2) I think that we should include a link to MATLAB as a *simple example*
of combined--axis operation. This would illustrate Greg's point, is
relatively simply done (at least by Ed and his team), and would
counterbalance some of the other cuter but more gratuitous examples...
3) I think we should have a more detailed discussion of where the web is
going, including
a) Bob's "dark side,"
b) new helpers and viewers which may fundamentally change the way we do
business, and
c) Hal's "the web as an increasingly meaningless term."
On the new helpers and viewers I suggest mentioning haptic interfaces
--- Ed, you might even be able to get some information of this from
Prof. Ian Hunter in Mechanical Engineering.
4) Although Greg's paragraph hints at how the web may give us new ways
to do things, I would prefer a separate paragraph later that summarizes
the comments that Bill and Peter made: that there may be situations in
which we can do more than simply put old content in a new medium. From
my mundane engineering perspective, one example might be haptic
interfaces, which could fundamentally change the notion of "physical
intuition" and design decision making. (Haptic interfaces could also
turn out to be most useful for non-educational (teleoperation)
applications, but I don't think we need that level of detail.) Examples
from architecture, history, and literature would probably be even more
enlightening...
5) I agree with Bob that we should replace Long-term recommendations
with an issues or questions sections. As Bob suggested, this could start
with possible scenarios --- from M.I.T. as it is today, with distance
education a complete flop, to an M.I.T. of the future which is simply an
imprimatur of excellence conferred upon a faculty and student body which
shares no physical space at any time. Questions as to how M.I.T. might
respond could follow. The earlier emails from Chris and Dick contain
many of the relevant comments.
I realize this delays release of the report by a little bit, but in the
unlikely event that somebody actually takes our work seriously...
Tony