I recently became aware that UF’s Office of Information Technology is planning to reorganize itself. As far as I know, the basic premise is to further centralize university IT services to save money. I believe the plan is also to hire a Chief Information Officer (CIO) to lead the new IT division; I’m not sure if the CIO would replace the Associate Provost for IT, or be below or above the associate provost in the structure.

The reorganization is very much a subject to watch. Services that are now scattered across colleges and departments will come under the same thumb. UF’s policies on issues such as open file formats and supporting free / open source software will be centralized. That can be an opportunity or a threat.

The reorganization will also raise two other basic issues:

1. whether student input and participation in the IT decision-making process will increase or decrease; and
2. whether UF will increasingly spend its budget on licensing proprietary technologies or on hiring developers and support staff for F/OSS. More directly, this is a question of whether we’ll send more money to Redmond or create more high-tech jobs in Gainesville.

Heads up on this subject in the coming months. Watch their reorganization page for updates.