[tt] CHE: New Book by Educause Explores Impact of 'Cloud Computing' on Colleges

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New Book by Educause Explores Impact of 'Cloud Computing' on Colleges
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3418/new-book-by-educause-explores-impact-of-cloud-computing-on-colleges?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
October 27, 2008

The digital revolution has already gone through several major phases. 
First there was the rise of personal computers, when people learned how to 
use word processors, and computer labs opened on campuses everywhere. Then 
came the popularization of the Internet, and users figured out that 
computers were more fun when you use them to talk to others. A new book by 
Educause, a higher-education technology organization, argues that we’re 
entering a new chapter in computing — the era of cloud computing — and 
that it’s one that will have implications for all aspects of university 
life.

The book is called The Tower and The Cloud: Higher Education in the Age of 
Cloud Computing, and the organization is releasing it this week at its 
annual conference, in Orlando. Cloud computing is usually used to refer to 
applications that run on computer networks rather than on personal 
computers, but the book defines the term more broadly, wrapping in topics 
like open-source software and social-networking tools that seem 
increasingly popular at colleges.

The 21 essays in the book were written by well-known leaders in college 
technology, including Clifford A. Lynch, executive director of the 
Coalition of Networked Information; Paul N. Courant, university librarian 
at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; and Yochai Benkler, a law 
professor at Harvard University and author of the book The Wealth of 
Networks.

Richard N. Katz, a vice-president at Educause, edited the volume and wrote 
the opening essay. He said in a recent interview that the book was “a 
celebration of what is possible and what is becoming possible,” but also 
“a cautionary tale.”

“We don’t know really what happens when you make your infrastructure 
interdependent with Amazon or you place your data in the care of Google,” 
Mr. Katz said, referring to some of the major companies offering Web-based 
computer services.

One theme of the book is that cloud computing is pushing colleges to 
become more open with their scholarship and software production. True to 
that ethos, the organization has made the full text of the book available 
free on its Web site, and the authors have used a Creative Commons license 
for their individual essays, allowing others to republish them. 
Old-fashioned print copies are also available for purchase from Educause.

For more on cloud computing, see the latest installment of The Chronicle’s 
new College 2.0 column, on “3 Ways Web-Based Computing Will Change 
Colleges.” —Jeffrey R. Young