Multilitteratus Incognitus

The other day Rebecca posted on her blog and asked how we (I think she meant other RhizoANT collaborators) view email .  How is email different from other technologies that we use to communicate with one another for various projects.  In a previous RhizoANT post I wrote about (what seemed to be) our main vehicle for communication, the Google Doc.  Of course, as Rebecca points out we also used email to discuss some topics off the record, sort of like the sidebar that lawyers have with the judge in a court case. Just to kick off I'll start from the stance that I don't hate email.  I do my best to be at inbox-zero.  It never really happens for me, but I do my best.  At any given time I have anywhere from 5-10 email messages that need my attention.  As I respond to them, I archive them (no need for filing, just hit archive in gmail!)  While I have access to Google Inbox I have opted to not use it.  I prefer the look, feel, and functionality of ...

Back to instructional & educational technology during the winter break. Over the past few months a number of things have happened: 1. We've seen IT departments bitten by the budget shortfall bug, and IT departments are looking at how they can be lean and mean . 2. We've seen colleges contemplating stopping services like email that students can get for free and often have prior to entering college. 3. Boston College actually stopped providing new incoming students with email addresses 4. UMass Boston ended its "email for life" for students, so when a student graduates they have some period of time to request a permanent email, or else it goes buh-bye! 5. Finally, UMass Boston announced that it started a blog network (based on the WordPress platform) Now, the one thing that comes to mind is this: if it's free, why provide the service in house? This is of course in reference to the blog network, and to student email to some degree. Many of us have been usi...