----- Original Message ----- From: "Art Pasquinelli" <Art [ dot ] Pasquinelli [ at ] sun [ dot ] com> To: <KnowEntCons-EXT [ at ] sun [ dot ] com> Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 2:51 AM Subject: KESIG: New Digital Library Tool Kit Available > > The Digital Library Tool Kit, Version 3 has just been published and is > available at; > > > http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/whitepapers/digitaltoolkit.html . > > This popular manual was published by Sun Microsystems four years ago > and has been updated several times due to high demand. It addresses > some of the leading questions that academic institutions, public > libraries, government agencies, and museums face in trying to develop > digital content and distribute it on the Internet. > > Librarians and Campus CIOs are dealing with a plethora of new > technologies and issues in the realm of Digital Libraries. The > evolution and coalescing of Java applications and open APIs, digital > object standards, Internet access, digital media management models, > database search engines, and library automation systems, is causing > educators, CIOs, and librarians to rethink many of their traditional > technologies and modes of operation. > > The 160-page document is 555k in PDF. For conferences, it is also > obtainable in hardcopy via your Sun Education and Research > salesperson. The order number is FE1320-1/2k. ----------------------------------------------- Subject: Sun ONE E-Learning Framework Whitepaper Available > Sun has developed a full Sun ONE E-Learning Framework for the UK > eUniversities Worldwide Project (http://www.ukeu.com). This project was > a combination of efforts between Sun's Global Education and Research > line of business and Sun Services. Sun has now published a whitepaper > documenting the key e-learning components of this Sun ONE project. > > The UK eUniversities Worldwide Project is a public-private initiative > backed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and > the British Government. Originally announced in February, 2002, the UK > eUniversities Project has just gone into operation and today provides > online delivery of UK higher education courses to students worldwide. > > The PDF whitepaper is titled "E-Learning Framework" and may be found at > http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/commofinterest/elearning/ > > If your institution would like to engage in conversations with the > architectural team from Sun Services, please send an email to > grace [ dot ] caulfield [ at ] sun [ dot ] com and cc art [ dot ] pasquinelli [ at ] sun [ dot ] com. ---------------------------------------------------- Subject: "The Digital Campus Primer" Published by Sun > Sun has just published a new 47-page whitepaper, "The Digital Campus > Primer". This unique document is designed to help set out issues and > answers facing higher education campus IT decision-makers as they try > to develop a wall-less digital campus. It is a great resource for > anyone just beginning to address the idea of a Digital Campus > architecture including; the Head Librarian, Academic IT Director, CIO, > etc. > > Topics include; > > > - The Definition of a Digital Campus > > - Security and Intellectual Property > > - Managing Content Across the Digital Campus > > - Moving from the Digital Campus to the "Knowledge Enterprise" > > - The Role of Sun ONE and Web Services > > For this PDF document, please go to; > > http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/whitepapers/pdf/digital_campus.p df > > If you would like to order copies for an event, please contact your > local Sun Global Education and Research salesperson and reference this > document number, FE1967-0. -------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Financial Times Article with Sun CTO, Greg Papadopoulos, on Education > > During the recent Sun Worldwide Education and Research Conference > (WWERC) in San Francisco, Greg Papadopoulos, Sun's CTO, spent about an > hour with Simon London of the Financial Times talking about where > Education is today and where he sees it going in the future. Much of it > focuses on e-learning and the difficulty in developing useful, quality > content. Interesting read. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > The Networked World Changes Everything > Financial Times > 3/24/03 > Simon London > > INTERVIEW - GREG PAPADOPOULOS, TECHNOLOGY GURU - The Silicon Valley > visionary says the internet will continue to bring rapid and > fundamental changes in centres of research and learning, writes Simon > London. > > ------- > > Not many of the "Top Gun" wannabes you see wearing a big pilot's watch > know how to use the slide-rule built into the bezel of their oversized > timepiece. It is a fair bet that Greg Papadopoulos is one of the few > who does. > > The chief technology officer of Sun Microsystems has degrees to his > name in systems science, electrical engineering and computer science. > As well as being in charge of technology strategy at Sun, one of > Silicon Valley's smartest companies, he is also involved with the > Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti) project and does > teaching stints at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. > > Slide rule? No problem. > > We are chatting over coffee in a meeting room at the once-grand St > Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Downstairs are gathered several hundred > Sun customers from the world of education - administrators, teachers > and researchers. > > What, I ask, will be the long-term impact of information technology on > the professional lives of these people? > > The 44-year-old technologist seems happiest when expounding big ideas > in front of a whiteboard. As luck would have it, there is a whiteboard > in the room. He starts by drawing a triangle, with the three corners > marked "research", "learning" and "enterprise". > > Many of the customers attending Sun's education conference are engaged > in the last of