IT Trends :: Thursday, February 8, 2007 -- Campus Technology

IT Trends :: Thursday, February 8, 2007

02/08/07

Opinion

We Had to Destroy the Library in Order To Save It

By Terry Calhoun

Let's take a look into the near future and see who wins the race to digitize "the record of humanity up through 2000. The whole premodern world." The current frontrunner is Google, of course, with its Google Library Project. Since I live and work next to the campus of the University of Michigan, I am aware that one answer U-M has to the early Internet issue of people not coming to the library is taking the library to people. All 8 million of the U-M's books are part of Google's project.

But the winner, in the race to put "the record of humanity up to 2000" into digital form, able to be stored on a single 128 Petabyte storage card for $19.99 will be the Informagical Coalition backed by Chinese dollars.

What? Well, yeah, that's according to one of my favorite science fiction authors, Vernor Vinge....

IT News

Sakai, Blackboard Comment on Patent Pledge: Last week we reported that Blackboard had released a legally binding pledge stating that the company would not assert its patent rights against open-source developers in the CMS space or against developers of "home-grown" systems. The non-assertion pledge also covers those who service such systems, including hosting, maintenance, support and customization. And it includes the current patent, as well as patents pending. We spoke with Blackboard representative Matthew Small, who provided some insight and clarification on the pledge. Since then, we've also had a chance to speak with Chuck Severence, executive director of the Sakai Foundation--a central player in the patent discussion--for additional comments....
Ohio U Brings Second Life to Middle School Students: Ohio University's Office of Outreach and Russ College of Engineering and Technology paired up to develop educational software on Second Life, an online virtual Mecca....
U. of Chicago Students Attempt OurSpace Service: University of Chicago students have launched a website that enables Internet users to build their own social sites, with simple features that can be "customized, privatized, and personalized."...
Philadelphia U Adopts Trumba Connect: Philadelphia University is using technologies from Trumba to connect students and faculty to online events on and around the campus....
Eastern Oklahoma State Replaces ERP: by Michelle Rutledge; Eastern Oklahoma State College (EOSC) has paired up with Datatel Colleague to replace its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in an effort to improve the campus' online functionality. The new ERP system is expected to improve online processes and enhance the services provided on the college's website....; Read More | Back to top

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