Social Karma (Part 1)

An effective social media strategy is essential for organizations as well as individual professionals.

Using social media effectively, including blogging and social networking sites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), can definitely help promote you, your expertise, your company, and its products and services. 

However, it is sad—but true—that too many people and companies have a selfish social media strategy. 

You should not use social media to exclusively promote only yourself or your business. 

You need to view social media as Social Karma. 

If you can focus your social media and social networking efforts on helping others, then you will get much more back than just a blog reader, a LinkedIn connection, a Facebook friend, a Twitter follower, or even a potential customer.

I am not a Social Media Expert—but I play one on the Internet

I am not a social media “expert.”  In fact, until late 2008, I wasn't even interested enough to ask people what they meant when I heard them talking about “social media.”  I started blogging, tweeting, and using other social media in early 2009. 

Please let me do the complex math for you—I still have less than one year of actual experience with social media.

I don't know how you define expertise—and I do acknowledge the inherent difficulty in vetting expertise in such a new and rapidly evolving field—but less than one year of experience with anything does not an expert make, in my humble opinion.

However, I have spent over 15 years in computer science and information technology related disciplines, as a software engineer, consultant, and instructor.  I have considerable experience and expertise applying technology in a business context in order to implement solutions for Global 500 companies in a wide variety of industries. 

Therefore, I am not a complete moron—but I will leave it to you to determine the actual percentage.

I am currently a full-time writer making all of my income from social media—mainly from blogging and mostly from ghostwriting for corporate blogs.

I am not trying to sell you anything. 

I am going to freely share what I have learned so far, including what I have learned from people with far more experience using social media.  As I stated previously, I hesitate to call anyone an expert in such a rapidly evolving discipline, but I will mention several resources I have found helpful. 

I have absolutely no affiliation or any paid relationship with any person, website, event, product, or book that I recommend.

About This Series

The primary reason that I am organizing my thoughts about social media involves my preparation for an upcoming conference presentation about using social media effectively for business purposes (more details in the next section).

I am publishing this content as a series on my blog, not only to provide supporting material for the small group of people that actually attend my conference session, but also because I have learned firsthand how the two-way conversation that blogging provides via comments from my readers, greatly improves the quality of my material.

Throughout this series, I will combine traditional blog posts with presentation slides, podcasts, and videos, in order to build a multimedia library of supporting material—all freely available, no registration required.

Enterprise Data World 2010

Enterprise Data World is the business world’s most comprehensive vendor-neutral educational event about data and information management.  This year’s program will be bigger than ever before, with more sessions, more case studies, and more can’t-miss content, providing over 200 hours of in-depth tutorials, hands-on workshops, practical sessions and insightful keynotes to take you to the forefront of your industry.   

Enterprise Data World 2010 will be held March 14-18 in San Francisco, California at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.

The full conference agenda can be viewed by clicking on this link: Enterprise Data World 2010 Conference Agenda.

The registration options can be viewed by clicking on this link: Enterprise Data World 2010 Conference Registration. 

Use the discount code of EDW10SPKR for a $100 discount off your registration fees. (Discount code expires on February 26.)

On Monday, March 15 from 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM, I will be presenting (30 minutes of material and 30 minutes of Q&A):

Social Karma: The Art of Effectively Using Social Media in Business

In Part 2 of this series:  We will discuss leveraging social media for “listening purposes only” as a passive (and safe) way to determine what (if any) type of active involvement with social media makes sense for you and/or your company.

Related Posts

Social Karma (Part 2) – Social Media Preparation

Social Karma (Part 3) – Listening Stations, Home Base, and Outposts

Social Karma (Part 4) – Blogging Best Practices

Social Karma (Part 5) – Connection, Engagement, and ROI Basics

Social Karma (Part 6) – Social Media Books

Social Karma (Part 7) – Twitter

OOBE-DQ, Where Are You?

Much of enterprise software is often viewed as a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product, which, in theory, is supposed to provide significant advantages over bespoke, in-house solutions.  In this blog post, I want to discuss your expectations about the out-of-box-experience (OOBE) provided by data quality (DQ) software, or as I prefer to phrase this question:

OOBE-DQ, Where Are You?

Common DQ Software Features

There are many DQ software vendors to choose from and all of them offer viable solutions driven by impressive technology.  Many of these vendors have very similar approaches to DQ, and therefore provide similar technology with common features, including the following (Please Note: some vendors have a suite of related products collectively providing these features):

• Data Profiling
• Data Quality Assessment
• Data Standardization
• Data Matching
• Data Consolidation
• Data Integration
• Data Quality Monitoring

A common aspect of OOBE-DQ is the “ease of use” vs. “powerful functionality” debate—ignoring the Magic Beans phenomenon, where the Machiavellian salesperson guarantees you their software is both remarkably easy to use and incredibly powerful.

So just how easy is your Ease of Use?

“Ease of use” can be difficult to qualify since it needs to take into account several aspects:

— Installation and configuration
— Integration within a suite of related products (or connectivity to other products)
— Intuitiveness of the user interface(s)
— Documentation and context sensitive help screens
— Ability to effectively support a multiple user environment
— Whether performed tasks are aligned with different types of users

There are obviously other aspects, some of which may vary depending on your DQ initiative, your specific industry, or your organizational structure.  However, the bottom line is hopefully the DQ software doesn't require your users to be as smart as Brainiac (pictured above) in order to be able to figure out how to use it, both effectively and efficiently.

