Dag, thanks much for posting this. You have to have sympathy for the many talented, young academics in similar straits.

The article says, "Academia is vaunted for being a meritocracy. Publications are judged on blind review..."

In fact, I think that the world at large has little regard for many kinds of academic research and writing, the value of which is judged by other academics in little closed circles of specialists.

The reliance on low-paid, part-time faculty could just be the tip of the iceberg. You've heard of Udacity, the Khan Academy, and the like. In a video at this site, Bill Sams (Chief Scientist, Pillar Technology) tries to present what might be happening: epic2020.org

In technical disciplines, I'm told by recruiters that degrees are less and less important. The respect afforded the "value added" to a student's broad skills and knowledge by a typical bachelor's program is rapidly declining.

How do you translate the available online learning opportunities into substitutes for degrees? All you need is an accepted, standardized method of assessing knowledge and skills regardless of how one acquires them. And you need employers (leave grad schools aside for now) to accept these standardized assessments in lieu of a degree. Think Abe Lincoln and law.

How do you get teachers and tutors to provide the help that students will surely need? Students can pay them directly with PayPal! "Faculty" would be rated like books are on Amazon. How do you get the wet-lab or studio experience you need? Entrepreneurs will set up local facilities, rent you time in them, and provide basic assistance.

I can't get anyone at my university to pay much attention to this, but am on a large, enthusiastic, rogue committee here in SE Michigan that includes Bill Sams and reps from industry, universities, community colleges, and technical schools. We're basically looking at how we can participate in the re-evolution of our higher education systems.

Print newspapers never really saw their demise coming.

OK, this isn't the history of computing, but it could be the future history of computing.

Bill

On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 7:38 PM, Dag Spicer <spicer@computerhistory.org> wrote:

Dea SIGCIS Friends,

This is not directly related to computing but I thought it would be of interest, especially to those in academia.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/2012820102749246453.html

Dag

--
Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum
Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043
Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055

Twitter: @ComputerHistory
FB: facebook.com/computerhistory

Technology married with the humanities makes our hearts sing. -- Steve Jobs

_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members