14 April 2008
Folks, I have to tell you, my brain is full! Is yours?
Everywhere I look or turn, I have more information than I know what to do with. Case in point, until recently, I had all of my family’s data scattered across three PCs in four different hard drives. Now, being proud of my geekness, I recently purchased a one terabyte external drive to consolidate all of our data.
One terabyte! Do you realize how much storage space that is? For those of you who are less geeky than me, one CD-R can hold 700 megabytes of data. Now, there was a time when I thought 700 MB was enormous, especially compared against the 3 ½ inch floppy disk (which held 1.44 MB and was twice the storage capacity of the original 5 ¼” floppy). That was a big step forward because one CD could hold the capacity of 486 3 ½” floppies.
Let’s put this into perspective. My new drive can hold the capacity of 1498 CDs!!! That comes to a total capacity of 728,028 floppies!
So what are we doing with all of this increased storage capacity?
I’m not sure what others are doing but I went back and reviewed some of the data I consolidated on my new 1TB drive. Let’s see. There are those hundreds of files of scanned drawings from my kids’ elementary school artwork. I was surprised at the number of those humorous digital jokes – mostly political – that people have sent me over the years. Can’t throw those away! I can not forget those “cover your butt” email messages that I saved when I worked for that one terrible boss – over a decade ago. Of course, we have digitized a lot of photos over the years… they’re dumped in there. I even came across my Master’s Thesis from 1983 (was I really that boring!). In other words, I have millions of megabytes of data that I will probably never view again.
Experts tell us that by the year 2010 (less than two years away), the amount of data existing in cyberspace will double every 72 hours. Wow! I don’t even want to think about the impact of all that stuff! If I do, I’ll just drive myself crazy. With so much information floating around, how will we find what we really need? Since Google appears to be the only tool around that can quickly sort through so much data, we will all become slaves of the Google Empire just to survive in a universe of media overload?
And to think, there was a time when we had the opposite problem – finding enough information when conducting extensive research. I remember, as a graduate student, utilizing interlibrary loans a lot. But time moved much more slowly then. Waiting a week for a book or document to arrive from another library was not all that unreasonable. In today’s world, having to click the mouse more than three times to find information is deemed unreasonable.
Even in the military, with incredibly expensive state-of-the-art systems, the paradigm has dramatically shifted. In the 1980s and 1990s, I served in the Army as an intelligence officer. In those days, our challenge was finding rapid means to disseminate intelligence (i.e. analyzed and processed information) down to units that really needed it. Subordinate units always accused us of hoarding intelligence (do you really have a need to know?) or at best, not being timely enough. With technology though, subordinate units can now quickly pull down what they need rather than waiting for intelligence to be pushed down.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not long for the old days. Indeed, I love the new days because I have mastered the art of searching (albeit a la Google). What used to take me hours, days and weeks now only takes minutes. And I can do all of this from my basement at home while sitting in my pajamas. No more trekking to the library!
Of course, today’s students take all of this for granted. Maybe I am a bit of an old geezer because I find this to be unfair. Why should these young dudes and dudettes have it so easy? And with wireless, they can find anything from almost anywhere! Heck, the library is no longer the Mecca of Knowledge. Rather, it is just another social gathering spot. Will hardbound books someday go the way of the music LP or 45?
But back to this problem of data proliferation. With Google, all things are possible. My searches usually hit the target. I then save a copy of what I find. I push one up to my home directory on the network and probably to my local hard drive at work. Hmmm…. but I need that file at home this weekend so I save a copy to my thumb drive. But that data on my thumb drive quickly fills up… to the point where I must transfer data off of my thumb drive (usually to a drive on my home system). But then I realize that I have a SEXY, BRAND NEW, SUPERSONIC ONE TERRABYTE EXTERNAL DRIVE THAT CAN BE MY ONE CENTRAL MECCA OF DATA!!!!! So I copy everything there. Fun…. But oh no… I have 5 copies of the same file and I’m not sure which one had my final revisions. Darn. Hmmmm… maybe I should buy a second one terabyte drive to hold my duplicates…..
