Being An Information Systems Professor

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe but the semester is over and most of us have turned our thoughts to the holiday season. I have always found this a perfect time to reflect on the past year and set an intention for the upcoming year.

I have been very influenced by Meg Wheatley, a scholar who has been applying systems theory to organizations. I highly recommend her book, Perseverance. In it, she helps to answer the question, what makes some people, even with failures and setbacks, keep doing work that they care about, that they feel is important.

I recommend it because all of us have failures, setbacks, disappointments and obstacles to overcome. All of us. And we need to learn to persevere, to "keep on keeping on." Sometimes school is like that-I know it was for me when I returned at the age of 40 to begin working on my doctorate. Sometimes work is like that-in the words of Jim Croce, "some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you."

We all just need to keep showing up, to remember that each day is a new beginning.

And so I wish for you and your families and your friends a peace-filled holiday break. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year, a new beginning of a new semester.

Fall semester, already?

2011-09-07T11:34:00.003-04:00

I have absolutely no idea where the summer went, that's for sure.

I worked, we went to Asheville, NC, I worked some more, we went to P'town and hurried back to avoid Irene, and I worked some more.

Oh, I see, I worked all summer, that's where it went!

How I miss the 16 weeks of vacation that I got as a faculty member! Giving them up was one of the trade offs that I had to weigh when I agreed to serve as the (Interim) dean, but now as I begin year four (!) I find myself really wishing I had been able to take more vacation time. I could use a complete rest, time away from the rat race, and as Lily Tomlin says, even if you win, you're still a rat!

But now it's the first day of class, and the race is on!

Good luck to all of us, students, teachers, parents.

A New Year, a New Post

2011-01-17T12:35:00.006-05:00

Hard for me to believe that it is 2011, but it is. And I've been thinking alot about what we need to be discussing in classrooms.

Yesterday I spent some time with my friend, Deb, who runs an excellent Internet marketing company (you can find more information about her firm here). We wound up talking about Chris Anderson's article in the August issue of Wired, The Web is Dead, Long Live the Internet. How can you predict the "next big thing?" Will it really be apps? Deb contends that Facebook is over; what's next?

And how does that affect our curricula?

Things to ponder....

I'm back-reading Program or Be Programmed

2010-11-24T14:59:00.005-05:00

I have a new blog-you can find it here.

I'm still serving as the Interim Dean, so that's why I've got the Dean's blog, but at heart I'm still an Information Systems Professor, so I'll keep this one, too.

And it's an exciting time to be an IS/IT professor. The field is changing, our courses are changing, and the definition of Information Technology is changing. Our students know more about some specific things than we do, but less about the overall field than we do-and that is a problem. One of my colleagues, Joe, sent me a "must read" note about a book, Program or Be Programmed, by Douglas Rushkoff-you can watch a video here. Rushkoff gives me pause.

Why is this different from, say, just getting in my car and driving? Well, for one thing, I usually steer when I drive. Many of the applications we use on the web "steer" us. I'll end with this thought. Rushoff's "ten commandments" are important-here's a snipppet from a review in The Miami Herald:

The author’s Decalogue here is a set of rules of conduct. To wit: Do Not Be ‘Always On;’ Live in Person; You May Always Choose ‘None of the Above;’ You Are Never Completely Right; One Size Does Not Fit All; Be Yourself; Do Not Sell Your Friends; Tell the Truth; Share, Don’t Steal; and Program or Be Programmed.” Each of the command(ments) comprise a chapter.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/22/1936739/be-a-driver-or-a-passenger.html#ixzz16USZ3nCx

Being an Interim Dean?

2008-06-20T08:38:00.003-04:00

I've been named Interim Dean, effective July 1 (although I jumped right in and am "deaning" now). Should I change the name of this blog? No, I'll just start a new one- The Dean's Diary (http://seidenbergdean.blogspot.com Every Friday I'll post what I did for the week and where I'll be.
Should be interesting-I never thought I'd be dean, never really planned for it but it feels like this is what I was mean to do-isn't that weird?

Graduation!

2008-05-21T21:39:00.004-04:00

This is what I've been looking at ALL DAY! Cleaning up e-mail, marking papers, posting grades.

The semester is over and now I can look forward to arguing with students about their papers and working on plans for the Doctor of Professional Studies program.

Oh, and maybe being interim Dean-that will be different!

I love it when people ask what I do all summer. This summer will be no different from earlier summers. I'll work like a dog trying to "catch up" only to realize that I can never catch up. Oh well, I should know better but "hope springs eternal."

My two computers

2008-04-26T12:54:00.004-04:00

My two computers,
originally uploaded by caknappprof.

