The Evolving Technologies Committee, a recent addition to the EDUCAUSE committee structure, is charged with identifying and keeping abreast of evolving technologies and their impact on higher education. Over the last year the committee has looked at a variety of technologies and has chosen seven to pursue in greater detail: 1) E-book, 2) digital video 3) smart cards and biometric technologies 4) thin client 5) wireless 6) public key infrastructure (PKI), and 7) portals. Summary background papers on each of these technologies are available on the Committee's web site, listed below.

The conference session will be a panel discussion of these technologies, moderated by EDUCAUSE V-P, Mark Luker. As background to this discussion, the following briefly lists some of the opportunities and challenges particular to each technology, about which IT administrators should be aware. These notes are only intended to encourage more exploration into these rapidly developing technologies which have great potential for higher education. Additional information about each of these is available at www.educause.edu/issues/etcom/.
 

Opportunities for Higher Education		Challenges for development and campus-wide implementation
E-book
	Makes book distribution faster, easier, and less expensive Keeps material up to date Accommodates interactive multimedia content as well as print format Permits customized learning experience		Undeveloped archiving technologies and policies for content available only in E-book format Lack of format standards Intellectual content ownership issues Required changes in campus services for content distribution
Digital Video
	Enriches content available for teaching and learning Promotes faculty teaching and research collaboration Enhances distributed/distance learning		Limited bandwidth Inadequate transmission protocols/quality of service Costs for maintenance and licensing Standards for interoperability Intellectual property, copyright issues
Smart Cards
	Builds on existing infrastructure Provides convenience Improves security of data and intellectual property		Costs of security systems versus loss-value of university data Balance between academic freedom and civil liberties and the protection of intellectual property, research data and personal records Costs and integration issues associated with scaling solutions to an enterprise
Thin client
	Simplifies administration Lowers total cost of ownership Costs less for students Increases reliability		Existing dominance of PC's and Wintel on the desktop Requires network infrastructure that is robust and reliable Shared resource allocation issues
Wireless
	Makes computing ubiquitous Requires no last meter wiring infrastructure Allows research and collaboration anytime/anywhere Allows teaching and learning anytime/anywhere		Bandwidth, speed limitations Network latency problems Security concerns Campus communications policies
Public Key Infrastructure
	Enhances access and communication Improves security and privacy Promotes information sharing across the network		High implementation costs Large scale re-engineering of campus functions Undeveloped standards for interoperability
Portals
	Enables tailored, consistent "one-stop" access to information and applications Maintains personalized relationship from pre-applicant through alumni		Governance structure reconciling publishing and IT application goals and requirements IT infrastructure (authentication authorization) In-house vs. out-sourced decisions; advertising policies Multiplicity of installed campus applications designed to be "the" portal and duplicating functions