What does leadership in information technology look like today on a university campus? At Georgia Tech the hot new web-based way to access campus services comes not from the central IT department, but from a group of students. Does that reflect a failure of leadership? Or a success? I guess it depends whether what the students did was facilitated by actions of central IT — like providing easy ways to access central data repositories (i.e. the campus directory) — or done despite actions to prevent it. A proactive approach, open, standards-based, and encouraging of innovation seems the right way to go. Especially since it looks like they’ll do it with you or without you…
Wired Campus: Students at Georgia Tech Create Unofficial Campus iPhone Application – Chronicle.com
A homemade iPhone application at the Georgia Institute of Technology has gained a following — and won its student creators some fans. The application, called GT Login, is essentially a cellphone-friendly interface to several existing Web-based campus services.
Wired Campus: Lev Gonick: More on What Wikis Teach Us About Leadership – Chronicle.com
…the distributed nature of the Net — and the emergence of bottom-up collaboration tools online — has helped advance leadership that aligns and leverages the Internet and its bottom-up ethos. The Net does not respect borders, hierarchies, command-and-control organizational structures, or traditional forms of power (including the power of centralized knowledge)… it calls for decentralized decision-making, motivated employees, and inspiring relationships. The nature of wiki-way leadership — informed by a distributed architecture that encourages distributed communications — means that power will consist of leveraging individuals’ power to work together.
Wired Campus: Lev Gonick: The Wiki Way and University Leadership – Chronicle.com
I don’t think we’ve fully grasped the impact that the Internet has had on the received wisdom of leadership, on leadership style, and on governance on university campuses.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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