hardware update .... just read about a Tablet PC running Linux for under a $1000. However, no built in wireless, and the compatibility of the character recognition app with anything else out there is questionable. Without getting in a funk about MS, the biggest problems for Tablet PCs seems to be the high costs. i.e. fees...

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