Digital Discourse / Archives for technology

SIPAlert Daily – New finds in the crowded technology corridor

September 11, 2013 By

SIPA’s Marketing Listserv was brimming with activity yesterday with discussions on digital revenue, publication exit strategies and calculating the value of a subscriber. SIIA Content Division, ABM and SIPA members can sign up here for this valuable resource.  It’s a secure and actionable place to post, posit or postulate.

One of yesterday’s responses recommended Evernote’s Clearly for a “Zen like reading experience” (no ads or disruptions). Clearly makes blog posts, articles and webpages clean and easy to read. Publishers need to monitor this type of tool, especially ones who depend on digital ad revenue. Evernote is a service that works on your desktop or laptop, on your iPad, iPhone, Android phone, etc., and synchronizes your information across each platform. So if you take a note on your iPad, you can view it later on your smartphone, and vice versa. In addition, Evernote Hello lets you remember people easier—a good Conference tool—and helps to bring in information about those people you meet.

Here are a few more technology tips I’ve heard recommended around our digital water cooler.

- CamScanner turns your smartphone into a scanner. Users can scan documents by taking a picture with their phone’s camera and save them as pdf files. The app has some capability to recognize words in a scanned document, so you can search for phrases…

- I’ve heard good buzz about WalkMe. From its website: It “enables your business to simplify the online experience and eliminate user confusion. Think of it like a GPS, but instead of giving driving directions, WalkMe guides users every step of the way to successfully complete their online tasks.”

- Two tools from Google: First Click Free. If you offer subscription-based access to your website content, or if users must register to access your content, then search engines cannot access some of your site’s most relevant, valuable content. Implementing FCF for your content allows you to include your restricted content in Google’s main search index. Google is calling Helpouts “real help from real people in real time.” It’s a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help. They’re “collecting” experts for now so might be worth it to “apply.”

- Speaking of Lifehacking, which someone referenced on the Listserv yesterday, Safely Go (free) for Android turns off your ringer and alert tones and sends an auto-reply to people who call or text you while you’re on the road.

- Grid is a new organizational app. Tap on an empty grid square and you can mark out an area of the document that suits your content.

- A new Poetry App lets users find poems by mood, subject and poet, as well as by browsing through online audio files. Might come in handy for your next marketing piece or spouse’s birthday.

I am quite sure that most of these “inventions” did not happen without some kind of group discussion, either in flushing out the idea or helping to develop it. That’s also the idea behind SIPA’s upcoming Fall Publishers Roundtable, Monday, Sept. 30, here in Washington, D.C. The topic is Creating Profitable New Products, and the two leaders, David Foster of BVR and Don Nicholas of Mequoda, will harness the amazing group knowledge that will be present to help you create the next new thing.

 

To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, create or update your SIIA User profile and select “SIPA interest.”

Ronn LevineRonn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

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Filed Under: Content, SIPA, SIPAlert Daily, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Reportlinker Wins Prestigious Early Stage East Competition

June 24, 2013 By

Early Stage East works to give growing business access to investors, and in turn, to create mutually beneficial relationships that create large revenue gains. In hosting conferences around the country year-round, Early Stage East provides a network of capital investors for businesses looking to grow.Continuing its mission to recognize small companies that demonstrate excellence and large growth potential, Early Stage East declared ReportLinker the winner of a venture competition held at the SIIA’s Strategic & Financial Investment Conference in New York City. Early Stage East evaluated presenting companies on a number of different functions, including the attractiveness of capital investment, the scalability of the business, and the clarity of presentation.ReportLinker will soon make a subsequent presentation at Early Stage East’s Club Pitch Commerce Venture Conference in Philadelphia on September, 26th

Strategic Financial Investment Conference-247

Benjamin Carpano, CEO, ReportLinker accepting the award to present at Early Stage East.

ReportLinker is a search engine that gives users access to more than 1 million reports from credible sources. It prides itself as the only search engine to provide statistics from both public and private sources, and has a growing network of information providers that solidifies its increasingly impressive reputation. Based in Lyon, France, the company is growing and expanding into new markets. It hopes to leverage its more recent recognition later this year at Early Stage East’s most important conference.

 

 

 

 

 

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Revenue Opportunities at the Intersection of Cloud and Mobile (for Publishers and Media Companies) is Now Available On Demand

May 17, 2013 By

During the Revenue Opportunities at the Intersection of Cloud and Mobile (for Publishers and Media Companies) webcast, held on May 14th in NYC and co-hosteded by ABM & SIIA, the speakers discussed how today’s leading media companies are developing revenue-driving mobile apps that combine their own information, mobile platform technologies and Web content to create powerful solutions.

View Online Now

The roundtable discussion included panelists presenting case studies from leading publishers on the functionality and revenue impact of their apps on enterprise construction services, innovation for research and product development and online media.

