Publishing Help is on the Way?
July 11, 2010
Publishing remains one of the toughest industries to be a part of, but one aspect of this work just got a lot easier thanks to OpenPublish. This Calais-powered publishing suite comes as a direct result of the pairing of Thompson Reuters with Phase2 Technology. The result is a Drupal compatible program aimed to help medium-sized and small publishers reduce costs and get more bang from offline content.
OpenPublish provides support on a variety of content, ranging from articles, to blogs and even content monetization tools. In addition, it helps build an online presence by including functionality for email forwarding, social bookmarking, RSS feed capabilities and allowing for readers to leave comments.
This is an exciting development for any publisher because as the rising costs of production and competition from other media, this industry needs help catching up. With many commercial content management systems crashing on the rocks, this solution may be worth a close look. The open source magnetism may be a plus too.
Pat Roland, July 11, 2010
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Open Source: Frisky Like Ben Franklin in France?
July 10, 2010
Several newspapers tossed aside their proprietary software for a day in order to produce an entire edition strictly from open source material. And we have Ben Franklin to thank for it. Saratoga Springs, NY’s daily paper, the Saratogian, recently detailed its foray into open source world in an article, “Ben Franklin Day at the Saratogian”. The results were a newspaper that offered the same high-quality look and layout of previous editions, but made completely from open source word processing, pagination and photo editing tools. Part publicity stunt, part open source boot camp, this event was part of the Ben Franklin Project that aims to help newspapers get more of an online presence.
This is an intriguing story that tosses more credibility toward open source programs and hammers in another coffin nail for expensive, difficult proprietary software.
Pat Roland, July 10, 2010
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Who Will Publishers Blame Next?
July 6, 2010
Google has been the target for some media companies for years. Most of the hostility has been ignited because Google indexes content. Users want to find information. Anyone who uses a computer wants to shorten the distance between A (what is needed) and B (where the information is). Simple and a constant problem for Google’s engineers to understand.
Now publishers have to face some painful facts.
First, Yahoo – after years of inattention – has figured out that clicks yield valuable information. According to the New York Times, Yahoo will use these data to deliver “news.” (Note that this link will go dead because the New York Times is trying to cope with online. Helpful, right?) Gee, I do that in this lousy blog. I look at usage reports from Blossom, AWStats, and other analytics sources. I write about what gets clicks. If the addled goose, aged 65, figured this out years ago, what took Yahoo so long? Interesting how those young wizards overlook the message of the purloined letter?
Second, the US Postal Service is going to raise its rates. (Same deal. The link will be dead in a nonce.) The USPS has been the print publishers’ pal for decades. My grandfather, after World War I let him out of the trenches, delivered mail. He complained long and loud about the crap he delivered at bargain basement rates. In Harrods Creek, the postmistress and I talk about the volume of junk that flows through the system. One conference promoter sends me dozens of fliers at bulk rate prices. Last year, I gathered up these fliers and mailed them to the company president. Guess what? No change. It is cheaper to pump baloney through the USPS than clean the mailing list. How long will this outfit be in business?
Hopefully the media titans will direct their ire at Yahoo and the US government. Why not blame others instead of oneself? Isn’t that the modern MBA way?
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2010
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Azure Chip Whiz Reveals Possible CRM Goof but Is It Okay Now?
July 6, 2010
I urge you to read this ZDNet article in full. Before I make any observations, point your browser at “Gartner Customer 360 – Their First Social”. Study the write up. If you agree with it, don’t read my comments. If you think it sounds like azure on azure, read my comments and observations. Keep in mind that I am offering my views and opinion. I don’t know much, but I know what I find tough to swallow. You may have a different preference. As a former Ziffer, I was shocked at this write up and its content.
The idea is this write up is that a big consulting firm, Gartner, did not understand customer relationship management and now has figured it out. Here’s the passage I found quite remarkable from a person who gets paid by the azure chip outfit to be an “expert”:
My conclusions in most of my prior posts on this particular conference over the years, were that Gartner didn’t get it, or later on almost got it, but not quite. Last year, they regressed and held a conference that was universally (and a bit shockingly) panned for its attendance and content. But they’ve shown a truly admirable resiliency and a real humility when it came to rethinking what they had to do to make this conference a true success. And that they did. This was spectacular.
As I said, off the rails in the past and now the azure chip outfit gets it. So the person paid by the azure chip outfit knew the client was confused if not wrong and kept taking the money. Even more remarkable, the hired gun is now trying hard to convince me that the railroad train is back on the tracks and pulling a load. Wow.
