Here Comes Google Wave

Some Buzz is just Buzz; This Buzz is a Breakthrough

Nature has published an article describing the Science of Google Wave. As an Information and Knowledge Management professional, this looks to be the dream integration we have been working toward.

I know this sounds like major hyperbole, but Watson and Crick published their view of DNA in Nature and revolutionized the life sciences. Collaborative communication has become the life's blood of scientific research in order to study and solve increasingly complex problems. The days of a lone scientist in the lab, scrawling manuscript into a dusty lab book need to be retired permanently.

The ability to collaborate on a research and development project using an open-source tool that integrates Email, documents, chat, twitter, facebook, Google search and Wikipedia will provide a one-stop-shop for the tools we already use.  But just like Watson and Crick, it is the INTEGRATION of A, G, T, and C that makes the magic work.

September 30th, 2009 will be a watershed moment. I hope I can keep up.

Off to the Races

Center for Science and Technology

Thursday, August 27th 2009 marks the start of the Fall 2009 semester at La Salle. As we welcome our students, we will be launching our new Holroyd Hall containing the Hugh and Nancy Devlin Center for Science and Technology.

While not a new idea, the incorporation of a Center for Science and TECHNOLOGY at a liberal arts university is something to note. Not wishing to "soil" their ivory complexion with vocational training in the common arts, universities too often shun the development of technology in order to dive deeper into the pure sciences, for the sake of pure science.

I applaud La Salle for their addition of the vocational and technical into the School of Arts and Sciences. I am certain the study of Science and Technology, and most importantly -- our students, will benefit greatly.