Higher education is not leading technology but rather trying to catch up

I attended a meeting last week that revolved around technology and the use of new technology, like Social Media, within Higher Education. After listening to what LiU is doing and what others are doing, the members of the meeting realized that we need to face the fact that Higher Education is not leading technology but rather trying to catch up with it. And that this fact is likely not something new, but for some our leading position is deeply rooted in our self-image.

Higher Education has set the pace and the direction for a long time. Simply look at the internet, the world wide web and email. These days we do wondrous things at our higher education institutions, like massive parallel computing, but this is technology not being transferred to the general public (not yet anyhow). Naturally there is a lot of work done around social media, app development, the social impact of new technology and much more. But where are the new revolutionizing ideas?

Must Higher Education realize that we do not drive change any longer but rather consume change done by others?

iPad - tablets done right

Sweden is not one of the lucky countries where iPad is being sold yet (edit: It  might come soon as production is catching up). However I have been able to briefly borrow an iPad and been looking at it. It is truly an impressive device. It has a great form factor, it is around an A4 in size and weighs 670 grams. The screen is great with good contrast. It has a good battery performance (around 10 hours). Multi touch screen and good network connectivity.

The interesting bit about iPad is that has revolutionized the tablet market. And will continue to do so. There will naturally be similar devices from all other vendors.

This trend means that any company must ponder about how to safely deliver the information and the tools the user needs to work. Cloud services and terminal servers are likely part of this development and solution.

But the most interesting aspect to consider is: iPad is easy to administer for the user. It is essentially a phone. The OS is administered by Apple, updates being sent over the net and the user doesn't really have to care about it. A true bliss for most users. The device being used should just work (this is true about any device: computer, phone, tablet).

Will this be the future delivery mechanism for OSs for devices? If a company can control some aspects of the OS, like security and integrity of information/data and that the user can access it many obstacles is solved. I would welcome this development if the users life is simplified.

The social, on demand, online, time shifted, place shifted future

I have for the past couple of years been using a Home Theater PC (HTPC) solution built on top on Windows and Mediaportal . It has posed several interesting technological problems, ranging from hard disc space, failing power supplies, to integrating DVB-T cards. The next challenge will be integration of HD transmission using DVB-T2 and MPEG4. But this post is not about all that but something more interesting… and the true paradigm shift in entertainment and learning.

My 4,5 year old daughter and my 3 year old son has always had this solution available to them. They have truly grown up to a on demand online media entertainment. Our TV-ritual is simple, they take turn wishing for something to see. Sometimes it is Pippi Longstocking, sometimes Postman Pat. From time to time we also introduce new experiences to them like a new series. The way I do this is simple, I record interesting TV-series and store them on the computer and serve them on demand to the children. However sometimes they wish for something else, often I can find it on online sites like svtplay.se, Voddler or YouTube. An example was the wish to see some motorcycles, a simple search on YouTube found enough video to satisfy a three year olds heart desire. This has naturally introduced a problem, when we visit others without this kind of solution, the children has learned the term "Live TV". Live TV simply means not watching what you want when you want it.

A very good feature using this kind of solutions is the availability to pause everything , including live TV (a life saver for anyone with the desire to see the news and having small children). In the future I expect I will make sure we go from a single stand alone solution to a central media server and clients in different rooms or even mobile. Enabling an on demand, online, time shifted and place shifted media experience.

But the above is also true when it comes to music, images etc. We buy music either on CD or online and store that on the computer. But since there is good online services out there the need for local storage is rapidly decreasing. A good example of a online service is Spotify and more will be created in the future.

The social aspect of all this comes in form of the possibility to share what you are watching or listening to using your favorite social network. Spotify integrated with Facebook not long ago.

When I started to build this solution most seemed to be more technologically skilled than me, almost developers themselves. These days the software and hardware is getting better and easier making this technology available to everybody. Either as a stand-alone solution like a TiVo or as a PC-solution. I expect to see server solutions in the future taking advantage of solutions like Windows 7, Windows Media Center, XBOX 360 (with Kinect) and Windows 7 phones (and naturally the equivalent on Apple or Linux…). That is, an integrated kit of appliances and applications .

Now to the interesting bit - My children will enter the school system and eventually (I hope) a university in 15 years. During this time other kids will have grown accustomed to this kind of solutions giving higher education institutions only a few years to prepare for the kind of students that expect an social, on demand, online, time shifted and place shifted learning experience. Some say this future is already upon us, some that it will take a little while longer, but only a few that it will never happen. There is need for much action to prepare for this future both in faculty/staff training and in technological solutions (mainly making things easier much much easier). Over the years the terms used for this new reality has differed, these days I guess Virtual Learning Environments is often used (at least in Europe). Naturally one can argue that the birth of this paradigm shift lies elsewhere, but from my perspective the key here lies in the perspective. My children doesn't understand live TV, it is unnatural, the abnormal behavior (even though I guess they will be forced to learn that there is a harsh world out there). Live TV is something as archaic as dinosaurs and black and white TV sets.

The normal behavior is the social, on demand, online, time shifted and place shifted experience!

RIP Google Wave

Google has announced (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-on-google-wave.html) that they will discontinue with Google Wave. The adoption rate has been too slow and too small.

I am not really surprised, is anyone? One interesting thing from my perspective is the lack of stamina from Googles side and the lack of willingness to integrate Wave into other products, like Gmail.

Another interesting aspect is the enthusiasm shown at the launch. I was also intrigued by the possibilities Wave showed but in general all communication plattforms need to be available to all an individual communicates. But real time communication is growing is it not? Look at instant messaging or MSN as some call it. An integration/paradigm shift around email might be possible and desirable. I can see how I am starting to use email at times and Office Communication Server at times when it comes to communicating internally the step to Wave is not necessarily that far.

In any case Google Wave did create ripples in media, I found over 300 articles about the closure. Some examples: Mashable, Sky, The Guardian, DN, IDG, SvD, SydSvenskan and many more.