Full Circle Associates

James Farmer shares a painful, personal story in his blogincorporated subversion. His employer (an explicitly unnamed university -- and he has requested the name not be made public) has tried to silence his work and promotion of online collaboration tools that aren't sanctioned by the university.

Last Tuesday I received a memorandum from a manager cc’d by am exec. director instructing me to cease supporting and promoting weblogging, wikis or any other technology not officially supported by the University. The basic reason given being that I have, anecdotally, not used the CMS (this isn’t true, I always use it) and that ‘commentary’ on the issue of CMSs (quoted I think from this blog or another I set up for a course) is unacceptable. A set-up for disciplinary action should I not follow instructions.

I've seen this pattern before with NGOs. A commercial interest provides a platform for free or cheap and then, regardless of the suitability of the application or the value of exploration of other tools, people get shut down.

Since when does a platform become a locus of control? All the time. Think of operating systems, internal email systems. There are reasons to standardize within an organization, but when does that stifle learning, innovation and positive change? All the time.

Power manifests in interesting ways. Even in our tools.

James, I hope the university sees the light. If not, I hope some other place snaps you up.