Power to the People

Back, Karla and Barwick, Daniel. "High Tech's Double Edge: Creating Organizationally Appropriate Responses to Emerging Technologies." On The Horizon: 15.1 (2007) 28-36. 22 Jul. 2008 Emerald Journals. .

Whilst the "emerging technologies" this article addresses are blogs it regards them more from a management perspective rather than a practitioner's one. It is based on a case study of the situation at the State University of New York College of Technology at Alfred in 2006. In this situation, a public blog became staff and students' only outlet to air grievances with the college's president. This forum became so powerful as to effectively end the president's tenure. However, instead of decrying blogs in general Back and Barwick argue that administrations need to understand it so they can deploy it in their favour and prevent the college receiving bad publicity.

Selected quotes (resplendant with annotations):

"Little attention is paid to the leadership/management challenges and opportunities these technologies create" (28)
"Openly critical academic blogs present administrators with unique opportunities for increased effectiveness, and most of their supposed drawbacks are really just indicative of disguised institutional problems of which such blogs are merely symptomatic" (29)
"A public college presidency ended not simply because of the president's failure to meet expectations, but also as a direct result of an administration's inability to adequately respond to a private blog"

This just goes to show how powerful this method of communication can be; since blogs are popular publishing, word can spread quickly around the blogosphere so, if the right information is spread, you can reach a large audience very quickly. You just need to tap into this tool to make sure that - in your opinion - the right information is spread.

"Free speech is traditionally regarded as a cornerstone of the campus environment" (31)

Yet this article points out that it is only free speech of a certain type - i.e. upholding the system - that is the true cornerstone of the campus environment. Should such a phenomenon be unchallenged?

"Students are an integral part of the operations of the campus. They live on the campus, work on the campus, and in many cases help govern the campus. [...] Students are also implicit ambassadors for the college and both active and passive recruiters as well" (31-32)

If we teach students a way to incorporate new technologies into their formal studies then we are better assisting them to cope with future challenges. Indeed, most students don't need to be taught how to use emerging technologies - the computer literacy of a large percentage of tertiary students these days is astounding - but rather on how to use them effectively to manage/store information and create/synthesise knowledge.

"Although many believe that academia often leads with the integration of new technologies, history does not support this belief"

Indeed, if academia does not start making up some of the ground they lost then universities are in danger of being left behind as places of learning; if the system does not adapt then it is in danger of being seen as antiquated and irrelevant. There is also the wider issue of universities being slow to change generally. Is this a symptom of trying to account for tradition and new technologies? Also, because things have been done for a certain way for the entirety of living memory then when something new comes along there is a great sense of inertia which this new technology has to counter.

"We believe that administrators should seek ways to use new technologies to increase the level of communication(or to provide alternative means of communication) across the campus, and that the result would be improved perception in the work environment" (33)

Indeed, the same goes for lecturers communicating with students. Do we not provide a richer experience when we teach the students why something is important? What better way to help inculcate this why than with a blog which reflects the personal philosophies of a lecturer?