An agency's information technology infrastructure is the base or foundation for the delivery of information to support the agency's programs and management. The infrastructure contains elements upon which an agency's information technology activities are dependent. An agency must therefore define, implement, and manage these infrastructure elements to successfully employ information technology.
The desirable characteristics of this infrastructure are efficient support for the exchange of information within the agency and between the agency and other organizations; reliable availability of information processing capabilities whenever and wherever they are needed; preservation of the integrity and confidentiality of information maintained by the agency; sufficient flexibility to allow the timely and efficient addition of new information management capabilities and modifications of established capabilities; and consistency with a coherent set of technical and managerial standards for the employment of information technology.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Toward Excellence in Technology Education
Excellence in our profession comes as a result of the collective work of us all, applying our unique talents and abilities, for the benefit of the whole, including the people we serve. Text of a speech delivered at the FTE Spirit of Excellence breakfast in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Good morning! What an honor it is for me to have been selected to speak to this group of honorees and colleagues this morning. As I look out into the audience, I see some of my former students at all levels-undergraduate through doctorate. I also see people with whom I have worked over the years, including former colleagues and current colleagues. I would particularly like to recognize my friends from Finland, Mikko and Matti. I also see some people who have the goods on me-and others on whom I have the goods. Most important, I am very pleased to share the moment with those who are being honored this morning, those upon whom the future of our profession rests.
When some of my friends learned that I was going to deliver this speech, they kidded about whether it was going to be my "swan song" since I am clearly now a senior member of this great profession. Growing up in Montana where I knew few swans, I decided to check out what this means-after pretending that I already knew. The use of the term is in reference to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely mute during its lifetime, except for singing a single, heartbreakingly beautiful song just before it dies. Trust me, this is not my swan song because I have never been very mute and I am incapable of singing at all, except for a few unmentionable occasions. However, if I do start singing, please call 911!
The Spirit of Excellence . . . this typified Donald Maley in all that he did. But what does excellence mean? I reviewed a number of resources on the subject such as Peters and Waterman's, In Search of Excellence, in which they identified a number of companies that were exemplary. I also looked at C. P. Snow's work, Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. I listened more intently to sermons on Sundays. I also reviewed Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Dilbert comic strips, and some back issues of Mad Magazine. In other words, I turned over a lot of rocks in search of the message I wanted to share with you this morning. I found little under those rocks that seemed to fit the occasion just right, so what I want to share with you are basically reflections on our profession and my life in it.
The root of the word "excellence" comes from the Latin and means to rise above. So, does excellence mean to do better than others? Does it mean that we should aspire to be better teachers than our colleagues in other subject areas? Does it mean to work harder? Does it mean to work smarter? To tell others about the good work we do? To respect the work of others? To value diversity? Excellence means all these things and more. Excellence is not a goal that is ever reached; it is an ongoing process. In fact, nearly one-third of the exemplary companies cited in the In Search of Excellence book were in financial trouble five years after the book was printed. Exemplifying excellence as a process, our own ITEA President Andy Stephenson includes the quote, "If better is possible, then good is not enough," in the byline of his correspondence.
As individuals, we cannot excel in all that we do. Some of us are excellent teachers, while others are good or average. Some of us excel in political action, while others dislike that sort of activity. Some of us know how to toot our own horns, while others are too humble to do so, even to a fault. Excellence in our profession comes as a result of the collective work of us all, applying our unique talents and abilities for the benefit of the whole, including the people we serve. So the breadth of excellence is indeed vast, and it can never be fully reached. Permit me, then, to focus on just a few aspects of excellence about which I feel passionate.
That word passionate-it is a good word for what I want to say this morning for it clearly implies human feelings. It is a word that was apparent in what I have read and observed about excellence. One could argue that for us to excel, it is a necessary precondition to be passionate about what we are doing. Passionate means that we have strong emotions and desire about what we do. Passionate means that we love what we do.
With this brief introduction, I want you to do some reflection. How did you get interested in technology in the first place? Was it a person who influenced you, or was it some experience that you had in your interactions with the artifacts of technology? Or was it some other factor? Given your interest in technology, who or what influenced you to pursue a career as an educator? Was it a person? Was it an experience? Was it the lesser of the evils? Was it a feeling of personal security that you felt you would derive from teaching?
Have you thanked the people who influenced and supported you in your career? Think about those people now. Visit them, call them, or write them if you have not thanked them. Do it as soon as you are able. I want to send you on a guilt trip about this, because if you do not thank the people who were significant influences on your life and the excellence you have achieved, then you have not upheld your responsibility in fostering excellence in our field. Though I did not know Don Maley very well, I felt honored that he knew me by name. I value the personal discussions that I had with him. I also regret that I did not thank him for his contributions to my life.