Second, notice this passage:
Gartner to their credit is showing an incredible flexibility and humility when it comes to Social CRM. First, they are now behind the market where a year ago, that wasn’t exactly the case. They are predicting a $1 billion spend on what they define as that market (more on that in a bit) in 2011, which would put it at about 8% of the total CRM software market if they are seeing it as a subset of that. I’m unaware of whether or not they are or aren’t but will find that out and let you know via a tweet soon enough. Additionally they see SCRM as a defining framework for the market. They also see it (YESSS!) as evolutionary, not revolutionary. Meaning it’s not replacing CRM but its extending social capabilities into CRM. BTW, they are not having any difficulties using the word “social.” I say this because I’m seeing some feedback – as in the kind “Blackberry-next-to-speaker” feedback – noise – about the use of the word “social” because “we’ve always been social.” So what? That doesn’t mean we can’t use the word. Its used as a way of distinguishing changes in CRM that are due to changes in customer behavior and how the customer communicates. In fact, read Mitch Lieberman’s post on managing expectations for a good way to think about it. What makes Gartner’s perspective on SCRM important is that they are market makers when it comes to customers’ thinking about what kind of business strategies to execute and what kind of software to implement. They don’t do much in between, honestly – the programmatic requirements of practitioners are left to consultants as the guidance counselors.
I like the YESSS! Quite emphatic. Kathy Bonomo, my grade school girl friend, wrote in capital letters and used exclamation points too. My view is that after explaining the outfit was not on the beam and praising everyone at the azure chip outfit effusively, the azure chip outfit is in the swing of social, has Web content that makes this point, and influences companies about business strategies.
Okay, so if the azure chip outfit was off the rails and advised clients at the time, perhaps the advice was somewhat flawed? If accurate, wow.
That’s enough. I am delighted that I am old, semi retired and able to avoid sticky wickets that poke their prongs into objectivity, knowledge of a domain, and credibility. This mea culpa write up is a keeper, just not for the reasons one would tuck away an important piece of writing like Kenichi Ohmae’s The Mind of the Strategist. The troublesome thought is that some clients might put the azure chip firm’s work on an equal footing with a blue chip outfit. In tough times, clients deserve the best, not self referential information that underscores how a goof seems to have allowed a CRM train to run off the tracks.
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2010
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ArnoldIT July 2010 For-Fee Columns
July 6, 2010
Stephen E Arnold’s July 2010 columns have been filed. These will appear between August and October 2010 due to the lag time in print publication. Information World Review has shifted from paper to an online-only publication, so that column should be available in the month of July. Here’s a run down of what I covered for each of these publishing firms:
Information Today, published by Information Today in Medford, New Jersey. The column is “The Palantir Play: A Blend of Open and Closed.” Palantir received about $90 million in venture funding. The column considers the implications of the firm’s open source and proprietary technology blend. www.infotoday.com
Information World Review, published by Bizmedia Ltd., runs my column in its online journal. This month’s column is “Will Open Source Boost SAP?” My view is that I hope so. SAP has a long hill to climb with its aging locomotives R/3 and NetWeaver. www.iwr.co.uk
KMWorld, published by Information Today in Medford, New Jersey. The column is “Google Communications: Regular, Blended, or Transformational?”. I consider the differences between Google’s approach to enterprise unified communications and what such companies as Cisco, Microsoft, and Verizon offer. www.kmworld.com
Smart Business Network publishes about 20 regional business magazines. My column appears in each region’s publication. This month’s column is “Why a Web Site Is So Yesterday.” The idea is that other types of electronic presence is required. A Web page won’t pull the marketing cart in today’s world. www.sbnonline.com
In addition, the ArnoldIT.com team is generating original content for Access Innovations and IGear. If you want to add original content to your blog, let me know. I can provide you with options and costs for this service. The Beyond Search blog and my columns have created a spontaneous demand for substantive content on technical and business issues. Quite a surprise for this aging goose. One plus is that traffic to a Web site increases with the ArnoldIT.com “triple tap” method. Forget traditional public relations and consider the original content methods. Write seaky2000@yahoo.com for information.
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2010
This is a commercial message bought by Stephen E Arnold in order to generate vast sums of money and help companies wanting a marketing method that really works.
