Contact synching – that sinking feeling

Alexandra Samuel blogs entertainingly for the Harvard Business Review on information and social media issues. In her quest for a ‘master rolodex’ she wonders why it is so difficult to synchronise her contacts and discovers that, as with so many things, it’s simple (to request), but it ain’t easy (to deliver!).

She speaks to Joseph Smarr, who moved from Plaxo to Google where he focuses on the social web. Smarr outlines the technological challenges, but urges consumers to pressure companies for change to make their data work and link how they want. When discussing Buzz, Smarr acknowledges that some people responded with surprise and dismay. In February 2010, Phil Bradley blogged that Google had failed to understand that a good social media product should be designed first and foremost to make the user’s life easier and that Buzz was a failure in this respect. Only six weeks later, he reports how interest in Buzz has fallen sharply and that he is continuing to rely on tried, tested and trusted Facebook and Twitter.

And the wait for a synching tool continues.

Tools for social engagement

Sarah Hammond is the founder of MyPolice.org, an organisation that seeks to facilitate communication between the police and the public. In a Guardian interview , Hammond suggests that a key challenge for the UK police force is ‘getting’ social media and appreciating how it can be used to engage positively with the public. It’s another example of large organisations failing to comprehend the power of new communication tools.

It will be interesting to see how Hammond’s vision of ‘consumer-focused data’ is realised and how MyPolice collaborates with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Contabulary to generate useful, consumer friendly, information.

Consumers pay less for more

The latest KPMG sponsored YouGov research highlights the continuing challenges for the media industry as it attempts to maintain revenue streams. Consumers may well be increasing their overall media consumption, but they are paying less for it.

The research surveys consumers’ media consumption and analyses trends every six months. The latest report highlights how spend has declined on newspapers and magazines in particular as an increasing number of publications move to a ‘freesheet’ model (including the London Evening Standard in October 2009).

Unsuprisingly, when asked about attitudes to paid-for content, consumers are happier to pay for music and films than they are for TV programmes and news, which they consider ‘free’ at the moment.

The most popular online activity remains social networking and blogging with 50% of respondents using these sites.

For more information:

Aslib finds a new home

The MCB Group, the holding company of the Emerald publishing group has announced that it has acquired Aslib.

Emerald states that it intends to carry out consultations with current and former members and others but that it plans to build a ’21st century membership organisation’.

This seems an excellent time to alert our subscribers to an article due to appear in our June issue. Written by Oriole Newgass, the article considers the role of professional associations and membership organisations for information professionals. Oriole analyses both successes and failures and recommends some radical ways forward for high value professional associations.

Twitter vs traditional news

For those who haven’t read it yet, Phil Bradley’s blog features an excellent ‘realtime’ review of the coverage of the California earthquake yesterday, demonstrating quite clearly the timelag between what Phil now considers ‘traditional’ news providers (web-based news sites) and the breadth and immediacy of information he was able to access via Twitter. Twitter must now be taken seriously as a source for news.

Meanwhile, News International will press ahead with its decision to charge for online content. Content that may not be able to compete with Twitter when it comes to ‘on the spot’ reporting.

Upcoming conference

The Library and Information Research Coalition holds its first conference this year on June 28th at the British Library Conference Centre. The programme explores the LIS research landscape and combines keynote speakers with breakout sessions and opportunities for active delegate participation.

The programme looks excellent and I am delighted to have been asked to facilitate break out session on the day.

It’s also interesting to note the low price of this conference. £84.10 seems excellent value for a one-day event in central London. Congratulations to the programming committee and all those concerned.

BBC, social media

The ever excellent Pods and Blogs programme is a regular feature on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Up All Night programming and does, of course, have its own podcast. It’s the type of programme that introduces you to great content you may never have actually searched for or found without prompting. It is highly recommended.

In this week’s broadcast, the programme featured Matt Novak who glories in the job title paleo-futurologist. His blog Paleofuture provides ‘a look into the future that never was’ by showing historical predictions for the future. In 1930, for example, the Syracuse Herald ran an article predicting the digital distribution of films in an article ‘Television will soon flash talkies through the ether’. Or how about 1981’s ‘Computer criminals of the future’ which predicts growth in computer fraud (although simultaneously predicting a decline in buglaries because computers will be guarding our homes!).

Bearded men of the 21st century is just one example of why we should all exercise extreme caution when predicting the future.

Searching Chinese patents

In 1985 China put in place its first patent law. It acceded to the World Trade Organisation in 2000. As China’s presence on the economic global stage increases, its patent applications increase with its own patents and those from countries seeking patent protection in China. According to China’s State Intellectual Property Office, in 2007 China received more patent applications that any country (694,000). (The US had the second most applications (484,955), followed by Japan (443,150).

This article by Christine Kaemmer is a useful and well structured resource for those who need to research Chinese Patents and Utility Models. It’s written so that it’s accessible to non IP experts – and sensibly stresses the importance of using expert searchers for prior art work.

Ignorance management

In discussing the huge effects that can be stimulated by an organisation’s failure to tackle or even to recognise the existence of ignorance management, Chris Rivinus throws down a challenge to all of us.

“It doesn’t matter what level of the organisation you call home, mitigation of Ignorance Management starts by looking in the mirror”.

Good business information services are a force against ignorance management but it’s certainly worth thinking about whether use of BI services is feeding instinctive prejudices for action or encouraging people to stop and think on the basis of current evidence. And you may want to consider mapping ignorance in your own area of your organisation – even if you keep p your results to yourself you may be able to act on them.

Reputation management

This article by Rob Brown, published in the March 2010 issue of the journal (27/1), couldn’t be more timely. In the last month we have seen several high profile sportsmen face media scrutiny of the gap between their ‘personal brand’ and their ‘character’.

Those who listened to Rob Brown at the 2008 London Online Information Conference can testify to the power of his advice on the routes to develop personal and corporate reputations. There are so many messages in his article – perhaps the key one for us is to cultivate your knowledge, your networks, your experience – and your influence will increase with your reputation. The many areas for action that Rob covers in his article provide a good assessment tool not just for individuals thinking of their personal reputation but for people running and providing information services. Which of these actions are most likely to increase service reputation?
The article abstract is available on the Sage website.