these activities - the gritty business of running the IT > systems of universities and colleges. But Mr Papadopoulos sees the > biggest impact of computers being felt in research and learning. > > "Technology is already having a huge impact by allowing the formation > of distributed research communities," he declares. "This will > fundamentally change education." > > Until recently, the university researchers interacted mainly with > fellow faculty members and students. Sure, they attended conferences to > keep in touch with their peers - but day-to-day work was done within > the university. > > However, the internet has now made it possible to collaborate with > like-minded researchers anywhere in the world. Big international > science projects have become much easier to run. Universities become > merely hosts. > > The implication, says Mr Papadopoulos, is that universities no longer > need to develop deep expertise in every field. "Institutions have in > the past tried to develop deep competence in a field to become the > 'world centre' for, say, high energy physics," he says. "In a networked > world, being the centre of a discipline is almost an oxymoron." > > As an early example, he points to advances in nanotechnology, a field > that has emerged in the internet era. > > "Everything that has been done in nanotechnology has a > multi-institutional, distributed nature to it. Moreover, the rate of > progress in that field appears to be very high. I don't know how you > would measure this but it is not impossible that...t h a t... " > > "That the advantages of distributed research will bring about a > step-change in the rate of innovation?" I suggest, hopefully. > > "Yes," he replies. > > This is all very well, I respond, but what about the second point on > his triangle: learning. Surely, the idea that e-learning would > revolutionise education has proved to be wide of the mark? > > He has a ready reply. "E-learning is all about content. And there is no > technology that accelerates the creation of great content - in fact, > delivering content online makes it harder. > > "If you've ever done a textbook, you'll know that it is an > extraordinarily difficult process. It is arduous. But to do quality > content for an online course is much more arduous than doing a > textbook." > > The mistake that schools, colleges, universities (and companies) have > made, he says, is to think that effective e-learning content could be > developed in-house by a few dedicated amateurs. > > "Online delivery gives you the opportunity to go way beyond describing > a theory, (as you would in a text book). You can introduce simulations, > experiments, demonstrations." > > Yet taking advantage of these possibilities turns an e-learning course > into, as he puts it, "a computer application with a pedagogical user > interface". > > As every software developer knows, writing complex applications, > particularly those involving rich graphics and multimedia, is a serious > business. It is doubtful that education institutions will have > sufficient resources to produce their own e-learning materials across a > wide range of subjects. > > The more likely route is specialisation, with the development of an > active marketplace in which institutions buy and sell content. > > But doesn't experience from business training tell us that "generic" > content is of limited value? > > Conventional wisdom is that companies are turning from mass-produced > content towards e-learning materials tailored exactly to their needs. > Why should the generic approach work in education? > > His answer is two-fold: first, undergraduate-level education is mainly > about learning to learn under your own steam. This is very different > from business training, where the skills acquired are usually > company-specific. > > Second, while many companies are indeed developing their own e-learning > materials, big software companies such as SAP and Peoplesoft are also > starting to offer training modules as an integral part of the > applications they sell to companies. > > Thus, the business training market is bifurcating between specialised > and generic content. > > Sun, for its part, is tending to stick with traditional > textbook-and-lecture formats when it comes to teaching employees about > the company's own specialised products and processes. The potential > advantages of developing e-learning material often does not justify the > cost. > > If he is right that education markets are more suited to generic > e-learning content, an active market in "generic" content could yet > emerge. This could lead universities, in particular, to question the > assumption that they should aim to have strong teaching and research > departments across a wide range of subjects. > > Does a university really need, say, a full English literature > department if it can buy better quality e-learning materials than it > could ever develop in-house? > > Mr Papadopoulos concludes: "The mission will be a lot more about the > environment that a university creates and less about the strength in > depth of its faculty. Teaching will be less about lecturing and more > about walking around a study group, interacting one-on-one with > students as they need you. > > "It will be more like 'teaching by walking around', if you like, or > mentoring." > > It is the type of grand vision at which Silicon Valley excelled during > the boom years of the late 1990s. Technology will turn everything on > its head. Assumptions will be challenged and market structures > transformed. > > Since then, we have all learned, of course, that it pays to be politely > sceptical of such bold claims. Real-life obstacles, such as human > obstinacy and penny-pinching, tend to slow the advance of technology > revolutions. It is not easy to restructure universities, for example, > where faculty members have tenure. > > Even so, it is difficult not to get caught up in the excitement - even > if the man with the digital vision is wearing an analogue watch. ....