Presenters:

 

 

 

 

John Blossom, President of Shore Communications Inc
John Blossom is a globally recognized content industry analyst, providing thought leadership and improved strategic marketing for executives in media and technology companies in search of new approaches to rapidly changing markets for their products and services. Mr. Blossom founded Shore Communications Inc. in 1997, which provides research and advisory services for major and emerging publishers and content technology companies in enterprise and media markets.

Marc Chaikin, Founder, Chaikin Analytics
After 40 years on Wall Street as a trader, broker, and analyst, Marc Chaikin founded Chaikin Analytics in 2009 to deliver proprietary stock analytics to professional money managers and investors. The centerpiece of Chaikin Analytics is the Chaikin Power Gauge, a 20-factor alpha model, back-tested on ten years of data and proven quite accurate at identifying a stock’s potential over the next 3-6 months.

Michael Cadden, CEO of LivingAbroad, LLC
Michael Cadden began in the Global Mobility profession with Craighead Publications in 1995. Soon after joining he became the driving force behind converting 1000s of pages of country-specific information from paper to online. With that success he later became a principle and Managing Director of Living Abroad LLC in 2002 and is behind its highly successful transformation, culminating with the acquisition of the legacy Craighead business in 2008.

Aneel Tejwaney, SVP Technology, SourceMedia
As SVP of Technology, Aneel Tejwaney manages strategic direction and hands on management of multiple technology initiatives, from digital operations of 30+ brands to internal technology applications and infrastructure operations. With over 15 years of deep technical expertise and business acumen, Aneel comes to Sourcemedia with significant management consulting experience with Accenture.  He has implemented several complex projects using custom and off the shelf applications, utilizing onshore and offshore resource mix. 

  • The power point slides of the presentation are available here.
  • The full recording of the webcast is available here.

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Dont miss these upcoming Content Technology & Platforms events:

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Summary of Platform Publishing Webcast

May 3, 2013 By

The notion of platforms in business isn’t new: automakers and product makers realized the value some years ago, software developers adopted it, and most recently Amazon, Google, and Apple have built businesses around the concept.

During the Platform Publishing Webcast held on Wednesday, May 1st, Marc Strohlein, Principal at Agile Business Logic, discussed how to continuously create engaging and successful digital information products and what key ingredients should platform publishing include. He also demystified some seemingly arcane jargon and provided tools to start thinking about creating your own publishing platforms.

Marc Strohlein, Principal, Agile Business  Logic

 

 

 

The PowerPoint slides of the presentation are available here. The full recording of the Data Content Bootcamp session is available here.

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Dont miss these upcoming Content Technology & Platforms events:

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SIPAlert Daily: Visualization on the Horizon for Many Companies

March 25, 2013 By

Post by: Ronn Levine

While only 17% of companies are now using some form of visualization -Spotfire, MicroStrategy, Insight, for example- almost half of the respondents to a just-released SIIA Content Division survey said that they plan to implement visualization within the next 18 months. That ranks as the number one technology that companies are planning to implement. Next came Semantics at 31% and mobile publishing at 24%.

Interestingly, there are two technologies that are getting very little use now but are being almost unanimously researched. While just 8% of respondents use a mobile content manager program such as Atavist or Appcelerator, 92% are researching it. And the same goes for Crowdsourcing. Just 7% use it but 87% are researching it.

While 50% of the respondents are using data management technologies, only another 12% have it in the planning over the next 18 months. Social media remains an area where companies are just not sure how much time or resources to spend. Only 24% of the respondents are using a social media management platform such as Lithium or Radian 6 while just another 17% are planning to implement that in the next 18 months.

At DataContent 2012, Russell Perkins called Big Data a “capability, a means to an end…Big Data can make our offerings deeper and richer.” Thus it makes sense that 67% of the respondents would like to hear use cases about Big Data. That was the highest figure for that question. Next came Semantics at 62.5% and Visualization at 50%. No other topic drew over 33%.

In other questions, 66% of the respondents feel “somewhat confident” that they have the relevant information needed to make the right decision on whether to implement new technologies. Almost 14% are not confident, and no one is very confident. Only 41% of the respondents said they would be interested in attending a vendor showcase of short technology overviews; 24% said no and 34% said maybe, need more information. Almost 60% classified themselves as mainstream adopters when it comes to embracing new technology; 30% said they are late to the party and just 11% said they are early adopters. The respondents said that only 3% of their customers are early adopters.

The company sizes of the respondents varied from $250 million and over (22%) to under $10 million (33%). A majority of the respondents are at the CEO or division head level, and almost 50% represent B2B companies.

