TO THE EDITOR:
""Blackboard won out."" That" as far as I can tell is all the DTH has to say about the decision to upgrade Blackboard rather than implement the open source alternative Sakai — despite vocal support for Sakai from the editorial board in February.
UNC's decision to keep Blackboard betrays both a misunderstanding of the possibilities of open source software and a failure by the campus to recognize opportunities for creative progressive solutions to our fiscal problems.
How much do we pay? How much is the upgrade? Are we going to pay a consultant to manage the upgrade?
It would certainly seem so as a Web search reveals that Blackboard has been looking for an upgrade specialist to come to Chapel Hill.
When did the Sakai pilot group make their decision? How did the pilot group justify these extra costs in the midst of a financial crisis?
Being an employee at UNC I know full well the magic that is invoked to keep money in separate pots so that for instance money saved at ITS cannot be transferred to my paycheck.
However" no one can deny the irony of paying for proprietary software while ""flexibly furloughing"" UNC employees when it's clear that there are viable free alternatives.
Not only is it irresponsible" it is a missed opportunity for UNC to be a leader in the world of higher education technology.
Mike Nutt
Graduate Student
Information Science