Did someone mention SUBMERSIBLE / AWESOME

CFG Team: (FYI)

Merit Network, Internet2 plan event in Lansing: Ann Arbor-based Merit Network Inc., the state's oldest Internet service provider, and the University Corp. for Advanced Internet Development, better known as Internet2, will demonstrate research and education applications that depend on high-speed access in an event Tuesday in Lansing. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with featured speakers beginning at 11:30 a.m., in the Mackinaw Room on the fifth floor of the Anderson House Building, 124 N. Capitol. Activities are to include a real-time visit over the Internet to the resting place of the Titanic, with Dr. Robert Ballard, who discovered the location of the great ship; controlling a robot in the Upper Peninsula online; a chance to watch children operate an undersea submersible; an opportunity to listen to a high school band concert being given at multiple remote locations simultaneously, and more. Among those attending will be Huntington Williams III, president of Merit, and Douglas Van Houweling, president and CEO of Internet2.

Comments please.

Best,

Jim

AWESOME TECH / Dead in the minds of the non-believers

Katelyn:

Unfortunately, the Oakland Schools administration and Board of Education has decided not to support this superb program (see below). But take heart the true-believers in the program will continue to develop alternative strategies and the good news is you can be part of that success. I knew you were going out of town this weekend (Anna) so we will try and get together when you return. Have a great holiday and enjoy yourself. We will be looking forward to your return.

Best,

Jim

Colleagues:

Last night, during the Oakland Schools board's consideration of the budgets
for next year, I reintroduced the topic of OSMTech with whatever new
information I had obtained since the board last determined that the program
would be closed unless we could break even on revenues and expenditures;
namely,

- Clarkston would be taking over OSMtech in 2005-2006.
- Clarkston would maintain a half time program for transferring students
even though it plans a full-time program for students entering the program
when they initiate their version of it.
- Clarkston would pay 1/2 the salary of one teacher in 2004-2205.
- Parents were prepared to contribute $25,000 to keep in going..
- Parents recognized that Oakland Schools would no longer be obligated to
the program after 2004-2005.

Our figures showed that despite the parent and Clarkston district
initiative, Oakland Schools would still have to subsidize the program at the
magnitude of about $75,000 with a projected enrollment of 81. (Two districts
sending ninth graders and two not also complicated the staff assignments.)

The board advised me that their initial decision will should stand. That
means the program will close effective the end of this school year. We
promised parents months ago that no absolutely final decision would be made
until June 1. This board meeting was the one closed to that date. Students
and staff need to know their status for the fall now. Hence the finality of
this decision.

I want to thank each of you for working patiently with Oakland Schools'
administration as we tried to find a solution that was fair to the budget
conditions facing all of us, to staff at the centers, and appropriate for
the education of students over the next few years.

Let me know if I can answer any further question. I would be pleased to
discuss this issue by phone or in person if you desire.




Dr. Bill Keane
Interim Superintendent
Oakland Schools
2111 Pontiac Lake Road
Waterford, MI 48328-2736

WHY we blog

Did Bill Gates shake the blogosphere? Bill Gates told Warren Buffett about blogging on Thursday. Buffett, the legendary investor and moving force behind Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) (BRK.A), was in attendance at the eighth annual CEO summit put on by Microsoft (MSFT) in Redmond, Wash. Also on hand were Barry Diller of InteractiveCorp (IACI), Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (AMZN) and Dell Inc.'s (DELL) Michael Dell. They all heard Gates describe blogs and RSS feeds as tools that "make it very easy to communicate" with customers, suppliers and employees. The result, according to New York public relations executive Steve Rubel, is likely to be a number of meetings of executives and their PR people and IT managers to explore this "blogging thing Bill Gates talked about." Rubel, of CooperKatz & Co., also wrote Friday morning, "The blogosphere changed. It feels very much like 1995 all over again." Gates' endorsement of blogging, Rubel said, is likely to lead to more businesses using it: "Bottom-up business communication will only gain steam here." But there's more to the story. Gates' comments were also "a veiled declaration of war on Six Apart, Userland, Google and anyone else who makes blogging tools." Rubel's blog is called MicroPersuasion. Microsoft has indeed been a booster of blogs. More than 700 employees publish the online diaries, often discussing projects and software in development. One of the more ambitious is Channel9, the work of five company employees who "want a new level of communication between Microsoft and developers." It includes descriptions of new technology, video interviews of Microsoft program managers and developers, and some gossip.

The Beginning has Begun!

Hi Katelyn:

Thanks for the follow through on creating the blog-site for the Communications Focus Group (CFG). This is the beginning of something GREAT!

Here is a little something on leadership, "what it is and what it should be."
http://www.public-cio.com/story.print.php?id=90221
blogger


Best,

Jim