far better to say too little than too much
This web project manager had a requirement blackout today. In a meeting at the day job somewhere in Switzerland, I seriously couldn’t remember if the tool that I evaluated six months ago – and which I am now using – runs on a Microsoft server.
(Err… Microsoft server? Was that a requirement? )
Sometimes memory fails. I haz a sad.
And time to start planning the vacation…
Bonus link on an unrelated topic:
Posted in General.
– 7/1/2009
Cyberwiter posted the above tweet on using social media to enhance your company’s online news room.
The article lists ways how to aggregate text, images, audio and video to make it useful for corporations and their target audience.
Ein gutgemachter Social Media Newsroom ist essentiell für die Online-PR: Er …
1. eröffnet einen schnellen Zugang zu den wichtigsten Unternehmensinhalten
2. lebt von aktuellen und vielfältigen Inhalten, die möglichst täglich erneuert werden
3. ist komplett per RSS abonnierbar und individualisierbar
4. basiert auf Pull-Elementen und nicht auf Push
5. spricht Journalisten wie andere Influencer gleichermaßen an
6. verweist nicht nur auf die eigenen, sondern auch auf fremde Quellen (Verlinkung)
7. öffnet seinen Pressespiegel für alle (Social Bookmarking erleichtert das)
8. ermöglicht den schnellen Kontakt für einen Dialog (Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc.)
9. nutzt Real-Time-Elemente (Livestreaming auf Basis von Twitter oder Friendfeed)
10. erleichtert die Vernetzung mit den Ansprechpartnern im Unternehmen
11. bietet reichhaltiges lizenzfreies Video- und Bild-Material (gerne auch Pod- oder Vodcasts)
12. fordert alle Besucher zu Copy & Paste auf
13. regt Online-Diskussionen auf anderen Plattformen (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc.) an
14. Integriert eigene Corporate Blogs und Microblogs
15. bringt die News des Unternehmens zum Laufen
The article lists a number of corporate examples.
The web consultant hiding here at Chiperoni headquarters (errr… me!) believes this is one way corporations can profit from new media technologies.
And I’m not only talking. I have been using blogging technology and RSS feeds within a company context for over four years.
My experience… some traditional PR distribution services still don’t understand that it’s important to be included in Google News.
It is. Whether you like Google or not.
A newsroom is more than just collecting and archiving press releases…
To build a community around Twitter or Facebook or similar, you will need a concept and a company policy regarding behavior in your communities. And before you quote me wrongly. I am not saying your company should start a Twitter or Facebook channel. Think about your time resources and goals beforehand. Ultimately you will want to draw people to your site or sub-sites. And there may be a different way that is better suited for your corporate environment. And most importantly, read the TOS before you start posting your content on third party sites.
See my simple Wordpress prototype here – a quick test install to demonstrate how WordPress can be used for a simple corporate newsroom.
I need to run and finish my MBA assignments for today…
Posted in blogging, marketing, tech, wordpress.
– 6/29/2009
As social media is becoming more mainstream, I find I am discussing various tools and voicing my opinion in many daily situations.
Half-geek that I am, I have explored quite a few tools over the years.
For instance I find myself explaining:
Posted in General.
– 6/25/2009
From my Cost Accounting textbook:
straightforward…
Posted in General.
– 6/23/2009
Inspired by lots of fresh air
After lots of hours cramped in front of my books, trying to catch up with my studies, I went jogging for a couple of rounds on the Finnenbahn ( a sawdust track ) in the woods. Usually I find running around in circles boring. But today I didn’t mind cos my head is full of unprocessed data.
And while I plodded around the loop, I thought about:
The term mindblogging was coined by fellow blogger Persillie and refers to the writing of virtual blog posts while doing something else such as jogging. By default mindblog posts are always better than their written equivalent.
Congratulations to Mlle. A.! Her blog Handmade 2.0 is featured in the current edition of t3n, a German IT and web magazine.
Way to go!
Next in Brand eins?
I talked to my mom about internet connections in Malawi. She says that prices for mobile internet are getting more affordable. TNM offers USB modems. I need to research this…
Posted in General, tech, tweet.
– 6/21/2009
Message from the admin:
For a couple of days, the Wordpress installation at Chiperoni was broken. The framework of the website was displaying but all content within a blog post or page had disappeared. I could see the content in the admin view.
I finally found the culprit: version 1.01 of a plugin called Markdown from early Wordpress installs was causing this display error:
Interestingly the site worked fine directly after installing 2.8. This error only displayed a couple of days later. And at first I didn’t link it to the upgrade.
Unfortunately I did not get much of a response at Wordpress.org. Thank you to Esmi for responding. I appreciate your help. Let me just add: the lack of response is very different from the pioneer days in 2003 and 2004 when I first started evaluating and using Wordpress. There are a huge number of queries and an individual – and dumb – question like mine doesn’t get any notice any more. The downside of going mainstream…
Apologies to all regular Chiperoni visitors for the recent downtimes and techie problems. There are plans to move to a new server…
Hope this post will help other Wordpress users.
