Bob, this is the same point you made at the meeting, and I still don't
agree with it. I therefore don't like the proposed text.
Many technolgoies *are* discipline-specific, and therefore are departmental
rather than Institute-wide matters. But many technology aren't so
localized, and it behooves us to consider their Institute-wide role. The
haptic stuff and simulation Tony was talking about are two examples of
computational advances that have implications across departmental lines;
the advanced-visualization stuff is another; the increasingly widespread
use of non-batch multivariate analysis of large datasets is another; and
there are several more. Just because connectivity connects its role is not
ipso facto cross-departmental, and just because computing doesn't its role
is not ipso facto local.
The question of what educational use of computing is properly local, from
facilities to pedagogy, and what educational use has wider implications is
very important and difficult. We've touched it several times, and the only
thing clear to me is that reasonable people disagree on the answer.
gj MIT e40-359a 617 253 3712 (voice)
1 Amherst St 617 258 8736 (fax)
Cambridge MA 02139 http://web.mit.edu/gjackson/www/