Friday, October 17, 2003
A dim view of the university revisited
While making the post about the Bollinger op-ed in the WSJ, I was reminded of an old paper by Columbia B-school professor and my former boss, Eli Noam. The paper, published in Science in 1995, was provocatively titled Electronics and the Dim Future of the University. The main thrust of Eli's argument was that while new communications technologies would greatly enhance research, they would undermine the traditional role of the University.
Scholarly activity, if viewed dispassionately, consists primarily of three elements: to create knowledge and evaluate its validity; to preserve information; and to pass it on to others. Accomplishing each of these functions is based on a set of technologies and economics. Together with history and politics, they lead to a set of institutions. Change the technology and economics, and the institutions must change, eventually.
8 years on, though it might be too early to pass any judgment on Eli's paper, the University remains as strong as ever. In fact, the dot-com bust and the rotten economy forced more students back into academia rather than away from it -- and academia of the physical sort, not the virtual sort.
Scholarly activity, if viewed dispassionately, consists primarily of three elements: to create knowledge and evaluate its validity; to preserve information; and to pass it on to others. Accomplishing each of these functions is based on a set of technologies and economics. Together with history and politics, they lead to a set of institutions. Change the technology and economics, and the institutions must change, eventually.
8 years on, though it might be too early to pass any judgment on Eli's paper, the University remains as strong as ever. In fact, the dot-com bust and the rotten economy forced more students back into academia rather than away from it -- and academia of the physical sort, not the virtual sort.
