What is activity data and why is it useful?
Activity data is big business. We see it in the recommendations we get every time we look at something on Amazon, we see its importance every time we get asked if we have a club/nectar/loyalty card when we buy something and we see it in the fascinating story of the Netflix million dollar prize to improve film recommendations for their... >>
Why we can't afford not to invest in technology
At Jisc’s recent annual conference, both Professor Eric Thomas (Vice Chancellor of Bristol University) and I stressed that higher education cannot afford to slow down in its adoption of information and communications technology (ICT). Quite the contrary: the challenging financial environment and the increased international competition require innovative approaches to ensure that the UK remains a leader in world class... >>
Digital resources made possible by Jisc
The UK is a knowledge economy and as the coalition government looks to also to make it a digital one - how is Jisc helping to share the UK’s knowledge and our resources online? In my role at Jisc I look after our content programme which brings scholarly collections into the digital age - taking journals, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs and... >>
Developers value to higher education
There is a great William Gibson quote, ‘The future is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed.’ I believe that working with developers to share experiences, ideas and expertise will help distribute those slices of the future that are carved out by innovative developers in individual institutions. Dev8D is Jisc's annual event for software developers working in higher education... >>
Co-operation of the fittest: a decade for institutional dialogue and collaboration?
1. Demographic changes. As any fan of Freakonomics will tell you, the impact of demography can be easy to miss but difficult to overstate. Universities and colleges will face demographic concerns on two fronts. a) A declining number of young people. The Office of National Statistics age cohort information indicates that the East and West Midlands face a drop of... >>