The Official Airlines Guide on Steroids
July 3, 2010
No reference to my Google: The Digital Gutenberg in this post. I do want to suggest you read “Google Buys ITA for $700M to Boost Travel Search.” Forget Expedia, Orbitz, Farecast, and the rest of the crowd. Go find an old person who traveled a lot in the 1970s and ask about the Official Airlines Guide Pocket Edition, once the proud captive of maybe an outfit like Bowker. I can’t remember but I recall that a subscription cost a lot of money. Airlines have been clueless about the needs of the professional who travels for a while. The point is that the OAG pocket thing which was too tall and fat for any of my pockets was yesterday’s iPhone travel app. The Google is now in this business. Is Google a publisher? Of course not.
Stephen E Arnold, July 3, 2010
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Why Beat Up the Google?
June 30, 2010
I read two stories by publications that bump up against one another for readers.Eweek, once a Ziff flagship in terms of ad pages, is now an online publication. The story is really a slideshow with comments next to each graphic. Navigate to “10 Reasons to Stop Using Google.” The idea is to call attention to Google weaknesses and services that out Google Google. The example that sticks in my mind is Zoho, an online version of Microsoft Office. I understand the need for page views, but I wondered why pick on Google? The analysis is okay, but nothing spectacular.
The second Google kicker is “Why Do We Trust Google?”, which appeared in an Infoworld online publication. Like the eWeek “story”, this write up dances around the “Google is evil” angle. Nothing wrong with that, but the Google has been chugging along in the same mode for more than a decade. Worrying about Google makes it possible to mention lots of Google services and maybe get some traffic.
The more interesting question for me is, “Why are these outfits snapping at Google’s heels?” Like the identical covers that popped up once in a while on Time and Newsweek paper issues, the coincidence is interesting. My opinion is that Google is not an advertiser and writing about Google produces traffic. Google is a juicy target and it is great sport. Substantive articles? It is summer time and the SEO is easy.
Stephen E Arnold, June 30, 2010
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The Pay Wall Payoff
June 26, 2010
In the early days of this blog, I recycled some information I had in my files from the 1980s. I believe I mentioned that problem that online throws in the path of the uninitiated. The idea is that you can charge for information online, but you must offer “must have” information. Vanilla information will generate some traffic on a fee basis but the take will be a fraction of what is needed to create the content, market the service, and keep the infrastructure alive and well. The “must have” and “nice to have” distinctions are well known to those who have been able to build commercial online products that actually make a profit. Honk. I am in that tiny segment of humanity. No ads needed, thank you. I have a view that ads – through lucrative – are down market. I like the “must have” approach even though I paddled in a goose pond in rural Kentucky. The millions and billions go to the Wal-Mart like folks. “Times Paywall: Initial Data and Analysis” is one of those semi accurate, pundit thingies. The data are cooked up based on whatever log files are available and from traffic sampling methods. Despite these concerns, one has to be in bizarro land not to see the down ward trend in the chart.
What this means is that the pay wall is a traffic inhibitor. That’s okay as long as the online revenue makes up for the downturn. My experience is that traffic will stabilize and revenues will be tough to grow. The fix is to raise the fee which means less traffic. The end game is that there will be a small number of people will to pay whatever the vendor charges. The problem is that costs go up and revenue does not keep pace. Boink. Bad news. On the brightside, some of the cash from the sale of Beliefnet might help out the pay wall play.
Stephen E Arnold, June 26, 2010
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PDF Search
June 23, 2010
You can pinpoint PDF files in Google via its advanced search option or just keying this string after your query, filetype:pdf. Too much work? Navigate to http://www.pdfpick.com/. The service limits the query to the wonderful PDF files. My acquaintance with PDFs began at Ziff in the late 1980s. I think I had to kick the tires of what was then called “Trapeze”. Over the last 20 years I have watched the file format become the sleek, well formed, round, firm, and fully packed wonder that it is. Bound phrases? Forget it. Snappy rendering. Forget it. Malware safe? Forget it. Tools for limiting file validity by time or number of opens? Forget it. Universally searchable? Forget it. Autoscaling on mobile devices? Forget it. Users who know what a tiff wrapper is? Forget it. Nevertheless, PDFs are part of the landscape. If you want to limit your query to this file type, give PDFPick a try.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2010
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How to Download Google Books
June 23, 2010
Short honk: The goose prefers tree-killing books. You may want digital books, specifically Google digital books. If so, you will want to read “Download Google Books.” We have not tried the method. Post the results of your tests in the comments section of this blog.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2010
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