Doesn't everyone have two computers? My trusty go-everywhere-with-me laptop and my favorite iMac? It's hard to believe that when I started working at Pace, back in the "dark ages" I didn't have a computer-I had a terminal that allowed me to connect to the mainframe to read my mail, such as it was!

If anyone had explained to me that I'd have a laptop that went everywhere with me, a cell phone that fit in my pocket and that I had to be careful not to lose, and a PDA that would keep track of all of my phone numbers, passwords and to-do lists, I would have wondered what drugs that person was taking!

I can't remember the last time I held a piece of chalk!

My Office in Pleasantville

2008-04-26T12:53:00.005-04:00

My Office in Pleasantville,
originally uploaded by caknappprof.

I've been working on a project, part of which has me taking photos of my work place and home. This is what my bulletin board looks like-maybe I should clean some of that junk off!

On the other hand, what would I do with a clean bulletin board, or a clean desk for that matter!

Dissertations!

2008-04-25T14:22:00.005-04:00

I've just come from the doctoral dissertation defense of a former Master's student of mine, Tom. Way to go, Tom! But why did you have to remind me that I had you as a student 15 years ago!

Dissertation defenses are nerve wracking events, I believe, for everyone. This was my fourth as a committee member (Doug and Bucky in the Lubin School of Business, and Joe and Darren in the Seidenberg School). The next one that I sit through I'll be the advisor (Nora) so perhaps it will be less nerve wracking. I'm reading Seth Godin's book The Big Dip (you can learn more about Seth Godin here: Seth Godin's blog. I realize now that writing and defending the dissertation is "the big dip" that separates the ADBs from the PhDs.

End of one class, midterms in another

2008-04-13T22:00:00.008-04:00

Ahh, the leisurely life of a college professor! Here it is, two days before tax day, and here's how far behind I have gotten: I haven't yet marked the midterms in one class, and I haven't yet marked the midterms in the second class that ended last week! How did this happen?

It's easy. Take an already full work load, throw in hours of meetings about whether or not one school should merge with another, add a few faculty council meetings on the same topic, season with deciding whether or not I should toss my non-existent hat into the proverbial ring, and before you know it you've added about 100 hours to a month of 45 to 50 hour work weeks.

The good news is that the program is just about done for the institute; the bad news is that I now have a ton of letters to send out.

Now I only have two dissertation committees to get through, one where the dissertation is basically done and just needs some editing (Tom, we've got to get rid of the typos!) and one where the dissertation needs some major restructuring. Once I finish marking all the papers (about 12 hours or so of work), finish reading Tom's dissertation (another 6 hours should take care of it), and post the grades for the doctoral course I can take a deep breath.

Somehow in the midst of all of this I managed to submit a proposal to POD and to volunteer to be a reviewer, and I also managed to apply for and be accepted to the Faculty Resource Network Summer class for Designing Effective On-line Learning Environments.

Oh and did I mention that I'm on Team Seidenberg for the Relay for Life event to raise money for cancer? Now let me see, did I really leave corporate life for the more reasonably paced halls of academia? What was I thinking! I NEVER worked Sundays when I was in corporate life, and this is the second Sunday I've gone in to have lunch with accepted students and their families and make a presentation on political web sites. And I get to do this for almost as much as I was making when I left corporate life (once you adjust it all for inflation-in 1983 I was making $50,000-I'd have to be making $108,200 today to be making what I was making then, according to the Federal Reserve Bank at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/data/us/calc/and I'm not making that much, especially since I didn't get a raise last year, but then I've mentioned that already, haven't I?

Ah, the academic life

2008-03-11T13:20:00.003-04:00

So here's the past week:

Monday: work like a maniac on the proposal while sitting in a doctor's office with my aunt.

Tuesday: take the train into the city, attend the Pace for Women event, the Faculty Institute Planning meeting, and have a conference call about the doctor of professional studies program. Then a building collapses and there are no trains back to Westchester, so Anne drives to the Bronx to pick me up (what fun!).

Wednesday: get to the gym, then to a memorial service for a colleague who died much too young (47). Work on the proposal, grade some midterms, prepare for my data warehousing class.

Thursday: work on the proposal, prepare for Saturday's class, hold office hours.

Friday: take a couple of hours to drive to the city to get my hair cut, then work on the proposal, attend the Campus faculty council meeting, work on the proposal, send the damn thing out! Get home around 6:30 for dinner.

Saturday: up early to finish preparing for class, get in around 12 for my class, jump between two classes: the one I'm teaching and the one in which my doctoral student is presenting;

Sunday: rush home after church services to prepare my presentation for today's preview day, go in and have lunch with parents and accepted students, make my presentation, come home.

