When it all goes wrong

One of the interesting hurdles in tertiary IT is the variability of network functionality.  Two examples follow.

This week we all received an email from IT at UNDA.  Essentially it was an apology.  UNDA is migrating from old Sun webmail servers to a new live@edu platform.   The email admitted that the Sun system is on its last legs and wasn't coping with the load.    Now, I am not sure if this means that emails are not being delivered, not received, or whether they are just arriving late, but either way, this is a critical failure.  It reminds us all of the vulnerability of tertiary IT systems.  It isn't necessarily a reason to abandon modern technology, but just one of the little niggles that makes people frustrated.

A second hiccough this week was that our educational CMS, "Blackboard" has been shutdown over a (bit more than) 48 hour period across the weekend.  From 5pm Friday until Monday morning.  What this means, is that while I had set aside time to completing my assessment tasks for this subject in ICT (ED6114), I can not do so.  All the course materials and unt outline are online.   Grumble, grumble, snort.

Tertiary IT really needs to lift it's game if it to secure the confidence of staff and students.  Communication is the backbone of any organisation and deserves adequate attention and funding that allows for strength and stability.  After all, the internet and email came to academia long before it came to the public.