The first theme we will explore for the presentation at HighEdWebDev 2007 is how the world has been flattened. I will be making several posts over the next few days on this topic.
The first edition of Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat was published in 2005. The original summary of the book on Amazon stated:
In this brilliant new book, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. What Friedman means by “flat” is “connected”: the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete–and win–not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well.
Friedman specifically mentioned how web programming would become a commodity and was a likely profession to get flattened. What do you think. Will web programming become a commodity that is differentiated only by price? What is the impact on our profession?
More to follow.
Thinking of web development as a commodity reminds me of the Nicholas Carr article “IT Doesn’t Matter.” (http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/01/it_doesnt_matte.php)
Overall, I can see parts of web development becoming a commodity, but there also seen to be several facets that are more creative and less standardized.
However, as universities become more global in their offerings, they also become more comfortable doing business with the global market.