Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63446
From Editors the Mass Communication When terrorists struck the United States last September, the world knew about it instantly. Not only did we know about the tragedy, we saw it occurring in live images of crashing planes and collapsing towers. News services scrambled to keep us apprised of events in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., literally as they unfold- ed. That's the power of today's media—and the power of today's technology. On September 11, everyone was communicating. Passengers with cell phones called from doomed airplanes. Frantic friends, unable to get through on phone lines, left e-mail messages for loved ones in New York and Boston. Organizations around the world began contacting their members to see if they, and those they knew, were safe. Business schools and alumni networks went into immediate action, setting up mes- sage boards that listed the whereabouts and status of students, faculty, and graduates. One typical Web site featured an alphabetical chart of everyone in its network, noting who was safe and how that information had been obtained: e-mail, phone call, note from his wife… It was significant that most news had been obtained electronically. More than a hundred years ago, when the Civil War claimed disastrous numbers of casualties in every engagement, news filtered back slowly from the front. It often took weeks before those waiting at home knew the fate of their loved ones. Now, we often get the news before nightfall of the same day. And that's the true power of today's technology. Previous generations expected their technology to help them cook food, wash clothes, heat houses, and drive faster cars. We expect our technology to allow us to communicate instantly. Our cell phones and wireless networks and laptop computers and PDAs help us stay in the loop—every loop—every minute of every day. Sometimes we use that technology to find out sports scores or stock prices. Sometimes we use that technology to say, "I survived." It is almost impossible for us to conceive of a location or a circumstance in which we could not, if we needed to, get a message through. In this issue of BizEd, we look at how technology has affected busi- ness schools. How has technology reshaped the mindset of educators and students? What's the benefit of an MIS MBA? And what does a thought leader like Harvard's Rosabeth Moss Kanter think about tech- nology's role in the world today? Business school isn't just about tech- nology, of course—but schools certainly wouldn't be the same without it. And neither would the rest of the world. ■ z BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2002 3 BILL BASCOM