A Google / Microsoft Educational Content Platform?
By Joshua Kim June 3, 2010 9:49 pm
"…..I am bothered by the idea that Google should do it for us. We're getting awfully dependent on Uncle Google, and he's a little creepy. He goes through our pockets and looks at our e-mail so he can tell advertisers what we're interested in. It may be better than hiring Blackboard to be our expensive and bossy Jeeves, but it's not that hard to publish to the web."
Barbara's feedback got me thinking about why I am so willing to turn over so much of our "academic" life to Google. And is it just Google? Would I respond equally positively if Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, or SunGard wanted to provide us with a platform to host, distribute, and discover educational materials such as syllabi? No doubt that this issue touches on much larger questions about the role of for-profit companies inserting themselves in the educational process, and the degree to which we have become dependent on these companies.
Unlike Barbara, my gut seems to be fine with Google providing a platform for exchanging and sharing educational materials. Perhaps because I'm already using Google for my e-mail,