In any case, I am sure that there are as many influences in career decisions as there are individuals in this room. I must tell you, in all honesty, that my interest in technology sets me on the cutting edge of this field, as it is directly related to biotechnology. Yes, I got interested in technology through constipation! Let me tell you the story. When I was very young, I was always constipated. My mother tried many remedies to get me to spend the necessary time for the correct biological phenomena to occur, to no avail. Then one day she noticed that I was very interested in Popular Science magazine. So she restricted my reading of Popular Science only to those times when I was sitting on the toilet. Now you can only imagine, from your study of psychology, what happens when I see a Popular Science magazine in the grocery store! It is a true story, though.
As a result of being "passionate" about Popular Science magazine, I decided I wanted to be a scientist. It was many years later that I realized that Popular Science was a misnomer and should have been called Popular Technology. In fact, it is clearly still misnamed, and the Editor continues this misinformation as evidenced by what he wrote about science in the November 2007 issue. And I was misguided in my career development. How many young people today are misguided by the improper use of the terms technology and "science"?
Good morning! What an honor it is for me to have been selected to speak to this group of honorees and colleagues this morning. As I look out into the audience, I see some of my former students at all levels-undergraduate through doctorate. I also see people with whom I have worked over the years, including former colleagues and current colleagues. I would particularly like to recognize my friends from Finland, Mikko and Matti. I also see some people who have the goods on me-and others on whom I have the goods. Most important, I am very pleased to share the moment with those who are being honored this morning, those upon whom the future of our profession rests.
When some of my friends learned that I was going to deliver this speech, they kidded about whether it was going to be my "swan song" since I am clearly now a senior member of this great profession. Growing up in Montana where I knew few swans, I decided to check out what this means-after pretending that I already knew. The use of the term is in reference to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely mute during its lifetime, except for singing a single, heartbreakingly beautiful song just before it dies. Trust me, this is not my swan song because I have never been very mute and I am incapable of singing at all, except for a few unmentionable occasions. However, if I do start singing, please call 911!
The Spirit of Excellence . . . this typified Donald Maley in all that he did. But what does excellence mean? I reviewed a number of resources on the subject such as Peters and Waterman's, In Search of Excellence, in which they identified a number of companies that were exemplary. I also looked at C. P. Snow's work, Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. I listened more intently to sermons on Sundays. I also reviewed Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Dilbert comic strips, and some back issues of Mad Magazine. In other words, I turned over a lot of rocks in search of the message I wanted to share with you this morning. I found little under those rocks that seemed to fit the occasion just right, so what I want to share with you are basically reflections on our profession and my life in it.
The root of the word "excellence" comes from the Latin and means to rise above. So, does excellence mean to do better than others? Does it mean that we should aspire to be better teachers than our colleagues in other subject areas? Does it mean to work harder? Does it mean to work smarter? To tell others about the good work we do? To respect the work of others? To value diversity? Excellence means all these things and more. Excellence is not a goal that is ever reached; it is an ongoing process. In fact, nearly one-third of the exemplary companies cited in the In Search of Excellence book were in financial trouble five years after the book was printed. Exemplifying excellence as a process, our own ITEA President Andy Stephenson includes the quote, "If better is possible, then good is not enough," in the byline of his correspondence.
As individuals, we cannot excel in all that we do. Some of us are excellent teachers, while others are good or average. Some of us excel in political action, while others dislike that sort of activity. Some of us know how to toot our own horns, while others are too humble to do so, even to a fault. Excellence in our profession comes as a result of the collective work of us all, applying our unique talents and abilities for the benefit of the whole, including the people we serve. So the breadth of excellence is indeed vast, and it can never be fully reached. Permit me, then, to focus on just a few aspects of excellence about which I feel passionate.
That word passionate-it is a good word for what I want to say this morning for it clearly implies human feelings. It is a word that was apparent in what I have read and observed about excellence. One could argue that for us to excel, it is a necessary precondition to be passionate about what we are doing. Passionate means that we have strong emotions and desire about what we do. Passionate means that we love what we do.
With this brief introduction, I want you to do some reflection. How did you get interested in technology in the first place? Was it a person who influenced you, or was it some experience that you had in your interactions with the artifacts of technology? Or was it some other factor? Given your interest in technology, who or what influenced you to pursue a career as an educator? Was it a person? Was it an experience? Was it the lesser of the evils? Was it a feeling of personal security that you felt you would derive from teaching?
Have you thanked the people who influenced and supported you in your career? Think about those people now. Visit them, call them, or write them if you have not thanked them. Do it as soon as you are able. I want to send you on a guilt trip about this, because if you do not thank the people who were significant influences on your life and the excellence you have achieved, then you have not upheld your responsibility in fostering excellence in our field. Though I did not know Don Maley very well, I felt honored that he knew me by name. I value the personal discussions that I had with him. I also regret that I did not thank him for his contributions to my life.
