Fwd: Report from the Information Revolution Commission

[P. F. (Pat) Anderson]

I thought this group would be interested in seeing the following 
report on IT in contemporary academia from the University of 
Michigan. FYI! -- Pat Anderson

>To: "Faculty and Staff"@umich.edu
>From: "Lee C. Bollinger" <pirc.report at umich.edu>
>Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 18:10:58
>Subject: Report from the Information Revolution Commission
>Status:  O
>
>Dear Colleagues:
>
>I am pleased to share with you the final report of the President's Information
>Revolution Commission, available on-line at http://www.umich.edu/pres/inforev.
>
>The report is impressive.  It is a thorough, thoughtful, and 
>comprehensive assessment of the University's information technology 
>needs and opportunities.  For this tremendous, year-long effort, I 
>am most grateful to co-chairs Stephen Director and John King, to the 
>commission members, to the members of the several subcommissions 
>that studied the implications of the information revolution for 
>teaching, research, infrastructure, and global outreach, and finally 
>to the many faculty, students, and staff who shared their thoughts 
>and advice with the commission. 
>
>The commission calls on us to embrace the emerging digital 
>environment and to assist a world grappling with an explosion of 
>information.  As the report notes, a key principle, sometimes 
>overlooked in the midst of hyperbole about the digital age, is  that 
>information is not knowledge.  The University must engage with these 
>important phenomena without, I would add, losing the particular 
>intellectual character that has marked the best academic 
>communities.  The University of Michigan ought to play a pivotal 
>role in harnessing the immense volumes of information to create real 
>knowledge, and not least, knowledge about the digital environment 
>itself.  The University's depth and breadth make an ideal setting 
>not only for developing and using new technologies in research and 
>scholarship, but also for studying how the information revolution 
>affects every aspect of our lives ó from politics to science, from 
>technology to culture. 
>
>Many will be intrigued with the commission's concept of creating an 
>"ecology of experimentation" to encourage new collaborations and new 
>discoveries.  The sense of intellectual adventure expressed in this 
>idea is one we all can appreciate. Experimentation may yield new 
>areas of study, new approaches to old problems, and wider deployment 
>of promising technologies that first appear in small pilot programs. 
>In this process of trial and error, we will perhaps also discover 
>useful knowledge about the nature of human interaction with these 
>new technologies.
>
>Much work lies ahead to meet the challenges outlined in this report. 
>The commission has emphasized that there are significant short-term 
>technology infrastructure needs.  I am prepared to begin committing 
>resources necessary for infrastructure upgrades, and to work with 
>the executive officers and deans to strengthen the University's 
>network dramatically over the next five years.  Indeed, some 
>recommended infrastructure upgrades are already underway.  It is 
>worth noting, for instance, that all renovation and new building 
>projects include technological infrastructure specifications that 
>are consistent with the commission's recommendations.  Additionally, 
>as recently as the April Regents meeting, several million dollars 
>were committed to take another step in the extension and enhancement 
>of the University's fiberoptic backbone.
>
>Also, the commission identifies various policy issues to be 
>resolved, most notably our policies on intellectual property.  I 
>have recently received a preliminary draft policy from the Copyright 
>Policy Committee appointed earlier this academic year.  I plan to 
>meet with the committee shortly and to bring this issue to the 
>campus in the fall. 
>
>The scope of the report's recommendations and the decisions before us are both
>daunting and exciting; certainly, they will require further deliberation and
>planning.  I anticipate a series of campus discussions, and possibly a set of
>advisory groups to help guide our efforts.  We will undertake these 
>discussions in the months ahead. 
>
>Finally, and on a more global note, I am pleased by the convergence 
>of several major institutional initiatives we have underway ó in the 
>life sciences, information technology, and in the upcoming report on 
>undergraduate education.  They complement and enhance one another, 
>and none can fully succeed if approached in isolation. We must, 
>therefore, do our best to see that these several discussions are 
>integrated. 
>
>Again, my sincere gratitude to those who contributed to this 
>significant effort.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Lee C. Bollinger

-- 
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P. F. (Pat) Anderson                  734/763-2953, voice
Dentistry Library, Univ. Michigan     734/764-4477, fax
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respect." Taft, J. Dental Register 47 (1893):105-114.