EDUCAUSE | Google

University Libraries in Google Project to Offer Backup Digital Library

ckeller — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:55:00 -0500

A group of major universities has been quietly working for the past two years to build one of the largest online collections of books ever assembled, by pooling the millions of volumes that Google has scanned in its partnership with university libraries.

Talking About Cloud Computing (Part 2)

agould — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:31:45 -0500

Last week, Google DC Talks held a discussion on cloud computing. It also served as an opportunity to showcase a recent study on the subject conducted by the Pew Reseach Center's Internet and American Life Project. In the Pew report, it was revealed that while most people have probably not heard the term,"cloud computing," they most certainly engage in it ("'Cloud computing' takes hold as 69% of all Internet users have either stored data online or used a web-based software application.")

So what are people saying?

Mike Nelson, a professor of Communications, Culture, and Technology at Georgetown University, says cloud computing will "transform the way we do computing ... not in ten years, but more like in four or five." Nelson says this new way of computing is about important as the Web was fifteen years ago. But he warned that there are still challenges ahead, and policy often lags far behind bursts of innovation and hardware development. He said there is a definite need for education on where data is saved and what personal or professional consequences may exist for having data or information exposed.

Ari Schwartz from the Center for Democracy and Technology said that while things you may keep in your house are constitutionally protected, the things you place in the "cloud" are not. Schwartz said he hopes that courts will eventually see that privacy should be constitutionally protected in the cloud, as well as in other areas of people's lives.

"Bring the fourth amendment into the 21st century," said Schwartz.

Clearly, cloud computing offers businesses and individuals creative and more efficient ways to do business, but there are limits. Dan Burton of salesforce.com said there are some organizations, agencies, and businesses that will not place confidential, sensitive information in the cloud. The risk is too great, especially when it relates to national security or closely held trade secrets. Keeping information like that in an in-house server is much preferable to letting it float in cyberspace where security is an unknown.

All of the participants in the discussion agreed that cloud computing will be a major topic over the next few months as we consider how it is affecting people, commerce, and computing. Additionally, the privacy and education concerns will almost certainly be a recurring theme. Stay tuned.

Google Mix-Up Results in $1 Billion Run on United Airlines Stock

agould — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:18:35 -0500

You can file this one under "How Technology is Not Perfect."

Evidently, an old story about United Airlines (UAL) filing for bankruptcy in 2002 made its way onto Google news, resulting in a steep plunge for UAL stocks on Monday. When traders on the floor saw the outdated story, they immediately started selling stock, so that UAL shares went from $12 to around $3 when trading stopped (As of Thursday, they had rebounded to $11). Today, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced it was opening an inquiry into how an old news story resulted in significant, albeit temporary, stock losses for the airline.

It is believed that a single person viewed a 2002 article in the South Florida Sun Sentinel in the early Sunday morning hours, which resulted in the story being bumped into the "Popular News" category of that newspaper. Soon after that, a Google program scanned the piece and placed it in its news section. From there, a Florida investment firm found the story on Monday morning, and the rest is history. Some have said a closer look at the article's contents would have revealed the story as being outdated, but people focused only on the headline.

See The Times article for the rest of this fascinating story.

Talking About Cloud Computing (Part 1)

agould — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:27:23 -0500

Today, Google hosted a discussion entitled "Cloud Computing:Navigating the Next Frontier" in its Washington, DC office. The panel, which was moderated by Google policy director Alan Davidson, featured four panelists: John Horrigan, Pew Internet and American Life Project; Dan Burton, Global Public Policy, salesforce.com; Mike Nelson, Communications, Culture and Technology program at Georgetown University; and Ari Schwartz, Center for Democracy and Technology. This blog entry is the first of two on this topic.

The Google discussion comes at a time when the Pew Internet and American Life Project just released a report on the use of cloud computing services and applications. Horrigan, the first speaker, briefly addressed some his organization's findings in that report. He said they found that "69% of online Americans use webmail services, store data online, or use software programs ... whose functionality is located on the web." While most people have not heard of the term "cloud computing," they are certainly participating in it. Here is a breakdown of some common activities and the percentage of users who participate in them.