DQ Powers—Activate!

Ease of use is obviously a very important aspect of OOBE-DQ.  However, as Duke Ellington taught us, it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing—in order words, if it's easy to use but can't do anything, what good is it?  Therefore, powerful functionality is also important.

“Powerful functionality” can be rather subjective, but probably needs to at least include these aspects:

— Fast processing speed
— Scalable architecture
— Batch and near real-time execution modes
— Pre-built functionality for common tasks
— Customizable and reusable components

Once again, there are obviously other aspects, especially depending on the specifics of your situation.  However, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of DQ functionality is how it helps (as pictured above) enable Zan (i.e., technical stakeholders) and Jayna (i.e., business stakeholders) to activate their most important power—collaboration.  And of course, sometimes even the Wonder Twins needed the help of their pet space monkey Gleek (i.e., data quality consultants).

OOBE-DQ, Where Are You?

Where are you in the OOBE-DQ debate?  In other words, what are your expectations when evaluating the out-of-box-experience (OOBE) provided by data quality (DQ) software?

Where do you stand in the “ease of use” vs. “powerful functionality” debate? 

Are there situations where the prioritization of ease of use makes a lack of robust functionality more acceptable? 

Are there situations where the prioritization of powerful functionality makes a required expertise more acceptable?

Please share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

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Freemium is the future – and the future is now

Earlier this week, two excellent blog posts—Three Ways to Start a Revolution by James Chartrand on Men with Pens, and Your Dream is Under Attack by Nathan Hangen on Copyblogger—discussed the somewhat polarizing debate about making money from blogging, which is one of many examples of the so-called “freemium” business model, which was first articulated in 2006 by venture capitalist Fred Wilson:

“Give your service away for free, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth and referral networks, then offer premium priced, value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base.”

In 2009, Chris Anderson published the book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, which among numerous other coverage, was critically reviewed in the article Priced to Sell by Malcolm Gladwell, and discussed in an interview conducted by Charlie Rose.

Isn't everything on the Internet supposed to be free?

The freemium model, as well as the concept expressed in Anderson's book, is not entirely about the Internet.  However, it is most often at the center of polarized debates because more and more businesses, in varying degrees, are becoming online businesses.

General public perception is that the Internet is free—getting on the Internet does have a cost (sometimes conveniently ignored), in terms of electricity, ISPs, and the various computer and mobile devices used to access it.  However, once you are connected, the content on the Internet is either free or is supposed to be free—according to the “logic” of a very common perspective.

To be fair, this is somewhat understandable, especially given the fact that many of the most popular online services, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, to name but three examples from countless others, are in fact, free – and their users often defiantly claim that they would never pay any amount of money for such a service.

So how does the Internet make money?

The Internet has traditionally made money the same way broadcast television (also “free” when you conveniently ignore the cost of electricity, cable and satellite providers, and the various devices used to access it) has traditionally made money – advertising.

Paraphrasing (and oversimplifying) the words of Chris Anderson, the three generations of making money on the Internet:

1. Pop-Up Ads – in the beginning was the Pop-up Ad—and it was not good.  Do you still remember (or are you old enough to remember) the early days of the Internet?  Nearly every website you visited brought the seemingly random attack of pop-up ads.  Even after the invention of pop-up blockers and the advent of alternatives to pop-up ads, online advertising was not very context sensitive and not only annoying, but also largely ineffective.
2. Google AdSense – the next generation of advertising was basically pioneered by Google (or companies they now own).  Exemplified by the now somewhat ubiquitous Google AdSense, ads specific to website content provided online advertising that is both less annoying and seemingly far more effective.
3. Freemium – we are just entering the third generation of making money on the Internet, and the first one not ruled by advertising—at least not advertising in the “traditional” sense.  Under this new model, free online content is made available to everyone—providing the opportunity to “up-sell” premium content to a (typically small) percentage of your audience.

Freemium is NOT a new concept

Although many Internet users become seemingly outraged by the very notion of the option to purchase premium content, the idea of giving away something for free in order to facilitate a potential purchase is by no means a new concept.

Just a few simple examples include:

• Samples at the mall food court are free, but you have to pay to eat a full meal
• Movie previews are free, but you have to pay to watch an entire movie
• Broadcast television shows are free, but you have to pay for the DVD box sets

The Internet, however, has seemingly always been viewed as a special case.

I believe this is mostly due to the ratio of free to premium.  Food samples, movie previews, and an individual episode of a television show, are small compared to the size of a full meal, a full-length movie, and a full season (or series) of episodes.

In other words, what we get for free isn't much, so paying for the rest makes more sense.  On the Internet, this ratio is reversed. 

Since almost everything on the Internet is free (again, after the cost of connection), we are genuinely, and perhaps really quite understandably, surprised or even annoyed when we encounter something that we are asked to pay for.

In other words, since we get so much for free, paying just to get a little more simply doesn't seem to make sense. 

