IT Effectiveness

This podcast features a 50 minute keynote address from the EDUCAUSE 2008 Enterprise Conference. The speech, "The Big Brother Dilemma," is by Gregory A. Jackson, Vice President & CIO, University of Chicago.

We want cameras watching for problems, but we worry that they will observe or disclose things we'd like to keep private. We want network administrators to track harassing e-mail to its source, but we don't want anyone monitoring our e-mail. We want our buildings to admit occupants and keep strangers out, but we don't want anyone keeping track of when we arrive and leave. In other words, we want big brothers to watch out for us, but we don't want Big Brother to watch us. And IT is caught in the middle.

note: commercial material from television and movies was used in this speech and has been cut out of the recording with as little effect on the speech as possible.

Data for fiscal year 2006-07 are now being collected for the Core Data Service (CDS) database on campus IT environments. Eligible institutions should complete the CDS survey by March 7. View the 950 institutions that participated last year.

This 30-minute podcast recorded during the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference features Michael Ferdinando, Account Manager, CIT Academic Technology Services and User Support, Cornell University, Nan McKenna, Director, Client Relations, Stanford University, and Steven Winig, Internal Management Consultant and Special Assistant to the VP, MIT in a session titled "Relationship Management: Stronger Partnerships to Inform IT Planning."

The session abstract:

Relationship management is a holistic approach to understanding customer IT needs that augments existing relationships between customers and IT service teams. The goals are to position central IT to understand customer priorities and to inform operational and strategic planning. This panel discussion will offer three institutions' approaches and the successes and challenges they face.

In this 13 minute podcast, we feature an interview with Dr. Chris Adie, Academic Liaison Director for the College of Science and Engineering in the Information Services Group of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He provides a key strategic link between the College and Information Services, covering the entire portfolio of IT, Library, eLearning and learning spaces technology. Previous positions have included Head, Specialist Services Division of Edinburgh University Computing Services. A physicist by training, Chris has many years experience of software development in commercial and academic support roles.

This interview was conducted at the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington. It was conducted by Bill Hogue, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the eight campuses of the University of South Carolina.

In this podcast, we feature an eleven minute interview with Albert DeSimone, Commuications Director for the University of Georgia. As a Communications Officer at the University of Georgia specializing in Information Technology, Mr. DeSimone assists students, faculty, and staff with Web-related projects. He was interviewed at the EDUCAUSE 2007 Southeast Regional Conference regarding his presentation entitled, "Assessing "Portalness: A Guide for CIOs and Other Decision Makers".

The abstract:

Assessing the effectiveness of a portal solution requires more than statistical analysis. In this presentation we will go beyond simple quantitative analysis (number of "hits" or visits) to assess the effectiveness of a portal based on qualitative attributes (integration, personalization, and customization) to assist in the evaluation of a current or future portal implementation.

In this podcast, we present a panel discussion from the EDUCAUSE 2007 Enterprise Conference, entitled "IT Matters!". The panel is moderated by EDUCAUSE Vice President Richard Katz and includes:

David Koehler, Director of Enterprise Systems, Cornell University

James S. Roberts, Executive Vice Provost, Finance and Administration, Duke University

Susan E. Thorin, University Librarian, Dean of Libraries, Syracuse University

• Annie Stunden on policies and portal implementation
• Marc Eichen on aligning IT with institutional value disciplines
• Jonathan D. Mott and Garin Granata on determining the "value on investment" for teaching and learning technologies
• Complete findings from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Current IT Issues Survey