Exactly!
Sitting is our enemy (of our backs, anyway). In a culture where most of us sit at our jobs, we need more desk options.
The drafting table set up is perfect. The height allows you to stand or sit (in a higher chair), and adjust the table to suit your body.
In the past 10 years, flying into the U.S. for foreign graduate students has become excrutiatingly painful. The number of academics who are willing to fly into the States for conferences is dwindling. The recent uptick in security means... well... who wants to go through that if you can choose not to?
In a letter this past week, the interim President of University of Illinois said that the institution has received only 7% of their budget from the State since July, and that staff furloughs may not be enough. In other words, administrative and professors may be layed off. This despite the fact that more Americans than ever are going back to school (probably because they can't find jobs). Other schools may not be so direly affected, but things are looking a tad bleak.
The American economy has been severely affected by the housing crisis, moreso than other countries.
All of this = a university and research in the U.S. could well be on a downward spiral.
Who the heck wants to stick around for that?
Having a collaboration tool won't alleviate all of this problem. If you've got 30 people collaborating, management has to be a large part the process. That is, thinking ahead and deciding who reviews when, what each participant's role involves (feedback, edit, write), and prescribing how they add their ideas.
The process I've used (with email/word) involves sending a document from one person to the other, so when it arrives at the end of the line, all the comments are there in one document. Then one person (or a team) decides what to keep/cut.
Acadia University in Nova Scotia did this a few years ago. In fact, they included the cost of the laptops in tuition. (http://www.acadiau.ca/) Faculty hated it, because students would sit in class with their laptops playing games instead of listening to the lecture.
Many undergraduate and graduate science students aren't coming to the U.S. because it's become so difficult to do so. They have to pay a yearly fee to be monitored by the government. Even if they do come, traveling in and out of the country is a pain.
Fewer scientists from abroad aren't looking for posts in the U.S. for the same reason. Many scientific associations are avoiding having their conferences in the States because people get harassed as they go across the border.
One friend who was born in Tehran gets pulled aside for a "random check" every time he goes to the states. He now refuses to go to conferences here.
Add on top of this most universities have been paring down because of reduced budgets because of reduced state budgets, and the issue is further impacted.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly! Sitting is our enemy (of our backs, anyway). In a culture where most of us sit at our jobs, we need more desk options. The drafting table set up is perfect. The height allows you to stand or sit (in a higher chair), and adjust the table to suit your body.
In the past 10 years, flying into the U.S. for foreign graduate students has become excrutiatingly painful. The number of academics who are willing to fly into the States for conferences is dwindling. The recent uptick in security means... well... who wants to go through that if you can choose not to? In a letter this past week, the interim President of University of Illinois said that the institution has received only 7% of their budget from the State since July, and that staff furloughs may not be enough. In other words, administrative and professors may be layed off. This despite the fact that more Americans than ever are going back to school (probably because they can't find jobs). Other schools may not be so direly affected, but things are looking a tad bleak. The American economy has been severely affected by the housing crisis, moreso than other countries. All of this = a university and research in the U.S. could well be on a downward spiral. Who the heck wants to stick around for that?
Having a collaboration tool won't alleviate all of this problem. If you've got 30 people collaborating, management has to be a large part the process. That is, thinking ahead and deciding who reviews when, what each participant's role involves (feedback, edit, write), and prescribing how they add their ideas. The process I've used (with email/word) involves sending a document from one person to the other, so when it arrives at the end of the line, all the comments are there in one document. Then one person (or a team) decides what to keep/cut.
Acadia University in Nova Scotia did this a few years ago. In fact, they included the cost of the laptops in tuition. (http://www.acadiau.ca/) Faculty hated it, because students would sit in class with their laptops playing games instead of listening to the lecture.
Many undergraduate and graduate science students aren't coming to the U.S. because it's become so difficult to do so. They have to pay a yearly fee to be monitored by the government. Even if they do come, traveling in and out of the country is a pain. Fewer scientists from abroad aren't looking for posts in the U.S. for the same reason. Many scientific associations are avoiding having their conferences in the States because people get harassed as they go across the border. One friend who was born in Tehran gets pulled aside for a "random check" every time he goes to the states. He now refuses to go to conferences here. Add on top of this most universities have been paring down because of reduced budgets because of reduced state budgets, and the issue is further impacted.
Yes, AdBusters. Amazing magazine about the hypocritical nature of advertising... no ads whatsoever.
(You should have yelled it louder)
A-D-B-U-S-T-E-R-S-!
Ta-da!