So, are we creating a digital version of our attics and garages? I think we are. But that’s OK ‘cause I have Google! To me, Google is the Wizard of Oz… not sure how or what it does but it gives me what I think I need.
Too bad old bicycles and lawn mowers can’t fit on that drive!
13 Feb 08
Are you afraid of Technology?
I’m not, but you may be. Yep, if you are, you may be a Technophobe.
At the risk of mimicking Jeff Foxworthy, the blue collar comic, “you may be a Technophobe if you…..” No, let’s not go down that path…
But it is true that people feel intimidated by technology. And I could never understand why. This decade is a wonderful time to be alive. We are witnessing the maturation of technology with almost everything we do in our daily lives. Indeed, I could easily write pages and pages of examples. However, my point is simply this: technology is not really that mysterious. It is not voodoo or the wonderful Wizard of Oz. In fact, the mechanics of it all are rather straightforward and most often boring.
My kids are not afraid of technology. Oh no, not at all. On the contrary, they embrace many dimensions of technology and rely on technology to facilitate their daily tasks and activities. But, unlike me (their nerdy dad), they are not infatuated with technology. They are not Technophiles like me. The fact is my kids take technology for granted. To them, it is nothing special. Technology is pervasive in their lives. Always on, always available and always connected. Technology is just there.
All of which offers up an interesting observation: Is Technophobia generational? Is it a valid generalization that the older one is, the more likely one is intimidated by technology? At the risk of subscribing to stereotypes, I think so.
My mother is a perfect example. She feels as comfortable around a PC as much as a bomb disposal expert feels disarming an explosive device. She’s afraid that she will do something wrong. Which astounds me. A computer never makes a mistake. It will always do what you tell it to. The problem is: people don’t tell it to do things correctly. But people never admit to that, huh? It is always “this stupid thing did this….” or “I just don’t understand why my PC always does that…”
Have you ever noticed how sensitive people are about their computer skills? Oh my. People do not want to be perceived as inadequate or less than competent when operating a PC in front of someone else. With some people, it’s like you insulted their kids or something if you in any way suggest that more training is probably needed. But ask any Help Desk Manager. In the vast majority of service calls, user error is at the root of most problems. But for us customer service providers, we must be careful in pointing that out. In some cases, with some people, it is downright dangerous to point that out! Indeed, in this day and age, we technologists must be up on our tradecraft AND possess superior people/customer service skills.
By chance, have you also ever noticed how often students teach teachers on the use of current technology? What implications does this have for assessing or measuring learning outcomes in the classroom? Are older faculty members missing out on some wonderful tools that could improve and enrich the teaching and learning experience? Unfortunately, I believe this to be true (but self-healing as younger faculty members enter the workforce).
So… what am I really trying to say or suggest here? Simply that technology is straightforward and some training is often required. Do you want to see some magic? Just take a novice user and dedicate some quality training time to his or her use of software. I promise you, he or she will return from class with a positive attitude and a feeling of accomplishment. More importantly, this person will feel empowered. He or she will become more productive and, more importantly, he or she will feel less intimidated about technology.
….. that is, until the next time that mean-spirited, finicky PC loses or deletes that critical file!
P.S.
…..AND just wait until the PC starts talking to you. How will YOU react when you start hearing voices!
January 8th, 2008
While most people are outlining their New Years resolutions, I find myself reflecting back on the year and contemplating our successes. There are many… and I am proud of the entire department for improving customer service and for taking our organization to a higher, more professional level.
In calendar year 2007, the IS Department closed 11,500 service request tickets. That number was a 40% increase over 2006 totals.
At the same time, our customer service ratings rose sharply to an overall 96% approval level.
These stats do not include all of the projects – several large, critical initiatives that consumed enormous development hours. Nor do these stats reflect the dozen security enhancement efforts that have allowed us to deploy state-of-the-art solutions. Indeed, I could go on and on about our team’s accomplishments but I will save some of those for future blogs.
As I review the 2007 service statistics, I am truly amazed at the contributions of our student workers. In short, they are amazing people. Let me tell you why….
