Oh man. This is a terrible story.

There are probably numerous reasons for all this but one especially springs to mind. The lack of approach towards digital (technical and social) development. Government Universities in Sweden probably resides in the lower part of this graph: http://eriksellstrom.se/home/wp-content/uploads/lawdisruption.jpg

In Universities, as well as in many other organizations, there is a large inconsiderate millwheel grinding away, governed by its own set of rules. Having worked within such a wheel I can testify that alot of changes being executed seems perfectly logical and often not appreciated despite heads up and internal information campaigns. Though, from my own experience, what seems logical from the inside does often look crazy from the outside.

I agree that if you care for your online material you should put it where you control it (or at least where you control its existence). I don’t think that Universities can escape the atomization of information and conversation and the fact that old structures and dogmas within communication departments (i.e. controlling information and acting as information police officers rather than coaching the organization) makes it likely that the road ahead leads to individual-attached and self-controlled information. Why wait for the Universities to figure that out? My bet is that grabbing the responsibility for ones online stuff, probably breaking several policies, will speed up the change process.

Thanks for sharing, Richard.

thanks Erik, and Joakim who says (my translation) that “similar things have happened to Stockholm’s official web site when it was redesigned in 2009. All information about development projects inititated before 2009 is gone”.

I am not sure that everything is gone, but I empathize with Joakim, as the stuff he has taking part in developing for Stockholm’s educational system has more or less disappeared.