OPINION

Achieving Amenity

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

What is “achieving amenity?” Well, for one thing it is a fascinating thought to roll around in your mind as you go through your day experiencing the technologies around you. A contrarian way to define a technology that has achieved “amenity” would be that it is any technology, the users of which do not think of as a “technology.”

This phrase, and some other interesting ideas, came to me while watching a Web cast interview of Donald M. Norris, a leading higher education thinker and consultant. Norris often seems like someone who has a personal “window” into which he can peer and see the future, which he then tries to explain to the rest of us in words that are the best anyone can find to describe and explain a world that d'es not yet exist. Imagine a professor at Columbia University in 1870 peering through a virtual window—a professor bright enough to really understand much of what he’s seeing--and then trying to describe to colleagues the inside and outside of, and the activities in, say the new Gehry building at MIT, the Stata Center.

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IT NEWS

Stanford Students Say BigFix Looks Like a Big Risk

BigFix is the anti-virus program selected by Stanford's residential computing office, but some of the residential computing coordinators are advising students not to install it--due to privacy concerns. (The Stanford Daily)
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Hacker Gets into Computer at U Colorado, Boulder

And the computer was packed full of not only social security numbers, but credit card information, too. Officials are still analyzing what may or may not have been taken or at risk. (RockyMountainNews.com)
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Former U Texas Student Hacker Indicted by Grand Jury

The university spent $167k responding to the security breach he created. The student is now matriculating in the computer science program at the University of Houston. (USA Today)

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IntelliGym: Weight Room for the Brain

That's right, training college basketball players to play better using video games. It’s a natural. (CBS Sportsline.com)
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State of Mississippi Audit May Cut Use of Cell Phones

“Jackson State University had one of the highest annual service costs per phone at $755 for 198 cell phones, according to the audit.” But when state budgets get tight, watch out. In Mississippi they're calling cell phones "luxury" items. (The Clarion-Ledger)
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New File Sharing Program May Sneak 35% of Bandwidth

Ever hear of BitTorrent? You will. It's been under the radar but it's in such common use that it's getting notice now. And it's offshore, and thus not as susceptible to RIAA-type threats. (Wired News)
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Larry Smarr at U Buffalo Distinguished Speakers Series

Smarr, who now heads "Optiputer," was honored as a distinguished speaker. His address was about a vision of a "virtual computer" spanning hundreds of thousands of miles. Think big, Larry. (The Buffalo News)
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Indiana State U Students Asked to Raise IT Fees

Top administrators want the student senate's approval to raise fees on incoming freshmen about $400 per semester to fund mandatory laptop computers. (Indiana Statesman Online)
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Hardest Tech-Support Job on Earth?

Thousands of highly skilled specialists are virtually present around the clock and wherever they are needed via the TeleEngineering Operations Center, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). What makes it tough? Lives are often directly at stake. (Wired News)
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RESOURCES

Where to Go When Your Hard Drive Has a Hard Time

A fascinating and comprehensive look, from a student perspective, about a student's options for obtaining IT support in times of trouble. (The Johns Hopkins News-Letter)
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Susan Patrick Talks About the Future of Ed Tech

This is an interview with Susan Patrick, Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, in which she talks about the future of technology in the classroom. (Converge Online)
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How Are Europeans Using Technology for Science Ed?

This report sheds light on learning & teaching science, based on studies done in Europe. (Information Society Technologies)
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League for Innovation Publishes New eLearning Guide

A new, 2nd edition of Faculty Guide for Moving Teaching and Learning to the Web, by Judith V. Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad, was featured this week at the League for Innovation’s CIT conference in Tampa, Fla. The guide offers a comprehensive view of eLearning on today’s campuses, including what planners need to consider for developing sustainable programs. Copies were available at the conference.
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DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

U Illinois at Chicago Inaugurates CAVEwave

UIC acquired a dedicated 10 Gbps wavelength on the National LambdaRail (NLR) from Chicago to San Diego. The 3,200-mile wavelength is called the CAVEwave. (Yahoo! Finance/PR Newswire)
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Caltech Spending $100M+ on New IT Initiative

The university-wide initiative called Information Science and Technology (IST) is intended to draw "back the curtain on the nature of information itself," eventually cutting "across disciplines, eventually involving over 25 percent of all faculty and nearly 35 percent of students on campus, likely altering the Institute's intellectual and organizational landscape." (CCNews)
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