Dear Commons Community,

On Monday, the New Media Consortium announced in an email that it will cease operations immediately. The e-mail stated:

“The New Media Consortium (NMC) regrets to announce that because of apparent errors and omissions by its former Controller and Chief Financial Officer, the organization finds itself insolvent. Consequently, NMC must cease operations immediately.

“NMC would like to sincerely thank our loyal and dedicated community for its many vital contributions since its inception in 1994. NMC is grateful to its current executive director and NMC staff for their tireless efforts to connect people at the intersection of innovation and technology.”

As reported by Campus Technology:

“The higher education community is reeling from the news, which has spread quickly on social media. “I am heartbroken and gobsmacked,” consultant, futurist and frequent NMC contributor Bryan Alexander told Campus Technology. “The news comes as a terrible shock. My heart goes out to the fine NMC staff, who don’t deserve this. Instead they deserve being snapped up by smart employers, stat. I also rue the blow to the community of splendid innovators that gathered around NMC since the 1990s. Can we use our imagination and technology to build something new in the NMC’s ruins?”

NMC is perhaps best known for its Horizon Project, an initiative that analyzes emerging education technologies, forecasts their impact in the short, medium and long term, and compiles the information in an annual Horizon Report.

According to the announcement, NMC will file for chapter 7 bankruptcy and a trustee will wind down its financial affairs, liquidate its assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors.”

This is a sad ending for an organization that has been providing valuable information and insight on technology and higher education since the early 1990s. As one of my colleagues here at CUNY commented there has got to be more to this story.

Tony