Robert Kennedy famously said, “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
I’ve been doing a little of both lately as I’ve been talking to people around campus about how we should be using technology to communicate effectively. I look at our current state of campus electronic communication — primarily email spam and less-than-stellar websites — and I ask why. And I dream of things that could be — sophisticated targeted messaging, flawless search results, subscription-based and community-generated content, control given to the people we serve — and I ask why not.
Technological change is relentless. It won’t be slowing down anytime soon. We will adapt and thrive when we let ourselves dream of things that never were and ask why not.
