KEEPING LOVE IN THE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LOOP

More Musings on Human Issues in Information technology

By Thomas James Darling




LOVE HAS A HISTORY THAT
BEST SURVIVES THROUGH
LOVE IN THE PRESENT

This site explores a more compassionate approach to technologizing
the global environment. Yes, what does LOVE have to do with it?
Find out why we can't afford to leave love out of the loop.





Many of us who spend a great deal of time as "students of love" are not necessarily drawn to technology.
Conversely, many of us who love to play with technology may allow love to drift out of awareness
until hormonally, or otherwise, we are reminded of love relationships.

A case can be made for declaring there are two divergent approaches to life,
one purely organic and personal, and the other purely technological and impersonal.
When the organic and technological converge, the technological invariably dominates
unless it is kept in check by virtue of an individual's cultivated sense of humanity
or the social sensitivity demanded by context.





Often, balance is sought serially, as opposed to simultaneously,
thus avoiding the greater challenge of blending heart and device in the moment.
We may, as a parallel example, refer to this as switching between modes
of dominance in our molecular computer, or brain, rather than better interconnecting
them in a mutually beneficial internal/external dialog.



My


That so many of us "lovers" tolerate the "imposition" of technology may be because, in the past,
such involvement was time and space limited. However, now we find technological immersion
increasingly ubiquitous and not always scalable or easily outsourced or avoided.

If information technology (IT) has so universally arrived and inserted itself inextricably in our lives,
we are well-advised to affirm reasonable limits or we will forfeit a large part of our humanity in
indiscriminate acceptance and unconscious complicity. Rather than take a reactive position with regard
to technology's dehumanizing aspects, my own response is to limit my involvement with IT to contexts
wherein I can honor my own humanity and that of others similarly concerned.





These pages were updated 27 April 2011.

The issues I document are not really "dated" or "old school" in that they chronicle the kinds of campus struggles that can and do still
happen today and will likely continue in the future. The technology has changed faster than the attitudes and
mentality behind our education programs, policies, and practices.





WITHOUT LOVE A WHOLE LOT MORE
CAN GET LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP

A Case in Point: At West City Center, the Continuing Education campus where I was inspired to document
the issues I faced there (within the San Diego Community College District), I found out how much our "humanity"
goes unnurtured in the face of curricular rigidity and the lack of innovative vision on the part of educators.
Complacency and acquiescence to the status quo among the various participants feed upon each other and
create at times a stiflingly restrictive atmosphere amid the shiny new technology, updated workbooks,
and brightly colored class announcements to suggest there is something on campus to get positively excited about.




I look around and see little if any comprehension of the "fully-human" time being forfeited in order to
dance with our surrogate partners, holding their mousey plastic hands. The human love we put off is
so often lost in the aftermath of the daily digital dehumanization. A society based on love is becoming
more of a forgotten dream — or more tellingly — an undreamt dream. When our love generally falls below the
level of the heart we limit our vision of love — and even distort our perception of it.

We are faced with more than the challenge of simply preventing a potential future problem with
the IT environment. Rather, it's a matter of generating sufficient recognition and remediation of social
disintegration and dehumanizing influences that are spreading rapidly. In the case of my particular campus,
at the present time, lack of vision by many of the instructors, and particularly the campus administration,
leaves me hard pressed to find collaborative solutions.



Administrative neglect drains students of the self-initiative and co-creative will necessary to persistently
challenge the take-it-or-leave-it site administration attitude. As the Associate Dean abrasively put it,
"If you don't like how it is, don't come." Such a status quo orientation threatens to further sap education
of its vitality and public trust. There is no "undo" button to click on to heal offenses to the student's
and efforts to learn that have been thus betrayed.

We don't have enough student-centered educators and are ill-served by the paycheck-centered educators who
themselves do not demonstrate optimal learning. The students are further ill-served by sins of both omission
and commission. Classes aren't promoted sufficiently and uncertainty waxes and wanes unnecessarily regarding
whether classes will continue or be canceled due to enrollment minimums. Currently enrolled students
aren't polled sufficiently regarding what they like or don't like about current conditions, courses,
methods of instruction, instructor performance, student services, student government (if any), and the
feedback channels themselves (if any are functional).




An administrative hallway suggestion box outside the administration office went unchecked for a year!
I brought this up and the suggestion box was removed despite my protest that such action was a non-solution.
The site deans have stated that they feel there is no need to honor student input beyond having students
write something on a piece of paper and hand it to "anyone" in the main office. At my campus we find no
proactive encouragement, clearly stated options, scheduled forums, or prescribed formats for gathering
student input. There are no clearly stated and well thought out explicit procedures for
(1) ensuring privacy, (2) investigating adequately, (3) processing consistently, and (4) acting responsibly on student input.