Monday: get into the city for a series of meetings: 12:30, SOA lecture, 2:30, interview, 4:00, strategic planning committee, 6 PM, meet my data warehousing class.

And of course at least an hour (sometimes two!) of e-mail, and a few more conference calls thrown in.

Ah, the easy life of a 21st century college professor!

Is it time for midterms already?

2008-02-26T11:13:00.003-05:00

Almost! Good heavens! Another semester flies by, the first of my 24th year at Pace University. What a long, strange trip it's been.

A former student (shout out to Michael Dauria!) sent me a note after reading my earlier post about being at Pace for that long. He reminded me that in this industry now, there's no way I'd be at one place for 23+ years.

And I was reminded that for the first 10 years or so that I worked, I had four jobs-The Home Insurance Company, Rapidata, Equitable Life Assurance Society, The New York Times. That covers from December, 1969 (when I came home from my three month trip to Europe on $5 a day - don't laugh, it was possible then) and December 1983, when I basically was outplaced from The Times. I think the longest job was at The Equitable, 1973 until 1978.

And now my work life is run by the rhythms of the academic life-the semester begins, then we have midterms, then finals, then the semester ends, and then it starts all over again. Whether it's online, face-to-face or hybrid, the rhythm stays the same. The contact differs, the form of the exam or project or lecture or whatever is different, but the rhythm stays the same.

Maybe that's why I've been able to do this for so long-I like variations on a theme. The theme is the academic year, and everything else makes up the variations.

And so yes, it's almost time for midterms!

Mild Panic Sets In

2008-01-07T09:09:00.001-05:00

as I realize that 1) I've had a terrible cold for nearly a month, and 2) I need to have a class ready to go by Saturday!

So much for the winter break.

I guess one of the things I really like about being a professor is the intensity of the cycles-when school is in session it's one deadline after another. When it's not, it's nice lazy days of reading (I just finished William Gibson's Neuromancer - I don't know why I didn't read it sooner).

Well those days are now behind me, the Christmas tree is down, the leisure reading books are put away and now it's time to put together syllabi and get cracking!

Happy New Year, and happy new semester fellow profs!

End of one semester, beginning of another

2008-01-02T20:24:00.001-05:00

I was having a brief conversation with a woman during the coffee hour at church, about where this supposed "break" that we have goes.

I've already been back to work-reading Darren's dissertation, trying to figure out what I'm doing with my database class for my doctoral students, trying to figure out what will happen now that my dean is stepping down. And hoping that next year we get a raise, however small-my health insurance increased by 50%, our heating bill is outrageous, our taxes are going up (again!) and both of us are living on "fixed incomes" which is not how it was supposed to be-I at least was supposed to be getting some kind of raise. Oh well. At least I have a job. But as I'm fond of saying, if I knew that I was going to work this hard for this little money I'd probably have stayed in corporate America. Now it's too late-I'm too old for them to take me back.

I am thinking about what else I can do to supplement my salary-maybe revive my consulting practice, maybe do some corporate training, something so that I don't feel as though I'm falling behind.

It's going to be an interesting year, that's for sure! I wish all of us peace, health and happiness in 2008.

Social Networking and Schools

2007-12-19T19:17:00.000-05:00

So here I am, so clever (!) getting ready to develop a Web 2.0 class for my doctoral students, only to discover that blogs, social networking sites and some wikis are blocked by their schools and school districts! Who knew?

I actually wondered, since when I gave a presentation on social networking at Good Counsel Academy in November there was much tittering when I suggested that the causes section on Facebook would be a good way to identify folks who might share some of the same interests that the students have.

Oh well-that's what happens when you fall in love with the technology and don't always see the dark side. Just another challenge!

Social bookmarking

2007-11-08T15:47:00.000-05:00

Okay so now I'm thinking about setting up a del.icio.us account-maybe this is another great "user" of time but at least I'll learn what others are doing.

I was attending the POD Conference - Professional and Organizational Development Newtwork for Higher Education - and one of the sessions was on wikis, podcasts and blogs. The presenter also talked about social bookmarking and of course I was intrigued.

Now if I could just figure out how to get work done while keeping my LinkedIn profile current, my Facebook page up to date, my Twitter status accurate, and my blogs full of interesting posts!

Fakebook?