1. Use webmail services like Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo! mail. 56%
2. Store personal photos online. 34%
3. Use online apps such as Google Docs or Adope Photoshop Express. 29%
4. Store personal videos online. 7%
5. Pay to store computer files online. 5%
6. Back up hard drive to an online site. 5%

Horrigan says 69% of online users have done at least one of these six activities. He learned that while people prize access to information on the Internet, they also have strong feelings about having their information kept between the vendor and themselves. He said 90% of cloud application users would be "very concerned" if their data was sold to a third party. That said, users trade some privacy for the easy accessibility.

In Horrigan's report, he summarizes cloud computing as "any online activity, such as accessing data or using a software program, which can be done from different devices regardless of the on-ramp to the Internet." Because the activities are stored on the web and not on a person's computer, issues of trust, privacy and control arise.

"This raises issues for users which they may or may not fully appreciate. Trust comes to the fore; if one is to rely on the cloud, one has to trust that data and services will be there when called upon," the report says.

These issues and others will be explored in my next blog entry. In the meantime, please read Horrigan's memo for further information.

Emerging technologies for learning

ckeller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:46:24 -0500

'Emerging technologies for learning' aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years.

New ELI 7 Things... Brief Explores Google Apps

pkurkowski — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:53:11 -0500

Google Apps is a collection of web-based programs and file storage that run in a web browser. The applications include communication tools (Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Calendar), productivity tools (Google Docs: text files, spreadsheets, and presentations), a customizable start page (iGoogle), and Google Sites (to develop web pages). Google stores all of the files and content centrally and keeps a record of the different versions of a file. The 7 Things You Should Know About Google Apps, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Google Apps makes sharing content as simple as granting someone access, which facilitates collaboration, peer review of academic materials, and the collective generation of knowledge.

Browse the complete 7 Things You Should Know About… monthly series.

A Few Thoughts on the Google Books Library Project

ckeller — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:37:29 -0600

Only by transforming knowledge contained in print to new and easily accessible digital formats can we guarantee its survival.

Google Suite for Higher Education

ckeller — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:46:31 -0500

The evolving technologies committee is charged with identifying and monitoring evolving technologies and their impact on higher education institutions. This submission is on Google Apps for higher education.

A few new podcasts of interest ...

mpasiewicz — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:07:36 -0500

NPR's Andy Carvin recently joined Talk of the Nation to cover social networking and sites like Facebook and MySpace. During the recording, they covered a number of issues related to their use in education.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14993512

First Monday is starting up a new series of podcasts. The current recording features an interview with Ian Bogost about his new book, Persuasive Games. Next up is Siva Vaidhyanathan ... I was forwarded a preview of the very interesting recording, but they haven't linked it up yet.

http://www.firstmonday.org/podcasts/

Inheritance and loss? A brief survey of Google Books

ckeller — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:25:22 -0500

The Google Books Project has drawn a great deal of attention, offering the prospect of the library of the future and rendering many other library and digitizing projects apparently superfluous. To grasp the value of Google’s endeavor, we need among other things, to assess its quality. On such a vast and undocumented project, the task is challenging. In this essay, I attempt an initial assessment in two steps. First, I argue that most quality assurance on the Web is provided either through innovation or through “inheritance.” In the later case, Web sites rely heavily on institutional authority and quality assurance techniques that antedate the Web, assuming that they will carry across unproblematically into the digital world. I suggest that quality assurance in the Google’s Book Search and Google Books Library Project primarily comes through inheritance, drawing on the reputation of the libraries, and before them publishers involved. Then I chose one book to sample the Google’s Project, Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. This book proved a difficult challenge for Project Gutenberg, but more surprisingly, it evidently challenged Google’s approach, suggesting that quality is not automatically inherited. In conclusion, I suggest that a strain of romanticism may limit Google’s ability to deal with that very awkward object, the book.