After all, if the full meals at the mall food court were free, we certainly wouldn't pay just to eat samples.

(And yes—I do realize that was a terrible analogy on so many levels—so please stop yelling at me.)

Isn't freemium the end of the world as we know it?

Obviously, the real issue is not the ratio of free to premium, or how much you should (or should not) expect to get for free. 

The fundamental argument is that anything you pay for should be worth the price.

Historically, price has been the indicator of value, meaning something has value only if people are willing to pay for it.  Higher prices, in theory at least, indicate higher value, especially if people are willing to purchase at the higher price.

So, if people are willing to pay for it, then this indicates there is a demand for it, for which a supply of it must be produced. 

(And yes—I do realize that was a huge oversimplification of economic theory—so yet again, please stop yelling at me.)

One of the most common counter-arguments to the freemium model is that if price is allowed to essentially drop to zero, then there will be no way to accurately measure demand, which means there will be no way for content producers to determine what to supply.  Furthermore, if almost everything is free, then why would content consumers be willing to pay for anything at all.

If nobody is willing to pay, then nobody can possibly get paid, and all online content will be completely user-generated, and following Andrew Keen's argument in The Cult of the Amateur, a cultural apocalypse occurs, which results in not only the Internet, but the entirety of human expression, being reduced to us hurling our feces at each other just like our primate cousins.

(You may feel free to resume yelling at me now.)

Freemium is the future—and the future is now

Obviously, the freemium business model doesn't only apply to blogging.  By the way, it is totally understandable if you had forgotten that my lunatic fringe was ignited by the debate over making money from blogging.

Freemium is the future of most of the business world—and the harsh reality is—the future has already arrived.

In my opinion, too many people, companies, and in some cases, entire industries, are wasting their time, effort, and money trying to fight the unrelenting reality of freemium.  Instead of refusing to accept that the price of what you are now offering may be falling essentially to zero—focus on creating something new that people would be willing to pay for.

Once again, to paraphrase Chris Anderson, “free” is only one of many markets—and only one of many additional pricing levels. 

Don't stop at thinking about just two versions of each individual product or service—one free version and one premium version.  You should be thinking about one free version and multiple tiers of premium.  Value still drives price.  Therefore, if you can truly add more value at each tier, then you can successfully demand a higher price.

Freemium works as a viable model because people will always be willing to pay a premium for something worth its price.

If you can't (or can no longer) produce something your customers are willing to pay for—that's your problem, not theirs.

Podcast: Open Your Ears

I began this week by telling you to Shut Your Mouth—in a blog post utilizing Sports Night, Tao Te Ching, and Shaft in order to make the case for the critical role that listening plays in effective communication.

What better way would there be for me to emphasize this point, other than by providing you with something to listen to?

In this OCDQ Podcast, I discuss Stephen Covey's five different levels of listening, as well as empathy, emotional intelligence, the nature of opinions, and why all of us really need to learn to shut our mouth and open our ears.

You can also download this podcast (MP3 file) by clicking on this link: Open Your Ears

Related Posts

Shut Your Mouth

Hailing Frequencies Open

Resistance is NOT Futile

Follow OCDQ

If you enjoyed this blog post, then please subscribe to OCDQ via my RSS feed or my E-mail updates.

You can also follow OCDQ on Twitter, fan the Facebook page for OCDQ, and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Shut Your Mouth

New data quality consultants ask me for advice all the time. 

Some are “new” because they are just starting their career.  Others are new because the recent economy has provided them the “opportunity” for a career in consulting. 

Either way, when asked if I have one key piece of advice to offer, I respond immediately with:

“Shut Your Mouth.”

Understandably, an explanation is always required.

The Path of Least Resistance

My advice is sometimes misunderstood as:

“Just do as your told—don't rock the boat.”

I have been a consultant for most of my career and in various capacities, namely for the services group of software companies, for consulting firms, and also as an independent.

From my perspective, consultants provide extensive experience and best practices from successful implementations.  Their goal is to help clients avoid common mistakes and customize a solution to their specific business needs.

Their primary responsibility is to make themselves obsolete as quickly as possible by providing mentoring, documentation, training, and knowledge transfer.

A consultant that chooses the path of least resistance by always agreeing with you is not worth the money you are paying them.

To quote a favorite (canceled) television show:

“If you are stupid, then surround yourself with smart people. 

If you are smart, then surround yourself with smart people who will disagree with you.”

The Art of Communication

Perhaps inevitably, my advice then becomes misunderstood as:

“I shouldn't be afraid to speak my mind—and tell them like it is!”

Not so fast—put the bullhorn down—and slowly back away.

Communication is more art than science. 

The ability to effectively communicate is an essential skill for all (and not just data quality) consultants.

More than anything else, effective communication requires (in fact, demands) excellent listening skills.

I often joke consultants shouldn't be allowed to speak for at least their first two weeks. 

In other words—and yes, I am also talking to you, World's Foremost Expert Supercalifragilistic Consultant—there definitely needs to be less of you telling your clients what you think, and more of you listening to what your clients have to say.

You must seek first to understand your client's current environment from both the business and technical perspectives. 

Only after you have achieved this understanding, will you then seek to be understood regarding your extensive experience of the best practices that you have seen work on successful data quality initiatives.