Posted in wordpress.
– 6/19/2009
Just confirming what I already knew.
No need to fight against machine-readable passports with RFIDs (c.f. #biometrischer pass). Your regular cell phone (that’s without any fancy GPS functions) already provides all the data needed to track you wherever you go.
c.f. this Namics presentation on Internet trends.
Add some pattern matching with some other online tools and voilà you’re identified.
Some links mentioned in the presentation:
Wikipedia on Reality Mining:
Reality Mining is the collection and analysis of machine-sensed environmental data pertaining to human social behavior, with the goal of identifying predictable patterns of behavior.
Posted in tech.
– 6/14/2009
Got to love the Internet. Nothing is too obscure.
And a web page for non-twitterers…
Tell the world why you don’t tweet:
http://www.whyidonttweet.com/
Buon weekend
Posted in fun.
– 6/13/2009
Looks like my blog is back. Yay.
Missed it. Especially in a time where I feel the return of the personal website is imminent.
Recommended link of the week:
Wordnik
Can’t wait to try out the new Wordpress…
Posted in General.
– 6/12/2009
Excellent talk.
Presenter Laura Fitton says good content is noticed and forwarded even if there are only a few followers.
Another strength of Twitter is that it supports multi-interfaces and devices. Not limited to a browser.
Posted in General.
– 5/3/2009
Recommended read via Mlle A.’s Delicious bookmarks:
And probably a reason why many companies that are latecomers to the social media circus will never understand, why everybody is was so excited.
Instead of following the latest social media advertising trend, my advice is: Be yourself.
Be your-crazy-self.
If it means only 20 unique visits per day, that’s much better than selling your ideas, your soul and well-being for 5K hits that will not return and will make you look trashy.
Imagine 20 people walking into your brick-and-mortar shop per day.
Don’t try to blog or post photos or twitter or upload videos or bookmark articles or share RSS feeds for advertising purposes only.
Have fun.
Don’t copy.
Don’t be fake.
Be Visible.
Persuade with good content at regular intervals.
When I presented a talk about blogging for content developers at an STC conference in Zurich, it was a photo collection of Nutella alternatives that Mlle A. and I started at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nutellaalternative/ that people noticed. Lots of craziness in there.
But I’m also using my energy for other projects such as the Malawi group at Flickr:
My talk about cell phones in Africa was well received because I’m genuinely interested in ICT developments in Africa, because now I can connect with family and friends. Which I couldn’t in the early 90s, due to very high telephone costs.
I don’t need to push my own business. Chiperoni and all of its side streams is just a fun project to try out new technologies and practice my writing skills and keep online bookmarks. And as such I’m probably a lot freer than somebody that needs to pay their bills with their online shop.
Consider these facts:
Social media is really disrupting the traditional conventional advertising and news world. Maybe at the end of it, all kinds of media will be dead… new and old. C.f. my recent post on “Where are the business models for content?”.
Search engines have become all powerful. Important facts and knowledge are getting ignored because they’re not in the search results on page 1.
That’s why independent niche blogging is important to me. Excellent research skills are much needed.
That’s why your point of view and your understanding of a topic can make a difference. And that’s why you should continue to blog and tweet and post photos… But IMHO the gold rush is over. It’s hard work. No quick wins.
In a corporate environment, asking all of your company employees to digg an article or tweet by command is fake, if you don’t engage further and learn to use the new tools and make networking part of your company culture. C.f Scoble on Zappos.
I would try to move away from “all about me and my beautiful company” kind of articles to showing your expertise and understanding for your particular part of the world market.
Posted in marketing.
– 5/1/2009
Note to myself. Of no public interest whatsoever.
An exciting topic that is virtually knocking me off my feet.
Present value of a future payment is the amount that one must have today to yield that payment at the future date, given the opportunity rate.
One way to calculate this is to use present value tables.
How much is the present value of receiving 4 million US$ in 6 years at an interest rate of 10% paid at the end of the 6 years?
The present value is calculate (amount received at end of period) * (opportunity rate for 10% and 6 years)-
Equals 4 million * 0.564 = 2.265 million US$
If it’s an annuity, i.e. a series of receipts or payments of the same size are received/made at regular intervals, then use present value table for annuities.
For example regular payments of rent 1.4 million US$ at the end of each year for 6 year at an interest rate of 10% have a present value of 1.4 million * 4.355 = 6.097 million $$$.
Alternatively you can use the Excel/OpenOffice function PV:
Syntax:
PV(rate; numperiods; payment; futurevalue; type)
Posted in General.
– 4/29/2009
Stumbled across this tweet about Malawi on OpenStreetMap.org.
See for example the streets of Blantyre:
– 4/26/2009
Bad Behavior has blocked 348 access attempts in the last 7 days.
Blog Comments are so 2004