Those are Jim Groom’s words, and I quote them (with implied ellipses that don’t fit well in a blog title) from his latest blog entry at bavatuesdays. Jim’s an Instructional Technology Specialist here at the University of Mary Washington and, along with five other ITSs and myself, a member of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies (the “DTLT” of “DTLT Blogs” on my blogroll at the right).

I quote Jim as a shout-out to a staffer who’s doing fascinating and important work, yes, but also because that quotation is the ethos I try to encourage as a manager and leader. It’s also the ethos I try to encourage as a professor. And it’s the ethos every one of the UMW ITSs lives every day.

For our task is herculean, and sometimes those proportions seem crushing. Often it seems as if we’ve blundered into the role of Atlas, a (I won’t say the) world upon our shoulders, and Atlas on an extended vacation. But of course Atlas had to stand still and take the weight on an immobile torso. He must have had a great view up there on that mountain, but it was the only view he’d ever have, unless he could lure another Hercules into range.

By contrast, we in DTLT are pretty much constantly on the move. We’re constantly finding new horizons, some of them right in front of us. That makes the weight of our tasks feel different, I think, and it makes our work, if not light, certainly joyous and, yes, exciting. At least sometimes. Sometimes, most of the time.

And as is evident from Jim’s post, from Martha’s moving account of the latest developments in the Theatre class project, from Andy’s constantly evolving expertise in multimedia presentation on the Web (he reminds me of the electronics expert in Mission, Impossible–or Q in the James Bond series–), from Jerry’s innovations in podcasting, Flickr, and wikis (and his scrupulous assessment of all the shiny toys), from Patrick’s guidance with all those codes (XML, XSL, RSS, Atom, URI, RDF) and the metadata they can contain, and from Lisa’s work with the College of Graduate and Professional Studies and its ongoing investigation of Web 2.0 tools and strategies, these folks are carrying a lot on their shoulders. They’re also working at some of the other herculean tasks: I seem to remember problems with a Hydra, and plenty of stable-cleaning to go around. But it’s hard to imagine a more rewarding mission: supporting, extending, and augmenting the academic excellence of this University. That excellence is the potential every one of our students and faculty sense, demonstrate, and help to create each day.

It’s a privilege to be part of these exciting herculean tasks. I won’t say we’re unique in facing them. In many respects, the academic enterprise is devoted to scaling those tasks ever upward for the entire community. But look at the strength it can bring us, when we work together.