Can Consultants Lead?

This great question (and the interesting debate it sparked) was the title of an excellent recent blog post by Phil Simon.

My conversation in the comments section with Don Frederiksen, included my paraphrasing of Chapter 17 of the Tao Te Ching (since I literally own eight different English translations, please note I am quoting from possibly my all-time favorite, the “American poetic” translation by Witter Bynner), where I substituted the word leader with the word consultant:

A consultant is best
When people barely know that he exists,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
Worst when they despise him.
‘Fail to honor people,
They fail to honor you;’
But of a good consultant, who talks little,
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
They will all say, ‘We did this ourselves.’

Shut Your Mouth

Good communication is a bad mother—Shut Your Mouth!

I'm talking about becoming a better listener.

Can you dig it?

Related Posts

Hailing Frequencies Open

Not So Strange Case of Dr. Technology and Mr. Business

The Three Musketeers of Data Quality

Data Quality is People!

You're So Vain, You Probably Think Data Quality Is About You

Follow OCDQ

If you enjoyed this blog post, then please subscribe to OCDQ via my RSS feed or my E-mail updates.

You can also follow OCDQ on Twitter, fan the Facebook page for OCDQ, and connect with me on LinkedIn.

My #ThemeWord for 2010: KARMA

Rob Paller introduced me to the #ThemeWord tradition, started in 2008 by Erica Douglass as an alternative to New Year's Resolutions, where you pick one word to serve as an over-arching theme for the upcoming year.

My #ThemeWord for 2010: KARMA

The Sanskrit word karma (literally “action” or “deed”) is commonly misunderstood or oversimplified.  It is a complex concept with deep roots in Eastern philosophy and the religious traditions of Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

First and most important—please let me stress that I do not wish to offend anyone's religious sensibilities. 

I am using the word karma in a philosophical and secular sense.  However, I will admit that my perspective is greatly influenced by my non-religious study of Buddhism.  Of the many useful texts I own on the subject, my favorite description of karma comes from the book Lotus In A Stream by Chinese Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (as translated by Tom Graham):

“Karma is a universal law of cause and effect concerned with intentional deeds.  The law of karma tells us that all intentional deeds produce results that eventually will be felt by the doer of the deed.  Good deeds produce good karmic effects and bad deeds produce bad karmic effects.”

Obviously, “cause and effect” is neither only an Eastern concept, nor only a philosophical concept. 

The history of both Western philosophy, perhaps most notably by Aristotle, as well as Western science, perhaps most notably by Isaac Newton, also includes excellent exposition on cause and effect. 

Therefore, please feel free to contemplate “karma” in Aristotelian and/or Newtonian terms.

Some additional alternatives include:

• Reciprocal Altruism
• The Whuffie Factor
• Quid Pro Quo

Reciprocal Altruism

Evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers coined the term reciprocal altruism to explain how altruism, which he defined as an act of helping someone else—although incurring some “cost” for this act—may have evolved because it was beneficial to incur this cost if there is a chance of being in a reverse situation at some point in the future, where the person that you helped before may perform an altruistic act towards you.

The Whuffie Factor

Tara Hunt uses the term whuffie to describe “the residual outcome—the currency—of your reputation.  You lose or gain it based on positive or negative actions, your contributions to the community, and what people think of you.”

Quid Pro Quo

The Latin phrase quid pro quo (literally “something for something”) is commonly used to describe an equal exchange of goods, services, or favors, which can be alternatively described using the far more colloquial phrase:

“You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.”

Mean People Suck

So, whether you prefer to use karma, reciprocal altruism, whuffie, quid pro quo, or other terms, we all have some way of expressing the concept of what we expect to happen when we help other people.

We have a natural tendency to “keep score” one way or another.  We usually help others so that they will be more willing to return the favor—so others will be indebted to us.  We use subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) peer pressure techniques.

We remember who turns us down (or simply ignores us) when we ask them for their help.  And we especially take note when it was someone we had previously helped.

Mean and selfish people definitely suck.  But let's face it, nobody's perfect.  We all have bad days, we all occasionally say and do stupid things, and we all occasionally treat people worse than they deserve to be treated.

Quid Pro No

Although I accept the fact I can't possibly help everyone, in 2010 I pledge to help others whenever I can.

Most important, I pledge to practice quid pro no—I will help others without worrying about what's in it for me.

Or to borrow the wonderful words of 8th century Indian Buddhist scholar Shantideva (as translated by Stephen Batchelor):

“Even when I do things for the sake of others

No sense of amazement or conceit arises.

It is just like feeding myself;

I hope for nothing in return.”  

How to Pick Your #ThemeWord for 2010

Karma is my theme word for 2010.  I will occasionally discuss it directly and indirectly in my blog posts throughout the year.

If you are interested in participating in the theme word tradition, then follow these three simple steps:

1. Think of a word that reflects your hopes and dreams for 2010
2. Share your theme word with friends on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog
3. Be sure and use the hashtag #ThemeWord

So Long 2009, and Thanks for All the . . .

Before I look ahead to the coming New Year and wonder what it may (or may not) bring, I wanted to pause, reflect on, and in the following OCDQ Video, share some of the many joys I was thankful for 2009 bringing to me.

