Universities turning their email and other services over to outside companies

The Chronicle of Higher Ed writes about universities turning their email and other services over to outside companies such as Google and Microsoft, in some cases saving $1 million. However, there are concerns about "whether outside companies will safeguard student grades and sensitive research, and keep colleges from violating federal privacy laws."

Many at Berkeley use Google apps and gmail. Is that direction we should go in? What are the concerns? Are the tradeoffs acceptable?

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CleanTech's report on the environmental impact of the Kindle

A new report on the lifecycle assessement of the environmental impact of the Kindle vs paper...

"Only time will tell if electronic book readers are to become a new standard in the future. But the Cleantech Group takes an in-depth look at the environmental impact of the devices in its recent lifecycle analysis.

"The new study finds that e-readers could have a major impact on improving the sustainability and environmental impact on the publishing industry, one of the world’s most polluting sectors. In 2008, the U.S. book and newspaper industries combined resulted in the harvesting of 125 million trees, not to mention wastewater that was produced or its massive carbon footprint."

Continue reading a synopsis of the study...

More on the Kindle at Arizona State

Will everyone get on the same page? Can they even find the same page? Some info that might be relevant to an LCA study here.

This Could be the Year of e-Textbooks (Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/9/09).

Dianne