First of all, our student workers perform services that are just as crucial as those that our career staff members deliver. Except for restricting their access to sensitive data, students provide our customers with a wide range of services. In the process, they are held to the same high standards of customer service as the full time staff. For example, after they are fully trained, we trust them to run the Help Desk after hours, to provide desk-side break/fix services to the faculty and staff, and to generally work unsupervised anywhere on campus. Our veteran students are often accepted into department internships. We have even allowed our most experienced students to direct and manage critical projects (like the laptop encryption project) or do primary development on our web sites.
Second, within the IS Department, our students interact with the full time staff on an equal basis. Nothing more, nothing less. We tolerate no differences – perceived or real – with “status” levels. Like full time employees, they are trained and coached and all students receive performance feedback. They also attend our department staff meetings and all social events.
Third, our students provide a valuable perspective on the state of our network and its utilization. And we listen. They have their fingers on the pulse of the student body. Some of the best ideas on improvements and modernization have come from our student workers.
Fourth, our students contribute significantly to the high morale of our department. They always have a positive attitude and they make us all laugh. Unlike us older folks, they have not forgotten how to have fun at work. Personally, they are good for me. Our students remind me by their very presence to lighten up and not take everything so seriously.
Finally, my hope is that this atmosphere of trust and reliance provides our student workers with a great opportunity to experience a professional work environment first hand. By being emerged in the full operations of a high performing IT organization, they have a unique opportunity that goes well beyond any internship. Indeed, they have a head-start over their peers… and a chance to make a real difference here.
So… thank you VERY much….!
Stephanie G., Steve, Matt, Ricky, Andrew, Joe, Albert, Vicky, Stephanie, Peter, Zach and Adrian.
OK… enough pats on the back… now lets get back to work.
Hello everybody
Last week I talked about “comfort” and how Information Technology has made our lives more comfortable. That contemplation has made me evaluate the word “comfortable” beyond the direct application of technology to our daily lives. In a broader sense, these thoughts led me to closely exam how comfortable and satisfied we (ODU’s IS Department) feel in delivering the full spectrum of technology solutions to our customers.
Our comfort level in providing world-class technology service and support actually fluctuates from day to day. Some days we feel very comfortable in meeting our customers’ expectations, other days not so. It’s the nature of our business. Because technological advancements occur frequently and are often extensive, IT personnel struggle constantly with emerging technology standards. I have come to the conclusion that, sometimes, the most comfortable solution may not be the best solution.
Here’s how that works.
As new IT standards are defined and implemented, IT personnel are often faced with a dilemma. We strive to make the user’s technology experience as seamless and “comfortable” as possible. But there is usually an inverse reaction to this intent. Namely, the easier we attempt to deliver a comfortable user experience, the more difficult it becomes for us on the back end to deliver and maintain easy-to-use interfaces.
A good example of this is the network logon. Everyone hates passwords; especially passwords that must be changed frequently because of security standards. In the last decade or so, IT personnel have worked hard to achieve the “single sign-on.” In theory, it’s a great concept! Hey – one password for everything! Yeah… right. Let me tell you, getting totally disparate systems to “talk” to each other is a nightmarish task. I think Middle East peace talks might be easier!
But single sign-on is a worthy endeavor. Comfort for the end user in this regard brings greater efficiencies.
Another example is end-user installed software or rather, the policy against end-users from installing software on their work PCs. Some of our customers look at us as though we are the evil Big Brother, limiting them from being productive by “locking” down their PCs to prevent software installations.
But, believe me, we are not the bad guys! True, it would be very easy for us to allow end-users to install software. It would also make us very popular! But look at the ramifications: increased exposure to security threats; proliferation of non-licensed software; redundant, non-standard applications; and issues with configuration conflicts. All of these consequences would lead to heavier workloads as IT personnel responded to increased service requests. And such conflicts would reduce productivity for all people and systems impacted.
So, like everything else in life, greater efficiencies and best solutions often require a bit of effort. It’s a simple lesson that people often forget. Maybe we forget because human beings love to take the path of least resistance. And, to come full circle, that is why everyone loves technology!
Well… no revelations this week, folks. Only this: at the end of the day, doing the right thing can often be uncomfortable. Hey… if it were that easy, life would be no fun! Right?