In reading the posting Gerry made about Washington State University going paperless, I found myself thinking about people who work as cooks, housekeepers, groundskeepers, and at other positions where access to and use of information technologies is limited and/or restricted. It would be interesting to know how the University is going to ensure that this group of employees has access to both "need to know" as well as "might want to know" information that feeds into and also directly impacts their work experiences. I was relieved to hear that a University actually believes this approach is too radical, in the case of Gerry's employer. This reaction sent a signal to me that the administrators are thinking about change management issues at different levels of operation. As someone who has worked in the technology transfer area for a lot of years, my advice is to use this sort of reaction as a starting point to explore digital divide issues that exist at your own place of employment. Gail Gail Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Candidate INFO 202 Social Aspects of IT Teaching Assistant
Message: 8 Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:41:48 -0600 From: "McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]" <gerrymck@iastate.edu> Subject: [Air-L] WSU To Go Paperless || Social Networks For A Green
Colleagues/
Earlier this week, The Chronicle of Higher Education / Wired Campus reported on a recent initiative at Washington State University:
"Internal Communications at Washington State U. Go Paperless" / Steve Kolowich / February 10, 2009
As noted in the story: "Washington State University has decided to go paperless for all internal communications on its four campuses, moving all memos, fliers, posters, and its weekly newspaper to cyberspace. 'Experts have been predicting a transition to a paperless society for years,' wrote Elson S. Floyd, the university's president, in a statement this afternoon. 'Meanwhile, it seems that the piles of papers that cross our desks keep growing. We plan to reverse that trend.'
The decision, made official last month, comes amid an effort to trim $10-million from the university's budget by June, with further cuts anticipated next year. [snip]
In addition, the article reports that "[w]hile the budgetary impact of going paperless might be largely symbolic, university officials note that the switch also has environmental benefits."[snip]
She also said that quitting paper cold turkey would encourage the university to integrate Web 2.0 technologies-such as blogging and social networking-into its internal communications. [snip]
For More Details and Link See [ http://tinyurl.com/b7otw5 ]
She further elaborated stating ... 'it is really exciting to deliver the news in a new format," he added. "We have to learn to use the tools of the Web and Web 2.0 effectively.'
For More Details and Link See [ http://tinyurl.com/daf8ge ]
BTW: During the breakout session at our Sustainability Symposium held earlier this week, I had planned to suggest that various interlinked university social networks be created to facilitate communication, coordination, and cooperation amongst/between various individual, departmental, and administrative efforts but thought that The Idea would be considered Too Radical ... Little Did I Know That WSU Would See The (Potential) Benefit of Social Networks For Its Green Initiatives [:-)]
Enjoy!
/Gerry
Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011
gerrymck@iastate.edu
There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ]
Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows [ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/