In any case, I am sure that there are as many influences in career decisions as there are individuals in this room. I must tell you, in all honesty, that my interest in technology sets me on the cutting edge of this field, as it is directly related to biotechnology. Yes, I got interested in technology through constipation! Let me tell you the story. When I was very young, I was always constipated. My mother tried many remedies to get me to spend the necessary time for the correct biological phenomena to occur, to no avail. Then one day she noticed that I was very interested in Popular Science magazine. So she restricted my reading of Popular Science only to those times when I was sitting on the toilet. Now you can only imagine, from your study of psychology, what happens when I see a Popular Science magazine in the grocery store! It is a true story, though.
As a result of being "passionate" about Popular Science magazine, I decided I wanted to be a scientist. It was many years later that I realized that Popular Science was a misnomer and should have been called Popular Technology. In fact, it is clearly still misnamed, and the Editor continues this misinformation as evidenced by what he wrote about science in the November 2007 issue. And I was misguided in my career development. How many young people today are misguided by the improper use of the terms technology and "science"?
IT students still in the dark about their courses
The Labour Party said today that hundreds of students had still not been assigned a place to study information technology because the MCAST Institute for Information Technology was full up and the government had been slow in identifying private centres where such courses could be held.
MLP education spokesman Evarist Bartolo said it was important that these students were able to start their studies as soon as possible, but it was also important that the private centres selected for this purpose were properly equipped and adequately staffed with trained people.
He observed that while the government boasted about how many students opted to follow IT course, it was not saying that between 20 and 30 percent dropped out after the first year or failed their exams.
MLP education spokesman Evarist Bartolo said it was important that these students were able to start their studies as soon as possible, but it was also important that the private centres selected for this purpose were properly equipped and adequately staffed with trained people.
He observed that while the government boasted about how many students opted to follow IT course, it was not saying that between 20 and 30 percent dropped out after the first year or failed their exams.
Chemical Week Hosts IT Conference for Global Chemical Industry
Chemical Week will host its 11th Annual Information Technology Conference "Achieving maximum performance with IT excellence for today's global chemical industry" on September 29, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA.Chemical Week's Information Technology Conference is specifically designed to help chemical company CIOs, CTOs and senior IT managers leverage IT to address the global challenges and opportunities facing the chemical industry.
This year's program will also feature insights from a recent Chemical Week survey of chemical companies, in which 81% of companies surveyed stated that they consider the application of IT systems critical to their ability to attain or retain flexibility of operations. Just over half of companies surveyed believe competitive advantage is dependent upon IT.Back again this year is one of the traditional highlights of the Conference, the CIO of the Year Award which recognizes Chief Information Officers for innovative and creative planning and deployment of their enterprise systems, exemplary leadership and management, and service to his/her organization and the industry. T
he Award will be presented at a special reception at the end of the conference."Crafted from Chemical Week's vast editorial knowledge, unique insights, and peer group intelligence, this conference will give attendees a depth and scope of content they will not find at other events," said Lyn Tattum, Publisher and Group Vice President, Chemical Week. "This cutting-edge forum also offers unmatched knowledge sharing opportunities with other senior IT leaders."
he Award will be presented at a special reception at the end of the conference."Crafted from Chemical Week's vast editorial knowledge, unique insights, and peer group intelligence, this conference will give attendees a depth and scope of content they will not find at other events," said Lyn Tattum, Publisher and Group Vice President, Chemical Week. "This cutting-edge forum also offers unmatched knowledge sharing opportunities with other senior IT leaders."MCLA To Offer Courses In Information Technology
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) has announced that classes in information technology will be offered at the college, starting Sept. 4.The courses are intended for those interested in a career in information technology, systems engineers, software developers, or those who would like to trouble-shoot business or personal computers.Affiliated with the Cisco Systems Networking Academy, these classes will provide students with foundational knowledge in key information technology areas, from the basics of networking and program installation to what they will need to know to upgrade an operating system and preventative computer maintenance.
History of Information Technology
In order to perform these functions, the modern Information Technology Department would use computers, servers, database management systems, and cryptography. The department would be made up of several System Administrators, Database Administrators and at least one Information Technology Manager. The group usually reports to the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
In relative terms, it wasn't so long ago that the Information Technology department might have consisted of a single Computer Operator, who might be storing data on magnetic tape, and then putting it in a box down in the basement somewhere.
In relative terms, it wasn't so long ago that the Information Technology department might have consisted of a single Computer Operator, who might be storing data on magnetic tape, and then putting it in a box down in the basement somewhere.
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