Education Policy, Business and Technology

Reshaping the Campus Experience with the Right Information at the Right Time

Campus Technology: When Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us," he was not making a general statement about architecture. He was referring to the proposed reconstruction of the bomb-damaged House of Commons after World War II — and the relationship between the design of buildings and the activities of their inhabitants. Churchill was against "giving each member a desk to sit at and a lid to bang" because, he explained, the House would be mostly empty most of the time. Then at critical votes and moments, it would fill beyond capacity, with members spilling out into the aisles — in his view, a suitable "sense of crowd and urgency."

In reflection, he could have just as easily been speaking to the interaction between people and technology. Whether it is the design of a desktop application, web page or ubiquitous wireless, the way in which people interact with technology creates an experience. With that in mind, how can we improve and even reshape the campus experience for students, faculty, staff and visitors?

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