A student may suffer official indifference, discrimination, retaliation, gossip, stonewalling, circular filing
and other preventable hazards by virtue of naively entering the clerical or administrative "unknown" with a casual
or formal note or letter. Amid indifference, the current site administrators are adept at stonewalling,
and can be thuggish. They may use private face to face confrontations to intimidate, deny, or distort points
you raise, and have been known to gang up on student or faculty victims during abruptly called "meetings"
for which one may be prevented the opportunity to plan or prepare. My suggestion that further meetings
be taped was deemed "appropriate" by the site dean, who would not offer justification for his opinion.




REMEDIATION THAT LASTS

Respect for feedback, contributive suggestions, and the full-spectrum of possible input is too important
to the quality of a learning-centered organization to be neglected. Shouldn't any remediation regarding
such serious flaws in the fabric of the educator-student relationship over a period of many years include
changes that sufficiently create or restore a reflection of unity, openness, and concern? Shouldn't one observe
and feel such changes afoot as one enters the school corridors, offices and classrooms each day?

Possible changes "on paper" or on the SDCCD website may certainly focus needed attention on communication,
and procedural shortcomings, but if all the changes, both tangible and intangible, do not result in clear
revitalization of educator-student rapport and trust — sustainable on a day-to-day basis
— then we still haven't done our homework.

Certainly there is need for more than a one-time response to "officially put on a show" that lacks a daily living presence and commitment. That something as fundamentally responsible as a sense of unity, adequate communication, and respect for the students this campus is supposed to serve is so routinely neglected and lies beyond due diligence of the current site administration foreshadows dark days ahead for those who would seek excellence and innovation in learning-centered programs and policies.

Requests for code and policy information on campus should neither be difficult to fulfill nor should they be met with surprise and suspicion, and especially not unwarranted chilliness and hostility, as has been the case. Apparently the procedures in place for processing complaints recognized as serious (such as weapons, drugs, and sexual harassment) do not extend comprehensively to include the processing of other complaints that may be significant but which are currently not in the political or social spotlight.

Lack of attention to small justified complaints creates an atmosphere where trouble brews and alienation, resentment, and emotional dissonance and disassociation generates larger problems that ultimately affect the well-being and level of enthusiasm of everyone concerned, not to mention the survivability of programs and individual futures.

Information technology can be friend or foe — depending on how we use IT. For the bridge between us to remain human —
as much attention must be paid to maintaining our love drive as maintaining our hard drive.
Such balance contributes to more than our physical health. With our lives more and more hanging in IT,
let's align IT with our heart's best interest.





Love can't thrive in a vision vacuum.

Copyright ©1999-2011 by Thomas James Darling



— COMMENTARY —

(Relevant quotes below are in italics)


Leadership and Organization Stream (League for Innovation Annual Conference)

"Fostering Faculty Adoption of Innovation: A League Perspective"

Alice W. Villadsen, Vice President for Instructional Services, Central Piedmont Community College, NC; Mary Kay Kickels , Vice President for Academic Affairs, Moraine Valley Community College, IL

Given the rate of change and the increasing importance of education in the world today, the ability of a college faculty to flexibly adapt to and adopt innovations is becoming a critical mission.

Leadership and Organization Stream (League for Innovation Annual Conference)

"Building Community from the Inside Out"

Stephen K. Mittelstet , President; Ivan Martinez , Interim Vice President for Educational and Student Services; Gerardo E. de los Santos, Interim Dean of Communications Division, Richland College, TX

Leaders in community colleges must do their utmost to build community on campuses, among campuses, in classrooms, and outside classrooms. Laying the foundation for this internal and external community building involves exploring several core issues. For example, does the vision and/or mission of the college clearly reflect community building as a sincere invitation, where students and employees feel welcome to contribute their many rich and diverse personal resources to the learning organization? Are the organizational values that unify a campus community defined, written, understood, shared, and practiced? Are the college's leaders, both inside and outside the classroom, pursuing their own individual journeys for authentic personal and professional behavior, as they seek the same for their students and co-workers? 





STUDENT: "Will you consider more individualized
         learning options for students?"


INSTRUCTOR: "That's not my job."











These pages were updated 27 April 2011.

The issues I document are not really "dated" or "old school" in that they chronicle the kinds of campus struggles that can and do still
happen today and will likely continue in the future. The technology has changed faster than the attitudes and
mentality behind our education programs, policies, and practices.





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