6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop1 Distinguishing Characteristics? The Geography of Higher Education The Sociology of Higher Education The Economics of Higher Education The Political Science of Higher Education

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop2 The Geography of Higher Education Most of our clients are nomadic, using several different computers a day. Most of our computers are shared, each serving large numbers of students a day. An increasing number of our computers are portable, requiring simple, secure network connectivity to local and remote resources no matter where they are.

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop3 The Sociology of Higher Education Three customer groups with distinct needs: faculty, students, and staff Researchers have more loyalty (and computational interaction) to distant colleagues than other local departments Our customers want to experiment; we can provide new services and assess social and cultural impact Our users tend to occupy multiple roles in the institution, for example being student and staff simultaneously.

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop4 The Sociology of Higher Education - 2 Almost complete turnover of customer base every four years Privately-owned plus Institution-owned machines. Personal are almost never controlled centrally. Institution systems are central, department, or user administered

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop5 The Economics of Higher Education Disparity in resources between haves and have-nots leading to significant differences in equipment, training, and support. Much of the funding, particularly grants, is oriented towards one-time rather than continuing costs. Indirect cost mechanisms add complexity and limit flexibility.

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop6 The Political Science of Higher Education Strong commitment to diversity in populations and opinion Freedom to choose leads to diversity Programmatic reasons to maintain commons - labs, libraries University ‘standards’ more attraction than mandate Our business is creation of new knowledge, often leads to pre-standards platforms Many of us are Public Institutions

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop7 Distinguishing Characteristics Does this make us different? We do it all, all the time But Different is Bad –small market –not much money

6/8/98 CSG/Microsoft Workshop8 Distinguishing Characteristics - 2 Not really different, the same, but first Mass Market in Microcosm –Ubiquity –Diversity –Freedom