2007-10-08T12:03:00.001-04:00

Okay, so like many other "adults" I've discovered Facebook (and LinkedIn, too, but that's another story for a different day). I think it's fun, and maybe it does make me feel like a young person again. But I was really surprised by the Op-Ed piece in this Saturday's New York Times The Fakebook Generation. I didn't realize that my idea of fun would be someone else's idea of, well, comedy, entertainment, distraction.
Live and learn!

iMacs

2007-10-05T08:25:00.000-04:00

Last spring I spilled a glass of water on my iMac keyboard at the office. I know, I know-I shouldn't have been drinking water near my keyboard, but in 20+ years I've never spilled anything on it.

So that was that-the keyboard was shot. I went to Tekserve, the wonderful Mac guys on 23rd Street in New York City, and got a new keyboard for $31 and change. I'll order Mac OS 10.4, Tiger, and my five year old iMac at the office will be "just like new." I'll bet that sucker will last another year.

All that power for around $2000. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Obsolete equipment

2007-09-27T22:24:00.000-04:00

I'm updating this blog on my 5 year old iMac, which works like a charm even after being loved to death. This is my fourth Macintosh computer in 23 years. I average between 5 and 6 years per Mac, starting with the first Mac that I bought in December of 1984. I replaced that with a Mac Plus in around 1990, then a Performa (who even remembers them?) in 1996, and then my iMac in 2002.

Sure wish I could say the same for the Dell laptops that my university provides me with for my classes and research. They are outdated in just 3 years.

Ahh, love the new technology. Now if I could just get my 5 year old Palm Pilot to work.....

Phishing, e-mail scams and human stupidity

2007-09-21T09:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday in my Introduction to Computers class I introduced the topic of computer security. We talked about "phishing" which occurs when you get an email message purporting to come from, say PayPal, asking you to confirm your account details by "clicking here." My students are very computer savvy, many have Facebook pages (as do I, now), can crank out Excel spread sheets and Word docs, but were innocents when it came to phishing.

Pretty scary, since those who "phish" are getting more and more sophisticated. I almost fell for a Citibank phishing scheme-the message looked so real. Is it just human to want to believe that the message comes from Citibank? The Anti-Phishing Working Group describes phishing attacks as combining social engineering with technical subterfuge. I like that description.

Which leads to the next idea-human stupidity. Mother (and father!) always told me, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Which is why I'm still surprised when folks fall for the e-mail scams like the one that is now being called the "Nigerian Fraud E-mail." The New Yorker article from last summer, "The Perfect Mark," describes how perfectly reasonable folks, folks like you and me, lost nearly everything (or in a few cases, everything) because they succumbed to the lure of "easy money."
Now if we could only figure out some way to protect ourselves from ourselves! Any ideas out there?

Excel 2007

2007-09-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

I spent six hours today in a class to learn Excel 2007-a class that assumed I already knew Excel 2003 (which I do). Six hours! And we didn't get through all of the material.

Is this what people all over the United States will be doing, spending hours learning how to do something in a new tool that they could do (some of them expertly) in an old tool? This just reinforces my belief that technology just creates more "stuff" for us to do (backup disks, refrag drives, rewrite papers until they are perfect because we couldn't possibly have an error in them) or not (when was the last time I backed up my own drive I wonder?)

Well we may be the most productive people in the world but I'm sure it comes at a cost. We spend much too much time dealing with our "tools" and not enough time getting real work done. But then, that's just my opinion.

Getting Started-Getting Things Done

2007-09-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

It's tough being an information systems professor in the 21st century. It's hard to keep up with the technology; it's hard to get things done. I spent 16 years in industry before I became an "academic" (my PhD is in business and I have an MBA) so I keep one eye on what's going on in the "real world" and what's going on in the "ivory tower."

To keep up with the latest research and teaching I visit the ISWorld web site and I'm on the ISWorld list. It's not the answer but it is an answer.

To really get things done is much harder. I read Getting Things Done by David Allen about two years ago, and I've attended his seminar-twice! I was catching up on podcasts yesterday and I heard David say in a interview with Merlin Mann of 43 Folders that it takes TWO YEARS to really get it right, so that was somewhat encouraging.

What's the problem? Or as a woman I used to work with at Equitable Life used to say, "What's the real problem?" We like to blame information overload but really it's analysis paralysis. And believe me I know this first hand-I think of all the psychic energy I waste reading e-mail and trying to figure out "what to do " with the 9 million notes I get each day.

So I'll try to share here how I get anything done-if I do. Here's what I'm trying to get done: prepare for my classes (I teach a freshman introduction to computers and a doctoral introduction to systems analysis and design), co-direct our faculty development center, write a section of a university self-study report with a colleague, work with colleagues to direct our faculty council, edit a paper with a student on doing business in virtual worlds, prepare a presentation for a conference next month-and that's just this week!

Stay tuned, and please, share your survival tips!