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 In times of change, learners
inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a
world that no longer exists.
Eric Hoffer |
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"Orange Seeds" sounded a little fruity.
Then Tom Pecoraro said something in class about a pile of seeds. By them, I mean things
that can grow. They include marketing ideas, images, and online community-building
techniques. If you plant them, we'll help water them together, okay? |
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Today's
If 100 of you buy the report and we do 3 or 4
reports a year, we'll have a REALLY good business. ... See, we have one thing going for
us. We don't really have any overhead to speak of. ... This is the power of the Internet.
Which Business Model?
Yesterday's
The restraining forces include an uncertain
legal and regulatory environment as well as consumer fear and hypocrisy.
Challenges
to Effective New Media Marketing
The largest savings can be achieved through
elimination of classroom lectures.
Dynamic Competition in
Education
Share a Link
Tell the world. Get
extra credit for the course.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS
NATION'S LARGEST INDUSTRY
Information technology -- including both computing and
telecommunications -- is now the nation's largest industry, ahead of construction, food
products, and automobile manufacturing.
The American Electronic Association's president urged
lawmakers to learn more about technology:
"The biggest threat to the high-technology field is
the ignorance of technology and of how these industries work."
Study sponsored by the American Electronics
Association
and the NASDAQ stock market
New York Times November 18, 1997 |
Business
Ripples and Quakes
Little snippets from here and there that indicate how the Web is changing the
face of commerce and organizations, especially marketing.
Cases in New Media Marketing
Suggestions to get you started thinking about your course project.
The Information Economy
How much will two bits be worth in the digital marketplace?
The Future of Business
Everyone will be on the Net in 30 years.
The Shape of Things
What will the governments of cyberspace let business do when Adam Smith's Invisible
Hand no longer applies?
Ownership in the Digital Age
At the end of the day, it's not that important to own things. Say what?
History
The Monk at the Machine
Prejudices against other ways of knowing have a long history. Take Socrates, history's
most famous illiterate.
Building The Palace
Next time someone tells you what a revolution the Web is causing, you can point out
that hypertext and multimedia have always been how people think.
What Price Progress?
Some say that computers are killing us. We've heard that before.
Technology
Welcome
to the Internet
To help you replace the hype and misinformation with facts
TCP / IP
Geek alert! This protocol is what makes it all possible
The Cost of Web Sites
The skills you're learning ... what are they worth?
The Plug-In Nightmare
The laws of technology are immutable. Innovation brings chaos, followed by
standards and real progress.
Why People Don't Use New Media
Because the interfaces are so lousy, for starters.
Why the Web Is So Slow
The analogy to the information highway explains it well.
Why Else the
Web Is So Slow
Bandwidth. Or how many lanes does the highway have?
Why Is the Internet So Cheap?
The telephone network is smart inside and dumb at the ends. The Internet design
is essentially the reverse.
Moore's Law
Illustrated
Large (long-loading) images of computers' innards over the years. A
basic math lesson in curves. Mind-boggling numbers. Links to the Intel Museum and an
interview with Gordon Moore.
Internet Growth Charts
When you start seeing graph after graph showing the same curve, you start to
see the bigger picture.
Gender
and other differences
Gender Differences
Six misconceptions about girls that led a lot of venture capital money to a
start-up called Purple Moon. I'd be happy to lend you my daughter's copy of Rockett's New
School so you can see for yourself.
Communities of Women
One is named after Ada, Countess of Lovelace. Find out why.
Brain Differences
In addition to gender differences, the careful marketer will take into account
brain differences. Not whether or not the customer has one, but how it learns.
Culture
Magna Carta
The folks who wrote the original one 800 years ago didn't realize how important
it would become to Western Civilization. This recent update tries too hard to be important
but in the process gives you a lot to think about.
Cyberspace Declaration of
Independence
Another big-think piece by another big thinker, John Perry Barlow.Newsgroups and Mailing
Lists
These two forms of asynchronous but well-organized email are the paving stones of
the digital town square. Learn the basic skills to mingle with your market for research
and community-building.
Information Is
an Activity
Not only that, but it's a verb, not a noun. It has to move, and it can
only be experienced, not possessed. John Perry Barlow on a new way to look at information. |
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Revealing
the Elephant
Remember the joke about the blind men who each had a part of an elephant? In
the land of the blind, one-eyed men like Alan Kay are kings. Here he takes a look at a big
white elephant called education.
Snoopy-Do
Get DIRT on friends!! Find out what THEY can get on you!! The downside of market research.
Digital
Development
What
is Information Design?
It's a new field and it's a rapidly changing field. So take your pick from
these definitions.
Concept Maps
How do you visualize ideas?
Intelligent Borrowing
Building your design on other people's good work rather than coming up with
your own design ideas. Isn't that cheating? Or is it a courtesy to your market?
Presentations
It's what you did in fifth grade with poster board, magic marker, and stuff
clipped from magazines. Now you can use PowerPoint for the same things -- as well as for
presenting your project for this course.
Toolkit
This grab bag of tips & tricks for presentations, web, and graphics might
have exactly what you need without your ever knowing you needed it. It's more likely to
lead to you a site that will have exactly what you need.
Interface Design
How does it look? How does it feel? What are all the parts called?
Principles of
Graphic Interface Design
A few principles of graphic design will not only make
your interface more attractive. They will also make it more usable.
The Web's Typeface Problem
This article excerpt gives you some background about the typeface situation on the
Web. Also, it is a good example of defining a problem and analyzing the causes -- the kind
of thinking you need to do for your reports for this course. I'm trying to tempt you to go
to the author's site and learn more and fonts.
