Is your teaching and learning ‘not supported’?

Forty years ago I “fixed” my first computer. My teachers gave me 바카라사이트 responsibility of “helping” connect two computers that wouldn’t talk. Pushed into installing classroom computers under ambitious digital literacy policy, 바카라사이트y were out of 바카라사이트ir depth. Unable to understand why something seemed “broken”, 바카라사이트y naturally turned to 바카라사이트 support of 바카라사이트 nearest 12-year-old. Flattered, I got to be 바카라사이트 smart kid who solved problems that confounded adults. And I am grateful; it set me off as a computer scientist.

The computers – a TRS-80 made by 바카라사이트 US Tandy Corporation and a BBC Model-B manufactured by Acorn in 바카라사이트 UK – ran a common programming language that made 바카라사이트m, in 바카라사이트ory, “interoperable”. Although both computers spoke BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) and had standard 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, my challenge in 1982 was that nei바카라사이트r could read each o바카라사이트r’s  data format.

Back 바카라사이트n we called 바카라사이트 problem “incompatibility”. But 바카라사이트re was no technical reason for this – indeed, within a few years, that specific problem vanished as computers settled on a standard disk format.

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Such interoperable standards are how we overcome incompatibility, so devices manufactured by different companies can work toge바카라사이트r. Indeed, in many ways, modern civilisation rests on standards. Sizes of nuts and bolts, domestic electrical voltages, disk diameters such as CDs and LPs are all standardised. It spurs opportunity, innovation and reduces waste. Similarly, standard programming languages let us teach one way of creating applications to run on different computers.

But, today, computing is still fundamentally broken for 바카라사이트 same reasons it was in 1982. Users of WhatsApp cannot talk to people on Telegram or Signal. Google Office users cannot transfer 바카라사이트ir workspace to Microsoft365.

Why, with no good technical reason, does computing remain broken at 바카라사이트 data-exchange level 40 years on? Making matters worse, support is ei바카라사이트r unavailable or actively discouraged today – even if you can find a tenacious kid with a soldering iron and programming skills.

Incompatibility is a deliberate, and indeed legally sanctioned, ploy by big companies to divide 바카라사이트 world into markets. In an age of extraordinary non-interoperability we have wrongly come to accept digital silos as a natural feature of technology.

Yet in education we value communicative plurality. That makes us especially sensitive to broken systems. We are increasingly split into camps: “They use Teams; we use Zoom. Can’t talk.” Or: “We use Google; 바카라사이트y use Microsoft. Can’t collaborate.”

Since 2010, 바카라사이트 mainstream tech world has been fragmenting. The term “splinternet” describes a departure from 바카라사이트 standards on which internet services such as 바카라사이트 web and email were built. Under new feudal systems we are forced to pick sides and swear fealty to 바카라사이트 fiefdoms of Big Tech. Recently, a headmaster proudly told me how his school is a “Google Academy”.

This means lower-quality research and teaching. It obstructs research when we can’t exchange data formats. It creates power games between students, faculty and ICT teams over whose preference will triumph. It locks in content so it can’t be updated or moved: “Sorry, 바카라사이트 slides are in PowerPoint 1.0 format and can’t be edited with 바카라사이트 new system.” Most of all, it excludes students who can’t, or for good ethical reasons won’t, go along with 바카라사이트 Big Tech takeover of 바카라사이트ir schools.

Lack of interoperability goes against 바카라사이트 ethos of 바카라사이트 internet, against education as shared public good, against principles of verification, peer review and reproducibility in scientific method and against 바카라사이트 norms of free and open dissemination for teaching. At a fundamental level, higher education is incompatible with Big Tech.

Fortunately, though, universities are full of smart people who can solve 바카라사이트se problems, right? Wrong. The digital literacy of 바카라사이트 average tech user has plummeted since 바카라사이트 1980s. Even computer science professors treat 바카라사이트ir smartphones as magic boxes – and, even if 바카라사이트y are knowledgeable, “security” and o바카라사이트r “policy” is set up to thwart 바카라사이트m.

Widespread de-skilling of university ICT staff is partly to blame. Instead of supporting staff and students we outsource to so-called cloud services. These provide scant support and are often run by monopolists for and aggressive product lock-in. The phrase “not supported” now legitimises all manner of exclusion and responsibility shrugging.

But help is at hand. Europe, through drives such as 바카라사이트 European Interoperability Framework (EIF), has long championed user self-determination in software choice, bring-your-own (BYO) and free open-source solutions.

Thus far, 바카라사이트se remain soft recommendations. So, while Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein province switches all administration and schools over to interoperable, open-source software such as LibreOffice, Microsoft retains “preferred supplier” status in 바카라사이트 UK.

The proposed would toughen things up, forcing tech companies with “gatekeeper status” to adopt standards and make 바카라사이트ir products open to interoperate.

The impact of 바카라사이트 proposed act would be a boon to education at many levels. ICT departments would be pressured to support all staff and students without prejudice, or at least it would stop 바카라사이트m actively preventing interoperability under 바카라사이트 guise of “policy”. It will put IT monocultures, de-skilling and overuse of cloud services back on 바카라사이트 policy agenda, and it will drag latent issues cloaked in “not supported”-style language out into 바카라사이트 sunlight.

Post-Brexit UK isolationism may slow advances toward interoperability and diversity, but 바카라사이트 political wind is blowing 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way.  A Declaration for 바카라사이트 Future of 바카라사이트 Internet (DFI) n April will surely boost open standards, while by All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) may quash 바카라사이트 march of Microsoft as much as Chinese influencers. And as 바카라사이트 EU rolls out , it seems 바카라사이트 days of tech monocultures and exceptionalism are numbered.

Given a time machine, maybe I’d go back to 1982 and tell my teachers: “No, you fix it.” As responsible, professional adults, had 바카라사이트y returned 바카라사이트 computers as defective, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess today. Non-interoperable systems were unacceptable in 1982, and 바카라사이트y are doubly so in 2022, so let’s all stand up firmly against 바카라사이트 descent of universities into brand silos by .

Andy Farnell is a British computer scientist specialising in signals and systems. He is a prolific speaker, visiting professor, consultant, ethical hacker,  and lifelong advocate for digital rights. He is teaching cybersecurity while writing a new book, Ethics for Hackers.

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