Note: Tara Cuslidge-Staiano, who is quoted in this story, is the advisor to The Collegian. The Collegian also makes use of Box software in its production pipeline.
Box, a cloud storage system used by Delta College since the Covid-19 pandemic forced many classes and most students and employees off campus to remote work, could be replaced at the school this summer if a contract for the service is not extended.
“After careful evaluation, the District will be transitioning from Box to OneDrive, Microsoft’s powerful cloud storage and collaboration platform. This move is part of our ongoing commitment to providing users with the best tools to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, facilitate seamless collaboration across teams, and keep costs of redundant software products to a minimum,” read an email sent on Feb. 7 by Alex Breitler, Delta’s director of Marketing and Communications.
The program Box was created “in 2005 to make it easy to access information from anywhere and collaborate with anyone. Collaboration on Box gives (sic) teams one place to securely collaborate on content, no matter what software or device they’re using… Box Drive Works (sic) with all the files you have stored in Box, right from your desktop,” according to Box.com.
Delta began using Box during the pandemic as a replacement for a previous service, DocuShare.
“The agreement that we entered into with Box is going to expire, which is why we’re at the point which we are sort of reevaluating the whole situation,” said Breitler in a phone interview.
Faculty immediately raised questions and concerns about such an immense transition following the Feb. 7 email.
Since the meeting, the District has pumped the brakes on any action concerning the two programs even though the contract with Box ends this summer. Regarding the colleges’ tight timeline, a plan has been put into place if a solution can not be reached to keep the contract with Box.
“Depending on how complex each case is, the plan includes providing individual assistance moving content from Box to OneDrive, providing training, providing a migration tool for users to move content, and lending assistance with updating any external links that might appear on the Delta College website or elsewhere. All of this information will be communicated out to these users,” said Breitler in a phone interview.
Specifically, Mass Communication Professor Tara Cuslidge-Staiano voiced her discomfort with moving an extreme amount of content from one program to another.
“I am in a department that strongly leans on Box, literally to the point of building our post-pandemic infrastructure on it because it allowed our students access to virtual drives easily within faculty’s unlimited space,” read Cuslidge Staiano’s email, “Until this notice we received zero notification that this was happening…No dates are/were attached to this outside of mid-May…No true plan as to what/how this transition takes place outside of encouraging us to begin ‘clean up”’ of files…No indication is given for how to proceed forward outside of ‘no action is required at this time,’ where are the timelines?”
By the Feb. 15 President’s Council meeting, Superintendent and President Dr. Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson confronted the issue discussing any further movement to make such a tremendous transition must be heavily researched and discussed.
“There was discussion on the lack of communication regarding the transition and the governance process not being utilized… Dr. Aguilera Lawrenson clarified that there will be no decisions regarding the transition without going through the proper shared governance channels…ensured the council that any changes in technology should be brought forward to the technology subcommittee who reports to the Facilities committee,” read the meeting notes for the president’s council.