[FC-discuss] Yale switching to Google Apps / Gmail

[Adi Kamdar]

Here's the contract/terms that schools have to agree to:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html

Matt Senate was suggesting we go through this, highlight what's wrong and
troubling, and add our own comments/updates/suggestions.

Who wants to make a Google Doc and start this project up? :)

-Adi


On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Elizabeth Stark <emstark at gmail.com> wrote:

> Op-ed published in today's YDN by three Yale SFC members (and my
> students!):
> http://www.yaledailynews.com/opinion/guest-columns/2010/02/11/csar-kamdar-and-slade-lux-et-veritas-et-gmail/
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 1:12 AM, aphid <aphid at ucsc.edu> wrote:
>
>>  Here's a FAQ about how this is being implemented here at UC Santa Cruz as
>> an *opt-in* service for students, but not faculty or staff:
>> http://its.ucsc.edu/service_catalog/slugmail/faq.php -- it covers some of
>> the issues that have come up in this thread... interesting that it's
>> advertising-free.
>>
>> peace &upheaval,
>> a
>>
>>
>> On 2/10/10 2:12 PM, Alex Kozak wrote:
>>
>> I'd love to have a conversation about this at the conference... would be
>> interesting to hear everyone's perspective. I think this is a great debate
>> to have.
>>
>>  John you know I agree with the ideals of free software, but I think I
>> have a more pragmatic view when it comes to Google. Does the increased risk
>> to "corporate interference" and  reduced autonomy outweigh the potential
>> benefits of these technologies? For a school without any collaboration
>> systems, and little capacity to deploy one, the Google option would clearly
>> be a net win for education and the university's mission to educate. And it
>> would be a win for free culture in that the capabilities for collaboration
>> and learning presented by the internet are being harnessed by the
>> institutions who could most benefit from their use.
>>
>>  I definitely agree that other things being equal a floss solution is
>> preferable over Google. And think it's even inevitable that free software
>> will compete with Google apps-like services. But in the meantime should
>> schools not be encouraging the use of new technology until the floss
>> solution is as optimal as Google?
>>
>>  - Alex
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 12:20 PM, John Sullivan <john at wjsullivan.net>wrote:
>>
>>>  Adi Kamdar <adikamdar at gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>> > Hey folks,
>>> >
>>> > The Yale Daily News ran an article today about how there's
>>> almost-definite
>>> > talk about Yale switching to Google Apps for Education and using Google
>>> > servers/software to host our email.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/02/09/google-run-yale-e-mail/
>>> >
>>> > I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts or good literature on the
>>> > issues with this (re privacy, data, costs, security, tech, law, etc.).
>>> For
>>> > the most part, the students are overjoyed about this since our old
>>> email
>>> > system is painful to use, so it'd be nice to address usability issues
>>> as
>>> > well.
>>>
>>>  People in this thread have commented on the Gmail aspect, but if the
>>> university is using the rest of the Google Apps, then that opens up the
>>> Google Docs issue as well -- where the free software arguments seem much
>>> clearer.
>>>
>>> http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/university.html has a map
>>> showing other schools that have already made the switch. (BTW, this
>>> animated map with testimonials / case studies is really cool and
>>> something we should do with free software adoption and free culture
>>> program highlights.)
>>>
>>> I don't see how this solves any RIAA problems -- your university
>>> administrators still have access to your email via the Google Apps
>>> administrative account. Google only requires that the university publish
>>> some kind of policy to their users, not much (or anything) about the
>>> content of that policy.
>>>
>>> It seems like a net loss to me -- regardless of whether Gmail is an
>>> ethical problem for free software or not, it's still clearly preferable
>>> that a university run its mail system and document
>>> production/collaboration using free software (or contract to someone who
>>> does). It means more autonomy, less risk of corporate interference in
>>> education, more educational opportunities for students, faculty and
>>> employees, and supporting the growth of an approach to software that is
>>> consistent with advancing any university's founding mission.
>>>
>>> --
>>> -John Sullivan
>>> -http://wjsullivan.net
>>> -GPG Key: AE8600B6
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at freeculture.org
>>> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Alex Kozak
>> akozak at berkeley.edu
>> 916.225.2718
>>
>>
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