Impact of IT - "The Tower and the Cloud: Higher education in the Age of Cloud Computing"
What is the impact of IT on higher education and on how IT is provided in HE organizations in this era of ubiquitous access to high-speed networks ?
I recently came across a thought-provoking volume - The Tower and The Cloud: Higher education in the Age of Cloud Computing - published as a free e-Book by EDUCAUSE. It examines the impact of IT on higher education and also on the IT organization in higher education. But it isn't intended as a book just for IT specialists or for higher education senior administrators (though it should be compulsory reading for these groups of people) - it is intended for all those with an interest in higher education and more broadly in societal structures in the networked information economy.
The book's description tells us that two forces are work: "On one hand, easy access to high-speed networks is empowering individuals. People can now discover and consume information resources and services globally from their homes. Further, new social computing approaches are inviting people to share in the creation and edification of information on the Internet. Empowerment of the individual — or consumerization — is reducing the individual's reliance on traditional brick-and-mortar institutions in favor of new and emerging virtual ones. Second, ubiquitous access to high-speed networks along with network standards, open standards and content, and techniques for virtualizing hardware, software, and services is making it possible to leverage scale economies in unprecedented ways. What appears to be emerging is industrial-scale computing—standardized infrastructure for delivering computing power, network bandwidth, data storage and protection, and services."
Download the PDF of The Tower and the Cloud.
Use this search box to extend your search
In these difficult financial times, there has been a massive increase in the number of people wanting to know about certificates, diplomas and degrees, and where they can take campus-based and online and distance learning programs. This web site seeks to provide as many links as possible to selected schools and programs. But clearly there are many more possible locations and programs. You can use this search box to extend your selection and find the schools and campus-based and distance online learning programs of your choice. You can be assured of the quality of each.
Video: Pranav Mistry on his SixthSense device
Here's an excellent video from TEDIndia, in which Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data - including a deep look at his SixthSense device.
