Imagining Tomorrow's Future Today

This article by Art St George and the Educause Evolving Technologies Committee reports on the seven evolving technologies that they consider are having the most direct impact on higher education. The report is based on the white papers written by individual members of the committee. These white papers can be found on the Evolving Technologies Committee web site.

1. The Web in 2007: It's not Just a Browser, It's a Platform. Not only do we have APIs (application programming interfaces) and mashups, we also have RIAs (rich internet applications) - tools that can be moved out of the browser and onto the desk top. RIAs could become the 'balance point that joins the advantages of Web and Internet access with the "user experience" of desktop applications.'
2. Integrating Google Apps for Higher Education. These Apps range from Gmail to Google Groups and GoogleSketchUP6 and they can be used to enhance collaborative learning. They're part of the whole Web 2.0 environment - users can publish, discuss and become part of the content.
3. The Evolution of Web Conferencing. This technology 'provides a way for individuals and groups to bridge distances and to communicate in exciting new ways."
4. M-Learning. In this context it means portable and personal technology and its use in higher education can produce much greater flexibility and enhanced communication.
5. 3D Printing: Turning Virtual Models into Hard Copy. This can add a tactile experience to design work.
6. Virtualization: Applications, Systems, and Beyond. Allows for greater customisation in the delivery of applications.
7. Information Lifecycle Management and Physical Storage Technologies for Digital Preservation. As increasing amounts of material is digitised, or born digital, ways of preserving it for the long term become increasingly necessary.

Let's share

Another article in the AFR of 18/1/08 is titled 'Social sites must learn to share'. It's on page 79. It highlights the problems associated with transferring your content from one social networking site to another. For example, you might want to move from MySpace to Facebook or Twitter, or transfer your photos from Yahoo! Flickr to Google's Picasa, but the current lack of standards mean it's almost impossible to do so.
Companies that own these sites may be reluctant to allow this, but users are saying that they (the users) own their friendships, not the sites.
There's now an Australian-based working group, Dataportability.org, that's 'aimed at creating and promoting open standards for personal data across the internet'. One member of this group is quoted as predicting that the company that's the first to allow such data portability is in a powerful position as users would become committed to such as site, knowing that they can move in the future if they wish.

Offices Face up to networking craze

The Aust Fin Review from 18 January 2008 has an article on the use of Facebook in the workplace (see Pages 1, 57). For example, Qantas group QF Crew is for staff using it to swap stories about their 'high-flying workplace'. Then there's the Qantas Flight Atendants group for, you guessed it, flight attendants.
In some workplaces Facebook is now seen as a third means of communication (the others being email and phone). Members can include senior staff and board directors - this is especially likely in 'knowledge work' in industries such as consulting, legal and financial services.
Included in the article is a table of Australian based companies showing their attitudes to the use of Facebook in the workplace. These range from 'official corporate presence' to 'tolerates it' and 'bans it', plus one company, AMP, which is believed to be working on an alternative.
Those that ban it cite reasons such as time spent on the site and the effect on bandwidth of 'content-heavy' pages. Most of those that tolerate it provided employees' use doesn't breach internet usage guidelines. Some use it as a way to communicate with staff and customers. Some are also investigating developing their own internal facilities because of the potential value as a team space.
One concern cited is that of security, that is, the potential for sensitive or confidential company information to be inadvertently revealed to the world.
However, 'ultimately, if there is one message that corporate Facebooks users commonly espouse, it is that the technology and social networking are here to stay'.