If you are having trouble viewing this video, then you can watch it on Vimeo by clicking on this link: OCDQ Video

Thank You

Thank you all—and I do mean every single one of you—thank you for everything.

Happy New Year!!!

The War of Word Craft

After publishing my previous post, I watched Empire of the Word Part 4: The Future of Reading, which was a panel discussion on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, featuring Cynthia Good, Keith Oatley, Mark Federman, Bob Stein, and Bill Buxton.

Please let me stress that I highly respect all of the panelists who were involved in this discussion.  My selective paraphrasing of their quotes, which I have woven into the tapestry of this blog post, doesn't come close to doing justice to the full range of excellent insights they shared.  Therefore, although it is 53 minutes long, I highly recommend watching the full video.

The War of Word Craft

Bob Stein used the extremely popular multi-player online game World of Warcraft, where the players collaboratively create the narrative in real-time, as an example of the type of interactive multimedia experience that may be the true future of reading.

This analogy inspired my post title—since the debate seems to be about not only the future of reading, but also the future of how what we read (and by whatever means we “read” it) will be produced—or using far more dramatic flourish, this debate is about:

The War of Word Craft

e-Books are the end of anything worth reading?

When the financial implications of electronic publishing were briefly discussed, Bill Buxton explained that when things go digital and there is no cost of goods (i.e., producing an e-book), there is a law of economics that states the price drops essentially to zero.

Buxton argued this would mean the end of anything worth reading.  Since, when professional writers are no longer able to make a living from writing (i.e., because e-books are “free”), then only amateurs will write.  This will cause a dramatic drop in the overall quality of writing, and therefore no new writing will be worth reading.

Publishing companies are the gatekeepers of standards?

A somewhat similar sentiment was expressed by Cynthia Good, in defending what have traditionally been considered the gatekeepers for the standards of high quality, professional writing—publishing companies. 

(Please note: Good was formerly the president of a publishing company, and is now an academic director of publishing.)

Good argues that historically it has been publishers and editors who select and perfect the books to be published, thereby guaranteeing high standards for quality writing—and that society still requires these standards.

The Cult of the Amateur

In 2007, Andrew Keen wrote the controversial book The Cult of the Amateur, which has the provocative sub-title: “how blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and the rest of today's user-generated media are destroying our economy, our culture, and our values.”

I am definitely not suggesting Buxton and Good are advocating a similar perspective.  However, I find both the notion that only “professional” writers can write anything worth reading, and we require gatekeepers of “standards” to protect us from ourselves, to be incredibly pretentious and outdated ideas.

Writing is not an esoteric skill possessed by only a select few—and the best writers are not motivated (only) by money.

Publishing companies publish books that guarantee a high profit margin—and not high standards for quality writing.

The New Word Order

Bob Stein discussed the differences between the old-school and new-school mentality of authors.

The commitment of old-school authors is to engage with the subject matter on behalf of future readers.

By contrast, the commitment of new-school authors is to engage with readers in the context of the subject matter.

Stein believes the future role of the publisher is to develop a community around the subject matter, and bring the content to the community who wants to read it, instead of pushing the community toward the content you tell them they should read.

Mark Federman agreed, and sees the role of the publisher changing into one of creating an environment of engagement for genres and niche communities, which bring together writers and readers.

Federman also sees the roles of writers and readers becoming interchangeable within these communities. 

Quoting Finnegans Wake by James Joyce: “my consumers, are they not my producers?”

Pardon the pun, but I believe this will become the new order of the publishing world, or more simply: The New Word Order.

A Different Kind of Social Media

Bob Stein explained that solitary reading is really a recent development in human history.  Previously, most reading was a very social activity, where groups of people came together to listen to books (and poetry and other works) being read out loud.

Books (and reading as we know it) will not go away.  However, Stein believes we are at the very beginning of the explosion of new forms of written (and other creative) expression. 

The idea of reading (and writing) with others is going to become commonplace again, because we value the input of others, which greatly improves our individual experience, understanding, and unleashes the true joy of reading.

In what Stein describes, I see the future of reading and writing as a different kind of social media—a better kind of social media.

New Medium, New Message

In his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase: “the medium is the message.”

Steve Paikin asked what, within this new medium we have been discussing, is the message?

Mark Federman responded:

“Connection—the ability to connect readers and writers and interchange their roles.  The ability to collaborate as we construct knowledge, as we engage with one another's experiences, as we bring multiple contexts into understanding what it is we are reading and creating simultaneously—that's the message.”

Will people still read in the future?

This question and debate was motivated by my comments on the recent blog post The Future of Reading by Phil Simon.

In the following OCDQ Video, I share some of my perspectives on the future of reading, specifically covering three key points:

1. Books vs. e-Books
2. Print Media vs. Social Media
3. Reading vs. Multimedia

  If you are having trouble viewing this video, then you can watch it on Vimeo by clicking on this link: OCDQ Video

A Very Brief History of Human Communication

Long before written language evolved, humans communicated using hand and facial gestures, monosyllabic and polysyllabic grunting, as well as crude drawings and other symbols, all in an attempt to share our thoughts and feelings with each other.

