Adobe Flash is not where it's at

Joe Brockmeier of Linux magazine wrote a good story on the future, or potential lack of it, for Adobe Flash. According to Brockmeier, development of HTML5 has the potential to largely supplant Flash on the Internet. Brockmeier wrote:

By 2012, you might want to have a Flash plugin handy to view legacy content that’s still lying around. But, by then, Flash will be well on its way to being an anecdote about the bad old days when too much of the Web was bound up in proprietary and non-standard technologies. [Read More]

Moral of the story, don't base your plans for embracing "new media" on concentrating on Flash. By the time you graduate Adobe Flash may be considered largely out of date.

Layoffs coming to SJSU

This morning in an e-mail to all SJSU employees President Whitmore said:

As we approach the end of the fiscal year, I want to update you on where we are today with the budget and what our immediate future looks like.

In fiscal year 2010-2011, we expect to face the same difficult circumstances that have proven so challenging over the last year. As we have been discussing throughout the year, we had to close a $44 million budget gap in FY 2009-2010. By making budget reductions across all areas of the university, including eliminating many vacant positions, reducing operating budgets, implementing employee furloughs, and raising student fees, we have largely (although not entirely) avoided layoffs of employees up to this point.

This year, we absorbed $19 million of our budget reduction through furloughs. However, we have recognized from the beginning that employees on furlough would not be a permanent solution to our situation. The unpleasant fact is that we must adjust our operations permanently, reducing both our student body and our staffing to fit our shrinking resources.

As I first mentioned in my fall 2009 address, layoffs are a part of our planning for next fiscal year. And while the overall number of layoffs is expected to be limited, we all will most certainly feel the impact. On a practical level, having fewer employees to share the campus workload will present real challenges.

Emotionally, having to see colleagues depart will be difficult for each and every one of us. Logistically, the impacts of layoffs will require flexibility, cooperation, and patience, as staff resources are redistributed according to the provisions of the respective union contracts. And most important, of course, is the difficulty ahead for individuals who will be directly impacted by the layoffs.

The decisions about positions this action will affect and when any action will take place have not been finalized. Once a plan has been developed, it must be approved by the Chancellor’s Office and then reviewed by our union groups. I am sharing this information with you now because I am committed to being as open and transparent about the situation as possible – and I promise to continue to update you as new information becomes available.

In the meantime, I want to reiterate my thanks and appreciation for the passion, commitment, and patience with which you do your work in these challenging times.

Jon Whitmore, President

In short, we have been given notice that layoffs are coming.

SJSU Students, Faculty and Staff Protest Education Cuts

Click picture to enlarge photo.

Mitchell Colbert, an SJSU senior political science major and active member of Students for Quality Education, burns his transcripts on March 4, 2010 in symbolic protest against the state's budget cuts on education.

[More Photos]

Secret Plans, Umm Why?

Commentary:

Today I was told there is are written plans regarding SJSU's technology initiatives, but they are not being made public. Umm, why?

I don't buy it. We are not a private company. We work for the citizens of the State of California. We are paid by the public. There are no reasons for such secrets. We have no competitors who stand to gain. We have no trade secrets.

When you are a public entity there are laws requiring openness. The concept of government openness is why there are laws like the Brown Act, the Freedom of Information Act and the Whistle Blower Protection Act. I think that transparency is not just a legal mandate. In my opinion there is an ethical obligation of openness that extends further than the laws do for government institutions, most especially for state educational institutions.

I don't believe there are secret plans; because if there were, the next question would be; umm why?

Rain at SJSU

I love the way on a rainy day, looking down is looking up.

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.