ITS Newsletter

In our November issue I started by saying: “We live in a world where some things rarely change and some things, like my profession, change very quickly. The constant is that we are people who are engaging in the service of something bigger than ourselves.” At the time I was setting up a comparison of how much technology has changed during Carleton’s 150 years of existence. But we’ve seen a different lens on change during the past two months. With such big issues at stake, why do I think technology should demand some of your attention?

One of the realities with technology is that it is additive. The Microsoft Office suite and email didn’t go away when people started tweeting.  There are an expanding number of things to learn and to maintain. In fact, technology often creates entirely new ways of interacting.

When my family went on vacation to San Francisco this summer, I thought I would be setting aside my focus on technology for a week.  But wouldn’t you know that technology is everywhere!  I suspect that many of you had similar experiences with technology this summer. Whether it was the move to Gmail or an obsession with Pokemon GO, my guess is that you explored something new, perhaps in a way that made technology a conduit but not the focus of your interaction.

We are beginning the migration from Zimbra to Google and the move of files from Collab to Dropbox and Google Drive. We are now in a world where communications also happen on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and websites.  This is an opportunity to reflect and reinvent.