rant

Lest we look back and remember Sun workstations fondly...

Our crappy little corner of the world now has Google Street View. It looks like the Googlemobile came through last summer, though I haven't been able to figure out exactly when. The imagery covers at least Houghton and the villages of Laurium and Calumet, but fortunately not all the way out to those of us who live even further in the sticks.

I thought Street View was kind of neat when it was other people's houses I could drive by, but now it just has me feeling...uneasy.

Rumors are flying that DCS wants to outsource email. Back in 2000, they outsourced our local Usenet groups, which was less than successful. James reminded me of my shenanigans back then:

Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 10:23:08 -0400
To: "Myles, Joshua A." <jamyles@mtu.edu>
From: Ann West <awest@mtu.edu>
Subject: Your e-mail service post
Cc: cjmacdon@mtu.edu

Mr. Myles,

It has come to my attention that you posted the following 
notice on mtu.announce regarding the outsourcing of
e-mail.

Joshua Myles wrote:
>
> Starting September 11, MTU's email system will undergo 
> changes intended to reduce the load on MTU's local mail 
> server. After September 11, all MTU mail will be handled
> by Hotmail, part of the Microsoft Network.
> 
> Since a very small amount of students actually use MTU's 
> email system, it was determined that email could be more
> efficiently handled by a commercial provider.
>                                                                    
> Any users who wish to continue receiving MTU email must
> register at http://www.hotmail.com/. Many desirable 
> usernames are available, such as
> fastredcar53982@hotmail.com.                                               
>                                                                
> This change in service is likely to cause a massive
> slowdown in service, and occasional service failures.
> MTU is not responsible for these service issues, and all
> technical problems should be directed to
> support@hotmail.com.
> 
> Thank you for your support.

While we all appreciate a bit of satire, do not post 
service-spoofing messages in mtu.announce. A number of 
readers mistook your note for an official announcement of
IT. This creates additional work on our part to address
rumors resulting from the satirical posting. Let me know
if you have questions or would like to discuss this
further.

Ann West

Don't bother ordering from Nashbar if you're concerned with customer service. For example, their Order Status page says to "check back soon". Well, don't hold your breath, since it's been broken since July 2006.

We drove past the Minneapolis airport yesterday, and saw a digital sign:

THREAT LEVEL

ORANGE

We immediately assumed a state of medium to medium-high vague, general uneasiness. It's always better to proactively be in a state of mild panic. It's for our own good.

Michigan Tech will soon have a shiny new campus CMS (Content Management System). Ever since the buzz started (I imagine a visiting vendor gave a particularly flashy dog&pony), web development and maintenance has ground to a halt. Nobody wants to invest time or effort in maintaining or creating web content, because "we'll just have to do it again when the CMS goes live".

This doesn't make any sense.

CMS is a tool, not a solution. CMS is not a silver bullet. CMS will not write your content, it won't design your site hierarchy, it won't create a pleasing layout. These things are necessary regardless of the tools used; I can write content on a notepad, I can draw a page layout on a whiteboard, I can design a site hierarchy using sticky notes. These are the difficult things. The things a CMS or any other tool can't do for you. The things so often done poorly.

This misunderstanding of the capabilities of information technology is very common, and I see it in my job every day. It's not something that bothers me much any longer. But the bigger annoyance here is the "let's wait" attitude. It's analogous to holding off on writing your novel in anticipation of the purchase of a new printing press.

My hope is that someday, we will all (university administration included) have the perspective to see information technology for what it really is, a tool. Only then will we really have the power to use it effectively.