First, improved spoken language increased our ability to communicate by using words as verbal symbols for emotions and ideas.  Listening to stories, and retelling them to others, became the predominant means of education and “recording” our history.

Improved symbolism via more elaborate drawings, sculptures, and other physical and lyrical works of artistic expression, greatly enhanced our ability to not only communicate, but also leave a lasting legacy beyond the limits of our individual lives.

Later, written language would provide a quantum leap in human evolution.  Writing (and reading) greatly improved our ability to communicate, educate, record our history, and thereby pass on our knowledge and wisdom to future generations.

The Times They Are a-Changin’

The pervasiveness of the Internet and the rapid proliferation of powerful mobile technology is transforming the very nature of human communication—some purists might even argue it is regressing human communication.

I believe there is already a declining interest in reading throughout society in general, and more specifically, a marked decline across current generation gaps, which will become even more dramatic in the coming decades.

Books vs. e-Books

People are reading fewer books—and fewer people are reading books.  The highly polarized “book versus e-book debate” is really only a debate within the shrinking segment of the population that still reads books. 

So, yes, between us book lovers, some of us will not exchange our personal tactile relationship with printed books for an e-book reader made of the finest plastic, glass, and metal, and equipped with all the bells and whistles of the latest technology. 

However, e-book readers simply aren't going to make non-book readers want to read books.  I am truly sorry Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but the truth is—the Kindle and Nook are not going to making reading books cool—they will simply provide an alternative for people who already enjoy reading books, and mostly for those who also love having the latest techno-gadgets.

Print Media vs. Social Media

We continue to see print media (newspapers, magazines, and books) either offering electronic alternatives, or transitioning into online publications—or in some cases, simply going out of business.

I believe the primary reason for this media transition is our increasing interest in exchanging what has traditionally been only a broadcast medium (print media) for a conversation medium (social media).

Social media can engage us in conversation and enable communication between content creators and their consumers.

We are constantly communicating with other people via phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and status updates on Twitter and Facebook.  We are also sharing more of our lives visually through the photos we post on Flickr and the videos we post on YouTube.  More and more, we are creating—and not just consuming—content that we want to share with others.

We are also gaining more control over how we filter communication.  Google real-time searches and e-mail alerts, RSS readers, and hashtagged Twitter streams—these are just a few examples of the many tools currently allowing us to customize and personalize the content we create and consume.

We are becoming an increasingly digital society, and through social media, we are living more and more of both our personal and professional lives online, blurring—if not eliminating—the distinction between the two.

Reading vs. Multimedia

I believe the future of human communication will be a return to the more direct social interactions that existed before the evolution of written language.  I am not predicting a return to polysyllabic grunting and interpretive dance. 

Instead, I believe we will rely less and less on reading and writing, and more and more on watching, listening, and speaking.

The future of human communication may become short digital bursts of multimedia experiences, seamlessly blending an economy of words with audio and video elements.  Eventually, even digitally written words may themselves disappear—and we will communicate via interactive digital video and audio—and the very notion of “literacy” may become meaningless.

But fear not—I don't predict this will happen until the end of the century—and I am probably completely wrong anyway.

Please Share Your Thoughts

Do you read a lot of books?  If so, have you purchased an e-book reader (e.g., Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook) or are you planning to in the near-future?  If you have an e-book reader, how would you compare it to reading a printed book?

Do you read newspapers and/or magazines?  If so, are you reading them in print or online? 

How often do you read blogs and other publications that are only available as online content?

How often do you listen to podcasts or watch video blogs or other online videos (excluding television and movies)?

What is the future of reading?

Recently Read: December 21, 2009

Recently Read is an OCDQ regular segment.  Each entry provides links to blog posts, articles, books, and other material I found interesting enough to share.  Please note “recently read” is literal – therefore what I share wasn't necessarily recently published.

Data Quality

For simplicity, “Data Quality” also includes Data Governance, Master Data Management, and Business Intelligence.

• Welcome to DQ Directions – In this blog post, Dylan Jones of Data Quality Pro formally announced the DQ Directions online conference, which will debut in Q2 2010, and will feature presentations from experts and industry thought leaders specializing in data quality, data governance, and master data management.
• Ways to 'Communivate' your Data Issues – In her Purple Cow of a blog post, Jill Wanless (aka Sheezaredhead) explains that ‘Communivate’ is a combination of the words communicate and innovate, and it means to communicate in an innovative way, which she does regarding the importance of data quality.
• ’Tis the Season for a Data Governance Carol – Part 1 and Part 2 – In his excellent two-part series, Rob Paller of Baseline Consulting uses a Dickensian framework to explain the importance of data governance and data quality – and the fact that there isn’t a simple framework to blindly follow for Data Governance.
• The “Santa Intelligence” Team – An excellent Christmas-themed blog post from Paul Boal, in which we learn that Santa does indeed have a Business Intelligence team.
• Data quality is for life not just for Christmas – In this Diary of a Marketing Insight Guy blog post, Simon Daniels reminds us data quality can be a gift that will keep on giving—if data quality management is built into the heart of an organization’s processes and operations.
• Finding a home for MDM – In his second post on the DataFlux Community of Experts, Charles Blyth examines where master data management (MDM) fits within your overall enterprise architecture.
• The Decade of Data: Seven Trends to Watch in 2010 – In his blog post on Informatica Perspectives, Joe McKendrick examines some up-and-coming trends that he predicts will shape the data management space in 2010.
• Are we ready for all this data? – In his blog post, Rich Murnane uses some recent news stories to ponder if even us experienced data geeks are really ready for the amount of data we're going to need to manage due to the unrelenting increases in data volumes.

