Cornell now doing banner ads!

Today in one of the popup windows that appeared on my computer while I was online, I noticed there was a banner ad for E-Cornell before I closed the window. The site it was on was [www.lookinginfo.com] . I never thought I'd see the day when Cornell advertised on the Internet like this.

IIRC, this eCornell stuff is a for-profit subsidiary, trying to cash in on the distance-learning craze that others like Stanford, MIT, and Penn State are offering business and industry. Seems to me I read recently that John Neumann, who was a year or two ahead of me, was named interim CEO of this initiative. It was announced two or three years ago without real discussion with the faculty, who apparently weren't too happy about it.

Bet it'll cost more than $7/month.

Not if we all e-mail Laura Strange.

Columbia has deep-sixed Fathom.com, its attempt at delivering for-profit Internet education. Interestingly, The New York Times article says that Cornell has already shut down its commercial venture. I had not been aware of that.

[www.nytimes.com]