 

  Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline

 

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New Federal Legislation Supports Technology Readiness for Digital Learning and Online Assessment

February 5, 2013 By

U.S. Representative George Miller (CA) today introduced “The Transforming Education Through Technology Act” (H.R. 521) to help ensure the nation’s elementary and secondary schools have access to the technology infrastructure, applications and professional support needed for digital learning and online assessment. Congressman Miller is Ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Education & the Workforce Committee, coauthor of the No Child Left Behind Act, and was recently recognized for his leadership in education technology.

“The Transforming Education Through Technology Act is an important step forward in providing our students and educators with the technology supports they need for success in school and in the workplace,” said SIIA President Ken Wasch. “We look forward to working further with Congressman Miller to provide the leadership and investment needed to modernize our educational practices and instructional resources through technology and digital learning.”

SIIA is pleased to be part of a coalition of organizations endorsing the bill, representing K-12 teachers, technology officers, administrators and high-tech companies.

The Transforming Education Through Technology Act would:

  • Support and prepare teachers and principals to use technology to redesign curriculum, effectively use real-time data to drive classroom practice, individualize instruction, and increase student engagement;
  • Help school districts ensure equitable access to, and effective use of, the technology infrastructure and applications all students need for expanded learning opportunities, online assessment and computer-based curriculum;
  • Seed new models of digital learning that help personalize learning, including through curriculum redesign, online communities of practice, and interactive learning simulations; and
  • Help states to support their school districts to improve student learning, upgrade assessments, and improve educator preparation and support around technology.

The legislation comes at an important time for the role of technology in education. Common core state standards and online assessments are among the factors driving the need for technology, and educators are asking “how” not “if.” However, the continued budget crunch has left too many schools and students without adequate access. This new bill would go a long way toward addressing those gaps, and SIIA will continue its advocacy for this and related public investments.

Mark SchneidermanMark Schneiderman is Senior Director of Education Policy at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy

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Filed Under: Ed Tech Government Forum, Education, Education Policies, Education Policy, Legislation, Personalized Learning, Policy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,

IIS Breakthrough Recap: Content Dethroned By Technology

February 5, 2013 By

Deborah Richman, Consultant, Zions Bank

Written by Deborah Richman, Consultant, Zions Bank

At the Information Industry Summit’s crossfire session, experts agreed on one thing: content is no longer king. Gone are the days when business information was controlled by a few, stable, necessary sources delivering to ever-loyal customers. Here’s how the experts view technology’s destabilizing force:

  • “Technology is extremely critical, and content is what you have to have,” said Andy Prozes, senior advisor at Warburg Pincus.
  • John Hartig, CEO of Sports Information Group believes the industry’s in “hand-to-hand combat” between offering relevant data and leveraging technology.
  • Our business is now about “peaks and troughs and rapid cycles of developments,” explained Stephen Ryden-Lloyd, SVP at Innodata.
  • Denzil Rankine, executive chairman at AMR International, declared “you have to have a CEO who gets it and understands technology.”
  • “Is technology endlessly complicating the business model?” asked Dan McCarthy, a DeSilva+Phillips partner. Yes, indeed.

 

The “new normal” challenges

Depending on your marketplace and customers, there are different ways to integrated content, commerce and technology. Still, these “new normal” challenges need to be addressed.

Technical DNA here: Perhaps the largest challenge relates to having or injecting technical DNA in the company. If your company began life as pure-content business, then new executives will need to help evolve the business and culture. Companies must be willing to invest in technology, functionality and people.

Continuous product cycles: It’s not possible to roll out a product and sit back for a year or two anymore. You must understand road maps and agile releases, to be responsive to the market. You also must stay abreast of technology platforms, with the right partners. And whether you “make or buy,” remember to budget for R&D and development.

To workflow or not workflow: Information will get distributed through multiple workflow systems used by your customers. You could work closely with customers to integrate into their workflows or develop more standard applications familiar to them. If appropriate, you might be able to focus on outcomes rather than workflows.

The information industry will thrive

The information industry is still growing and attracting new entrants and sources. It is still undergoing a massive transition, due to game-changing digital technologies accessible to publishers and customers.

“This will remain an attractive market,” explained AMR’s Denzil Rankine. “A trend is that it is a tougher to be alone, as a sole supplier to the market. More entrants, providers will have a downward pressure on margin.”

Innodata’s Stephen Ryden-Llloyd observed the competitive pressures:  “Authority can come from multiple places today.  Also from social networks or wisdom of the crowds. There’s a huge degree of cleverness, opportunity” in the marketplace.

“But if you build new tech, the growth rates are there,” declared Warburg’s Andy Prozes.

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Debby Richman spent her formative years at D&B, leading the reference business from print to online and web offerings. She has since held digital leadership roles at Overstock, About.com, Looksmart, Starz, Collarity and Zions Bank.

 

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