Social Media

For simplicity, “Social Media” also includes Blogging, Writing, Social Networking, and Online Marketing.

• Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants – In this Copyblogger guest post, James Chartrand, who is an awesome writer and blogger, revealed that he is also—a woman writing under a male pseudonym.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote that “the truth is, a great mind must be androgynous.”  James will continue to teach me about writing and blogging.
• How to combine personal and professional online without pissing people off – Monica O'Brien, author of the new book Social Pollination, offers some sage advice on personal branding, explaining there is no way to separate our personal lives from our professional ones, and shares her thoughts on how to handle this common challenge.
• Seven rules of blogging from a legend of the craft – In his guest post on The Punch, Darren Rowse provides a list of seven great blogging tips, including building a foundation of helpful content and building a community.
• How to Promote Your Work – Chris Brogan explains that when using social media channels to promote your work, it’s really important that you are participatory in the social space, and he explains the basics of a simple presence framework.
• Should We Be Worried About Fast Food Content? – Copyblogger's Sonia Simone examines the bad assumptions underlying the concerns raised in Michael Arrington's recent blog post on TechCrunch: The End Of Hand Crafted Content.

Book Quotes

An eclectic list of quotes from some recently read (and/or simply my favorite) books.

• From Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk – “Your business and your personal brand need to be one and the same...Your latest tweet and comment on Facebook and most recent blog post—that's your résumé now...It's a whole new world, build your personal brand and get ready for it.”
• From A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink – “Empathy is neither a deviation from intelligence nor the single route to it.  Sometimes we need detachment; many other times we need attachment.  The people who will thrive will be those who can toggle between the two.” 
• From Connected by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler – “Just as brains can do things that no single neuron can do, so can social networks do things that no single person can do...our connections to other people matter...most of all it is about what makes us uniquely human...To know who we are, we must understand how we are connected.”

Podcast: Stand-Up Data Quality

December—the last month of the year when we hustle and bustle to finish our work, while visions of sugar-plums dance in our holiday shopping heads.  During this time of year, little attention (and rightfully so) is paid to the blogosphere—especially the neither naughty nor nice, but simply niche-y corners of the blogosphere.

As I have often joked, data quality is not just a niche – if technology blogging was a Matryoshka (a.k.a. Russian nested) doll, then data quality would be the last, innermost doll.  This doesn't mean that data quality isn't an important subject – it just means its extra-niche-y-ness all but guarantees December (and usually January and most of February too) will be a very cold month – when all niche blogs struggle to rub two random RSS readers together in order to start a cozy fire, keeping them warm until their blogging hope springs eternal once again come springtime.

Niche blogs can either shutdown during this blogging lull, or use it as an opportunity to experiment.  I have chosen the latter, which explains why four of my last six blog posts have used either a Podcast or a Video. 

Not to worry though, I haven't given up writing more “traditional” blog posts.  I simply plan to use more podcasts and videos in 2010 as a way to add more variety (and more of a personal touch) to my blog content.  They may not appear as frequently as they have recently, but more is to come in the new year.  For now, I am experimenting with how best to produce them.

Stand-Up Data Quality

In this OCDQ Podcast, I discuss using humor to enliven a niche topic, and revisit some of the stand-up comedy aspects of some of my favorite written-down blog posts from earlier this year.

Humor can be a great way to start a conversation and hold your readers' attention for those few precious additional seconds while you are getting to your point.  Obviously, there will be times when the seriousness of your subject would make comedy inappropriate, and if you are not naturally inclined to use humor, then you shouldn't try to force it.

You can also download this podcast (MP3 file) by clicking on this link: Stand-Up Data Quality

Related Posts

The Tell-Tale Data

Data Quality: The Reality Show?

Data Quality is People!

All I Really Need To Know About Data Quality I Learned In Kindergarten

The Mullet Blogging Manifesto

Video: The DQ General's Song

In this OCDQ Video, I revisit The Very Model of a Modern DQ General, which was the second post ever published on this blog.

Using The Major-General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan as a framework, I encapsulated into lyrics some of the knowledge I have accumulated from over 15 years of experience in the data quality profession.  The intended result was a comical delivery of serious insight.

I recorded a video and not simply a podcast so that you could follow along with the lyrics.  However, my budget couldn't afford the inclusion of the “follow the bouncing ball” technology I enjoyed in many of my favorite childhood cartoons. 

Sparing you the pain of listening to me actually sing, I instead offer for your amusement, my recital of The DQ General's Song:

If you are reading this blog post via e-mail or a feed reader, then to view this video, please click on this link: OCDQ Video

Related Posts

The Very Model of a Modern DQ General

Imagining the Future of Data Quality

Data Quality is Sexy

‘Twas Two Weeks Before Christmas

‘Twas two weeks before Christmas, and all about the data warehouse,
Every employee was stirring, busy clicking their mouse;
The stockings were hung on our cubicle walls with care,
In hopes that year-end bonus checks soon would be there.

