Georgia Nugent is a former Classic (Latin and Greek) professor. She was a dean at Princeton--and is the current president of Kenyan College.
The Tower of Babel could inform the current efforts by Google. Nugent compared the hubris of Google founders to create the ultimate library (like that described by Jorge Luis Borges or of the historical Library of Alexandria) to the search for glory and prestige of Alexander the Great and Octavius (Augustus) Caesar. She noted that these libraries were spoils of war or the expansion of power and control. She noted the Vatican library as an extension of Papal power that controlled or hid information even from the clerics in its secret collections, and connected the joint efforts of Google to digitize the Vatican library to this same historical thread.
Presidents, Faculty, Students, Parents, and IT Professional do not share the same meaning of cost, security, and benefit. They speak different languages with different semantic systems. The remedy needs to leave technology as a means aside and concentrate on the end of mission of the institution. Different missions would then prescribe different technology needs and policies. Only by looking at the ends can the true translation take place—there is a translation by the letter—a literal translation—and a translation by the spirit—a translation of the intended meaning. It is the latter—the spirit that can transcend the Babel of IT—in order to build the infrastructure needed to make things work. Perhaps it could move us back to the days when we spoke the Adamic (original) language-and have a more Eden like—happier existence.
