“Caught between the Scylla and Charibdes”

I just got back from a whirl-wind tour of higher education conferences: SUNY CIT, Jasig, NERCOMP Annual Conference, BbWorld, MoodleMoot Austin and the 2-3-98 Conference. At each of these events, business continuity was a significant theme both formally in the sessions offered, and casually, in-between presentations and around the tables during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Considering the continuing consolidation of technology providers and systems  affecting academic technology, SUN and Oracle, Blackboard and Angel, etc. and the havoc (real and imagined)  those merges and acquisitions cause on campuses, among faculty, staff and students and within IT shops, it’s understandable that this would be on the minds and lips of conference attendees. One debate that I keep hearing is specific to the LMS market: can Blackboard buy an open source project like Moodle or Sakai. And building on this, is Moodle or Sakai more vulnerable than the other to being purchased?

However  a more interesting scenario might be: Moodle buys Blackboard…

SOA Needs To Be “Burried”

Forrester analyst Randy Heffner, has published a report titled “SOA Is Far From Dead—But It Should Be Buried.”

Sparked by a tinderbox of economic jitters and technology backlash, a recent thread of industry discussion cries out, ‘SOA is dead!’ Although many have had fun with the discussion, it is in fact quite misguided. No prior industry initiative for IT architecture has had an impact as positive and broad-reaching as service-oriented architecture (SOA). But SOA’s impact is only part of the story: You have many more technology initiatives besides SOA. You need a bigger architectural vision that encompasses SOA, business process management, event processing, Web 2.0, and much more besides. Although SOA is far from dead, it should be buried inside a larger vision.

Agile at PSU

I was recently invited down to Penn State World Campus to discuss Delhi’s move toward Agile for the enterprise. Here is the audio and the slides to click through (sorry no bell included to tell you when to turn the page).

This was the first run for a upcoming NERCOMP presentation, so it’s a bit rough…

“No Five Year Plan, No Advisory Board: How do I still Have a Job”
[Slides] | [Part 1 Audio] | [Part 2]

Barriers to SOA: Connecting to Legacy Files

Any Suggestions?

Ah, the Good ‘ol Days

I had the opportunity for a free therapy session. Christina Smart of JISC’s e-Learning Focus was kind enough to ask about my experiences at SUNY Learning Environments, and my efforts toward implementing a Service Oriented Architecture.

The interview, Developing an SOA at SUNY; Lessons learned, was quite cathartic for me.