A very interesting video of new technology

A friend from Canada sent me this great video clip of the first telepresence holographic video conferencing demonstration performed recently by Cisco. The demonstration is interesting, and I could see this technology having some interesting implications for higher education. Hire one prof to teach large lecture sections of "Intro 101" across many institutions -- taking Open Courseware to a whole new level, for example. Or enable a wider range of global speakers to "come" to a campus at far lower cost. Or enable multi-national student or administrative teams to work more seamlessly with each other. Or even make distance education seem to be occuring less 'at a distance.'

My favorite quote from the video occurs in a 25-30 second clip at about 4 minutes 20 seconds into the video. John Chambers, CEO for Cisco comments:

"... It should be any device to any content over any combination of networks. This is why it has to be an architectural decision and not a decision on an individual product."

That is my point precisely when it comes to course materials. We should be able to deliver any content to any device over any combination of networks, dictated by faculty requirements and student needs and preferences. Developing an architecture and infrastructure to support this type of flexibility is a key requirement for stores wishing to participate in a digital future at nearly any reasonable level.