Looking for a flight plan

Commentary:

If I were a pilot about to take an airliner off the runway at SFO to go to JFK, I am pretty certain I would not be able to get off the runway unless I filed a flight plan. This seems like a pretty routine thing. In business it might be called a business plan or a project plan for a project. Project management is a field in and of itself.

Yet, with the wave of technology initiatives currently besetting SJSU I have yet to see such a plan. As an employee charged with supporting these initiatives this is not only discouraging to not know the plan, it is disorienting.

How do you know if you are headed in the right direction at the right pace if there are no established goals or checkpoints along the way? Going back to the airliner metaphor; if a pilot is flying over Chicago how would the pilot know if she/he is on course?

I guess the only thing to do is to do what the air traffic controller says and hope to God that person has a plan. There is a plan that is written down somewhere, right?

The buzz about Buzz

O'Reilly's online managing editor Mac Slocum recently wrote Google Buzz: 5 Things You Need to Know. This is a great post for O'Reilly Answers about Google Buzz. In the post Slocum efficiently covers the key points of Buzz and compares and contrasts it to social media tools like Twitter and Facebook.

A heck of a way to run a railroad

This was sent by the Provost to all SJSU Faculty and Staff:

An important and TIME-SENSITIVE message to all faculty and staff from Lael Adediji, Coordinator of Advising Information:

As we all know, competition for seats in classes can be fierce. Classes are full and waitlists are long, yet SJSU needs to make a serious effort to graduate seniors. If classes are full, how are graduating seniors to get seats in the courses they need to complete the degree? Academic Advising and Retention Services (AARS) is making an effort to assist these graduating seniors by giving them a Graduating Senior Card. On gray cardstock and embossed with SJSU’s seal, the Graduating Senior Card will be given to those with an Application for Graduation on file for Spring or Summer 2010. Graduating seniors may come to AARS, where their remaining courses will be verified. They will then be given the card as documentation that the particular class is needed. Then, they can take the card to the course instructor as verification that the student truly does need the class to complete the degree. Whenever possible, please give students with this card priority for an add code.

When an instructor receives this gray card, s/he should look for SJSU’s embossed seal, as well as the student’s name and identification, the course needed, and the initials of an AARS staff member. Many high units seniors will be aware of this card. If you have a graduating senior who needs this verification, please do not hesitate to send him or her to AARS for a Graduating Senior Card.

[Contact information deleted]

Regards, Lael Adediji, Coordinator of Advising Information

Will cloud computing hubs be terrorist targets?

As government, industry and individuals move toward a cloud computing model where applications and data resides in data hubs, could these hubs be vulnerable to, or targets of, a future terrorist attack?

Rob Enderle, who is president and founder of Enderle Group, wrote in this post, "a coordinated attack on several or all of the hubs could stop a country -- even one the size of the U.S. -- cold, with recovery taking years and massive infrastructure failures causing loss of life and resources at levels never seen outside of an outright world war."

To this Chuck Goolsbee responded, "Datacenters, Telecommunications Infrastructure, Carrier Hotels, Long-Haul Fiber-Optic Circuits, and by extension, “Cloud Computing” will never be terrorism targets. Ever. They have no emotional value. Their disablement or even destruction provokes no visceral emotional reaction or outrage..."

On Facebook not all friends are equal

Not all Facebook friends may be close, personal trusted friends you may want to have access to everything you post to Facebook. Nick O'Neill, on All-Facebook, posted this on February 2nd, 2009 of how to tweek your settings in Facebook so you can restrict some friends some seeing things you may NOT want them to see. This post has been kept up to date to reflect changes in Facebook's interface.

Winter in San Jose

Winter came to San Jose yesterday. The days are getting longer once again.

About the photo: This photo is shot on film, with a Nikon 105mm 2.5 lens (Ken Compton's old lens) on a N90S on Fuji 400 film exposed at 200. Click on photo to see a larger version.

End of Fall at San Jose State

Fall is finished at SJSU. This photo was taken between Clark Hall and Dwight Bentel Hall on November 29, 2009. Two guys were tossing a football in the late afternoon that day. Just click on the photo to see a larger version of the image.

Ram's Last Day

Today is a day of many celebrations at the help desk. It is both happy and sad as today is Ram Kumar Rama Roo's last day. Ram has been at the help desk for three years and is our senior student lead. He will be missed!

We had a help desk celebration to celebrate that, several staff birthdays and the end of the semester. (Click on the above photo if you would like to see it larger.)

Why Google Apps for Education?

Members of the Google Apps Education team explain Google Apps, how Google Apps work, the benefits of Google Apps as well as provide some information about Google's education program.

Solutions: Linking Apple and Google Calendars

This video, by Gary Rosenzweig of MacMost.com, shows a free way to link Apple iCal Calendars and Google Calendars so that when you put an event in one it appears in the other. This is a good way to get Google Calendar events to appear on your iPhone, for example. There are other, not free, solutions as well including Spanning Synch. I like Spanning Synch if you have multiple Apple Macs where you will be entering calendar events, or want granular control to link multiple calendars.