New
Media Marketing Jobs
New Media Marketing Jobs
The field's so new that folks don't even know what to call some of these jobs
so they use the old categories like "sales." Think, however, what these jobs
might become for the right person.
Here's some other interesting information for you to peruse:
Career Central Email Based Recruiting for Marketers -- http://www.careercentral.com -- matches marketing
professionals and companies seeking executives in product management, advertising, public
relations, marketing communications, database marketing, direct marketing, brand
management and market research. After filling out a fairly extensive registration form,
site users receive targeted job descriptions via Career Central's JobCast email service,
free of charge. Interested candidates reply via email with a current resume. Career
Central also provides targeted job search services for MBAs and software developers.
MBA Skills
One of the reasons for your taking this course
is to "beef up" your academic credentials in preparation for a better-paying,
more responsible position, either within your current organization or at some other
institution (where you may be better appreciated). What sort of skills are you going to
need to find that better position?
The Darden
Graduate School of Business Administration at the University
of Virginia compiled a list of skills which recruiters looked for in their job
candidates, and the top 7 were: (1) communication, (2) interpersonal skills, (3)
self-motivation & initiative, (4) professional presence, (5) leadership (potential or
actual), (6) analytical & problem-solving skills, and (7) academic achievements.
Rhonda
Thomas, a visiting assistant professor at Loyola
College, is a former manager and director of a specialized division within the SABRE
Group (a subsidiary of AMR Corp.) at Dallas/Ft.Worth airport. As an experienced
interviewer, Thomas had this to say in a November 1998 posting to a Ph.D student chat
room:
"If people don't have basic credentials, the never make
it to the interview list.
1. Credentials -- the degree, past projects, specific accomplishments, critical
skills.
2. Social skills -- a personal, subjective assessment of one's manners, ability to
listen, be empathetic, etc.
3. Adaptability/flexibility -- sometimes I am concerned that we teach our students
that things should be predictable (via syllabus, evaluation criteria, etc.). This is
seldom the case in the business world, where things change on a daily basis. The ability
to respond and stay positive is key to long-term success.
4. Creative Thinking -- a key corporate interview tactic is to pose a difficult
question and ask how the candidate would respond. I think this is in some way related to
case analysis and a person's ability to synthesize multiple data points and respond in a
reasonable and competent manner. The quality of the response was obvious in a very short
time. |
| "I was given a rating sheet by which I was asked to
rate a candidate on (1) technical skills -- Q&A, not tested, (2) management potential
-- understanding of people, processes, and anticipated problems (arrogant candidates exit
here), (3) potential to add to the expertise of a group -- again, subjective and hard to
talk about in a generic manner, and ultimately (4) interpersonal skills -- my opinion, did
I want to work with this person? At the end of the interview, I calculated my total
ratings across these categories and handed this person off to the next interviewer who
repeated the assignment. Ultimately, this was an exercise for the HR dept. If senior
management wanted someone hired, it was going to happen, regardless of the ratings. There
was no feedback. |
| "I tell my students that corporate interviewing is an
elimination process. Interviewers are look for reasons NOT to pass you on to the next
interviewer. Also, I say that interpersonal skills are critical. Your chances are greater
of getting the job, the less talking you do! People will score you highly if they can
identify with you and/or would like to spend time with you outside of the interview
window. Of course, this has nothing to do with your abilities! I have observed this
repeatedly. Secondly, many 'promising' candidates have 'blown it' on the all-important
dinner with a senior executive. As fundamental as it may seem, I don't know why more
universities don't follow the MIT (and others) example of teaching social and leadership
skills as part of their core requirement. Negotiation and conflict resolution would be
helpful as well, since most students will encounter these situations time and time again
in their career. Most of my MBA students will tell you they avoid conflict and
negotiations. Yet, this will be part of their jobs. They are also not sure which fork to
use. They are not sure what to say if they find themselves alone with the CEO in a
15-second elevator ride. Where do we teach the value of networking and 'how to' do it?
Most of my students are begging for a course to teach them basics in business etiquette --
and most of the executives I know wish schools taught this better. These are the make it
or break it skills in business today -- 'how to market yourself' -- beyond fundamental
marketing 101." |
Geoffrey
Lantos, a professor of business administration at Stonehill
College in North Easton, MA, recently stated: "At Stonehill College, we just
finished designing a Masters in Accountancy program, our first Masters program ever. The
skills/competencies we are trying to build throughout the program include: leadership,
critical thinking, presentation skills, influencing/negotiating skills, writing skills,
teamwork, technology skills, ethical reasoning, and global awareness."
 Finally, Jim Hamill at The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland
suggests that skills MBA grads should have would include "an understanding of the way
in which the Internet is revolutionizing the study and practice of international
marketing."
Do you see a consistent pattern here? How do
you stack up, and how are we doing in helping you obtain these skills?
Miscellaneous
URLs
Miscellaneous URLs
Low Orbiting Earth Satellites | Jobs | Cool Edit 32 | Secure
Online Ordering System | Free Home Pages | Stickythings
Wageweb -- http://www.wageweb.com
-- Wondering what the average salary is for someone with your job title? Wonder no more.
Wageweb provides salary survey information on over 150
benchmark positions in major employment categories such as finance, information
technology, human resources, sales/marketing, engineering, and healthcare. Gathered from
national surveys, the general highs, lows and averages can be accessed for free. If you
want more specific information,
it's available for a subscription price of US$100 per year.
We don't see things as they are, we
see things as we are.
Anais Nin |
 |
Care to plant any seeds? We're looking especially for material that more fully answers
questions of yours that we didn't do justice to in class. |
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