Op-ed published in today's YDN by three Yale SFC members (and my students!): http://www.yaledailynews.com/opinion/guest-columns/2010/02/11/csar-kamdar-and-slade-lux-et-veritas-et-gmail/
On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 1:12 AM, aphid <[email protected]> wrote: > Here's a FAQ about how this is being implemented here at UC Santa Cruz as > an *opt-in* service for students, but not faculty or staff: > http://its.ucsc.edu/service_catalog/slugmail/faq.php -- it covers some of > the issues that have come up in this thread... interesting that it's > advertising-free. > > peace &upheaval, > a > > > On 2/10/10 2:12 PM, Alex Kozak wrote: > > I'd love to have a conversation about this at the conference... would be > interesting to hear everyone's perspective. I think this is a great debate > to have. > > John you know I agree with the ideals of free software, but I think I have > a more pragmatic view when it comes to Google. Does the increased risk to > "corporate interference" and reduced autonomy outweigh the potential > benefits of these technologies? For a school without any collaboration > systems, and little capacity to deploy one, the Google option would clearly > be a net win for education and the university's mission to educate. And it > would be a win for free culture in that the capabilities for collaboration > and learning presented by the internet are being harnessed by the > institutions who could most benefit from their use. > > I definitely agree that other things being equal a floss solution is > preferable over Google. And think it's even inevitable that free software > will compete with Google apps-like services. But in the meantime should > schools not be encouraging the use of new technology until the floss > solution is as optimal as Google? > > - Alex > > On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 12:20 PM, John Sullivan <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Adi Kamdar <[email protected]> writes: >> >> > Hey folks, >> > >> > The Yale Daily News ran an article today about how there's >> almost-definite >> > talk about Yale switching to Google Apps for Education and using Google >> > servers/software to host our email. >> > >> > >> http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/02/09/google-run-yale-e-mail/ >> > >> > I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts or good literature on the >> > issues with this (re privacy, data, costs, security, tech, law, etc.). >> For >> > the most part, the students are overjoyed about this since our old email >> > system is painful to use, so it'd be nice to address usability issues as >> > well. >> >> People in this thread have commented on the Gmail aspect, but if the >> university is using the rest of the Google Apps, then that opens up the >> Google Docs issue as well -- where the free software arguments seem much >> clearer. >> >> http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/university.html has a map >> showing other schools that have already made the switch. (BTW, this >> animated map with testimonials / case studies is really cool and >> something we should do with free software adoption and free culture >> program highlights.) >> >> I don't see how this solves any RIAA problems -- your university >> administrators still have access to your email via the Google Apps >> administrative account. Google only requires that the university publish >> some kind of policy to their users, not much (or anything) about the >> content of that policy. >> >> It seems like a net loss to me -- regardless of whether Gmail is an >> ethical problem for free software or not, it's still clearly preferable >> that a university run its mail system and document >> production/collaboration using free software (or contract to someone who >> does). It means more autonomy, less risk of corporate interference in >> education, more educational opportunities for students, faculty and >> employees, and supporting the growth of an approach to software that is >> consistent with advancing any university's founding mission. >> >> -- >> -John Sullivan >> -http://wjsullivan.net >> -GPG Key: AE8600B6 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > > > > -- > Alex Kozak > [email protected] > 916.225.2718 > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing > [email protected]http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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