In today's Chronicle, reporting again on the Educause conference in Denver this week, the questions are given some focus in Faculty and Technology Officials Fight Over College Values

The article raises some interesting points about how university budgets are being reshaped as as new communications and computer technologies merge and grow whole new ways of doing things.  Another ingredient in the mix is the rise of 'cloud computing', which I heard one analyst on Bloomberg Radio liken to 'rentable software'. That's part of it, but even more than that, cloud computing means outsourcing of information technology to companies like Google or Microsoft. For example, it was recently reported that the Los Angeles City Council voted to move the city's email to Google.  (Here's one report, Los Angeles City Council Approves Google E-Mail Plan from Government Technology. )

Such outsourcing implies a lot about security, about access to information, and about just what kind of software is available for users in the university.  I think though that we are going to see a lot more movement to the cloud.  We're building a 'railroad in the sky' that will store and transport information in very useful forms at rather low cost. No matter whose budget we're talking about, that is a very tempting prospect.