The data were nestled all snug in their test beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in DBA's heads; 
Working together, the Business and IT, for collaboration is best,
All had just settled in, for a winter night's long, pre-production test.

When out in the parking lot there arose such a clatter,
We all sprang from our desk chairs to see what was the matter;
Away to the window we flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the crest of the new-fallen snow,
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear?

The Big Boss Man dressed up as Santa,
Carrying eight tiny candles, to Light the Menorah.

We descended the stairs to the lobby, so lively and quick,
We wanted to know in mere moments, if this was some trick;
The Big Boss Man greeted us, as into the lobby we all did file,
He whistled, and shouted, then gave us a big grinning smile.

He was dressed all in faux fur, from his head to his toes,
And his clothes were well-tailored with buttons and bows;
A bundle of bonus checks he had flung on his back,
We were as giddy as young children as he opened the sack.

His eyes—how they twinkled, his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And we laughed when we saw him, in spite of ourselves;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave us to know, we had nothing to dread.

And these were the words that carefully he said:

“Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus,
Whether for you, these are Holy Days or holidays, or simply a rest for us,
My words are the same, and they are just as bright:

Peace, Love, and Happiness to All,
And to all—A Good Night.”

To you and yours, from the entire OCDQ Blog family.

Video: Twitter Search Tutorial

In this OCDQ Video, I provide a brief tutorial on Twitter Search.

Key points about Twitter Search covered in the video tutorial:

• Unlike other social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn), you don't need an account for read access to Twitter content
• This is a safe way for you or your company to start leveraging Twitter for “listening purposes only”
• You can save Twitter Search queries as RSS feeds (e.g., for viewing within Google Reader)

If you are reading this blog post via e-mail or a feed reader, then to view this video, please click on this link: OCDQ Video

For more help finding data quality content on Twitter, click on this link: Data Quality on Twitter

Related Posts

Live-Tweeting: Data Governance

Brevity is the Soul of Social Media

If you tweet away, I will follow

Tweet 2001: A Social Media Odyssey

Recently Read: December 7, 2009

Recently Read is an OCDQ regular segment.  Each entry provides links to blog posts, articles, books, and other material I found interesting enough to share.  Please note “recently read” is literal – therefore what I share wasn't necessarily recently published.

Data Quality

For simplicity, “Data Quality” also includes Data Governance, Master Data Management, and Business Intelligence.

• Data Quality Blog Roundup - November 2009 Edition – Dylan Jones at Data Quality Pro always provides a great collection of the previous month's best blog posts, which covers most of the my “recently reads” for data quality.
• The value of Christmas cards – In this Data Value Talk blog post from Human Inference, we learn about how sending Christmas cards can optimize your data quality.
• Santa Quality – Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus—as well as a Saint Nicholas, a Père Noël, a Weihnachtsmann, and a Julemand.  In this blog post, Henrik Liliendahl Sørensen explains some ho-ho-holiday data quality issues.
• Some TLC for Your Data – Data really needs some tender loving care.  Daniel Gent explains in his latest blog post.
• Determining data quality is the first key step – In the second part of a blog series on data migration, James Standen explains that a data migration project will be required to actually improve data quality at the same time, and therefore it is really two projects in one.  The post contains the great line: “data quality sense tingling.”
• Data Chaos and Five Truisms of Data Quality – In his debut post on the DataFlux Community of Experts, my good friend Phil Simon provides a quick case study and five universal truths of data quality.

Social Media

For simplicity, “Social Media” also includes Blogging, Writing, Social Networking, and Online Marketing.

• Beware Social Media Snake Oil – In this BusinessWeek article, Stephen Baker examines the value of wikis, social networks, and blogs, and the hordes of “experts” promoting the hype that may obscure the real potential of social media.
• Measuring Social Media Marketing – Chris Brogan provides a nice counterpoint to some of the (definitely legitimate) issues raised in Stephen's Baker's BusinessWeek article (see above).
• 10 Things I Wish I Knew when I Started – ProBlogger guest post by Nathan Hangen of Making it Social, which lists ten things that new (and experienced) bloggers can use to elevate their game to the next level.
• The Force is Strong With This One: 10 Ways to be a Copywriting Jedi – Copyblogger guest post by Sean Platt and David Wright of Collective Inkwell, which lists ten tips for direct response copywriting that are equally applicable to all writing.

Awesome Stuff

An eclectic list of articles, blog posts, and other “non-data quality, non-social media, but still awesome” stuff.

• The Greatest Book Of All Time? – Josh Hanagarne (a.k.a. the “World’s Strongest Librarian”) recently reviewed a book he received from Ethan.  Josh has a simple philosophy of life — “Don’t make anyone’s day worse” — if you are having a bad day (like I was the day I found this), then check this out.
• Cute Apple parody from The Sun – Rob Beschizza on Boing Boing shares a great one minute video of a recent commercial from The Sun about “The UK's best handheld for 40 years.”