OK. Back to the big picture:
1) If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
2) If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
3) If you teach a man or a woman to think well, to organize their time
efficiently, and to enjoy being productive, you will feed not only that person
but a whole community for a very long time.
That’s why we need a
comprehensive, attractive, motivating and effective, real-time unified
communication system for students at MSU.
From: Laurence Bates
[mailto:
Sent: Wednesday, September 17,
2008 8:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: Laurence Bates
Subject: Some thoughts about a new
email system for MSU
I was surprised to find this morning that a new email system has been
announced. Yes, I know, it’s only a new web interface but it will
be perceived as a new email system and so we may as well acknowledge
that. A part of my confusion is that I was under the impression that ATS
was investigating the use of Microsoft Exchange for faculty and staff. If
that is the case then college administrators should know about this plan before
deciding what to do about the new web front end to Mail.
And here comes the difficult part since I don’t want to be either
unkind or to ignore fiscal limitations, but the second part of my confusion is
the quite frankly klunky nature of the proposed web interface for Mail. I
understand the problems in building an add-on to a home brewed system, and I am
not necessarily opposed to local development of some systems. They have
their place, but the bar has already been raised for email and calendaring
systems and expectations are necessarily high.
For what it is worth, I am moving towards the view that, rather than
concede email and calendar development to Google, which this new interface
effectively does, MSU should be aggressively seeking to build a full-fledged
MSU community with real-time unified communications – i.e. state of the
art point-of-presence, email and calendar pushing to iPod Touch devices (for
example), Pre-filled calendar class schedules for students, pre-built class
email lists, readily available web conferencing, and multi-point video
conferencing between students and faculty.
These tools are available today, and no, they are not cheap, but then
neither is a less than optimally effective and motivated student body or a
less-than-committed alumni group. If MSU has set its goals on becoming a
world integrating community, then community building, in my view, had best
begin at home.
http://www.wainhouse.com/files/papers/wr-case-sfsu.pdf
http://www.wrplatinum.com/Downloads/8808.aspx
The last URL requires registration but all .msu.edu email
addresses have automatic access to Wainhouse Research Platinum Pro material
until June of 2009.
Laurence A. Bates
217E Erickson Hall
MI 48824
517-355-2178