Educause 2006
Annual fall meeting stirs hopes for the future
Educause 2006 :: Dallas, TX
More Work Ahead on the Internet. At the annual
Educause conference this fall in Dallas, Vinton Cerf
delivered the opening keynote—sporting the academic regalia of the University
of the Balearic Islands (Spain), from which he received an honorary
degree in computer science.
One of the principal developers of the
internet’s foundation technologies, Cerf is now helping to shape the network’s
future as Google’s “chief internet evangelist.”
He reminded attendees that there’s still a lot of work to do before all 6.5
billion citizens of the world can have internet access, and he challenged
the computer science community to tackle some of the really hard problems
in computing and programming.
Future Vision. A featured panel session on “Pioneering New
Territory and Technologies” was dedicated to the memory of Howard
Strauss, former manager of technology strategy at Princeton (NJ), who
this year posthumously received Educause’s Leadership Award for “visionary,
entertaining, and provocative thought leadership in the world of higher
education information technology.” Panelist Malcolm Brown (Dartmouth
College; NH) told Campus Technology, “I hope our work here is worthy of
his legacy.” Left to right: Saiid Ganjalizadeh, The Catholic University of America (DC); Leslie Hitch, Northeastern University (MA); Malcolm Brown; Christine McMahon, Saint Louis University (MO); and Pablo Molina, Georgetown University (DC).
Action on the Floor. Exhibitors
from virtually all technology sectors lined the
aisles of a large exhibit hall to show off their
companies’ technology visions.
Local Color. There was plenty of just
plain fun, too. From his perch atop a live
rodeo bull, Datatel President
and COO John Speer treated clients to a
Texas-style barbecue outing—complete with
cattle roping and armadillo races.