Whereas blogging can remove all doubt

the blogless professional indicates he/she has nothing to say.

So think before you post.

Defense Industry Daily

Defense Contractor News

Defenselist blog

Mostly a calendar of events.

Nominate your customer

Federal 100 awards: Call for nominations

Federal Computer Week begins accepting nominations for the Federal 100 awards program this week. The deadline is Dec. 21, so don't delay.

Convergence, it's finally happening

New Communications Blogzine

Things are changing, and changing fast, and that hackneyed word “convergence” finally has some validity as we discuss these changes.

The trends that we’ve been anticipating for years are finally coming to pass.

The drivers of this change:

Ever-increasing penetration rates for highspeed Internet access in the home as well as wireless access. Mobile phones have more functionality than ever and carriers need to find new revenue streams. Traditional media networks are losing viewers and advertisers and money and need to reinvent their business models in the face of media fragmentation and the rise of CGM. And, consumers are demanding the ability to choose their own content, wherever, whenever and however they want it.

The nature of the Internet

Tim Jarrett

...a marketplace, rather than just a transport system.

And it is in the interests of the Public Relations industry that it remain so.

For your sox drawer

Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Journal

Sarbanes Oxley Resources

Stolen laptop blues

Boeing, 161,000 SSNs, Stolen laptop

A client has an answer for this; lock your computer.

Speaking of security

RSA has a blog. It is written in techno speak, so they are still getting the hang of blogosphere. They need to hire my copy editor.

New FBI website goes after online fraud

The FBI has launched a new-to-me website called Looks too good to be true. There is a page that identifies risk factors; also file a complaint.

We could turn the logic of spammers, and their fellow travelers, on its head by doing more than deleting fraudulent email. Once, just once a year, pick an especially obnoxious sample of spam, research its origin, and alert every government agency with any possible jurisdiction. Spammers are counting on most of us to delete their spam and just reach their victims. What they don't expect is for us to fight back.

Great copy writing

American Eagle Group has a great opener on it's home page:

Ready, Fire, Aim!

How do you manage your projects? Do you "Fire" before taking aim? Sadly, many companies seem to "Fire" upon a project without taking advantage of the proper project management practices.

Ed Cone has a new address

Ed Cone

Interview with Paul Duval

Shahid points to Andy Glover's interview with Paul Duval about Duval's new book on software project management.

What is Continuous Integration?

In defining continuous integration, most people refer to the article that Martin Fowler and Matthew Foemmel from ThoughtWorks wrote several years ago. In it, they refer to CI as "a fully automated and reproducible build, including testing, that runs many times a day". I expand on this definition and describe CI as "an automated process of building software whenever a change is applied - this may include automated testing, inspection, reporting, deploying, and notification."

It's amazing how their paper has become the touchstone for defining CI even though it's been around in some form or another for awhile! Given that is not some new revolutionary tool or technique, why should I care about CI?

Because it does the dirty work for you, so you can write software for your users and not spend time on infrastructure issues. It reduces common risks, improves the software quality, and ensures timely feedback. I don't know about you, but I don't like paying bills so I use automatic bill pay. Why? Because paying my bills is a mundane, repetitive activity that drains money from my account. I still haven't found anything to prevent the draining of money, but at least I don't need to do the mundane repetitive work any more. I like working on interesting and unique problems when developing software and there is far more in software development that is "dirty work" than you might imagine. It is the "little things" here and there that add up to decreased productivity and efficiency. Of course, "building the software" is something that we must do, yet I have seen far too many shops who haven't even automated their builds. In fact, an MIT study conducted in 2003 indicates that only between 20-25% are even running daily builds. There is so much more, including the execution of regression tests, static analysis tools, SCM labeling, database integration, notification, and deployment that can and should be automated - and run continuously.

This is the first time I have heard the expression, continious integration, so it is something I am going to have to look into. I don't think you can flack this stuff if you don't know what it is.

I'm so ravenous, I could eat an entire blackbird pie

c=US ID Mgt.

It's this thread that's been developing in my head over the last few weeks starting with a comment by my muse to start checking out heteronyms.

Heteronyms are pseudonyms with individually developed writing styles. The "Book of Disquiet" is an example of a novel that's written in this style. Along with heteronyms came words such as homographs.

Homographs are also a security risk when people think they are reaching one web site, when they are actually reaching another.

How in fact does one guard identity when similar sounding (or written in different character set) web sites or telephone numbers are used? Another Hax0r trick.

Certainly a great source of punning, and double entendre, this facility of language to act at multiple levels at the same time is a great thing. Cequs is also seek us, or c equals us
and so on. It's what makes Shakespeare worth watching and reading time and time again, that sense of depth.

So I started making a sort of homograph, and not a very good one. "I'm so ravenous, I could eat an entire blackbird pie".

The next day I walked outside and there was a gigantic flock of crows or blackbirds hanging outside in the trees, a very unusual event and a portent. Giant flocks of birds suddenly squawking outside your door is very Alfred Hitchcock.

When I told someone at work about this they said "well of course, they hang out on the wire and pick this stuff up".

This fellow employs a stream-of-consciousness method to information assurance commentary. It is oddly effective.

Congratulations Mary Aufseeser

Mary Aufseeser, Tom Biro's mother, was elected mayor of Matawan, New Jersey.

I also had a political mom. It is a very special experience to ask people for vote for mom.

RSS and its impact on XML

Implications to the Meta Data Environment

The implications for the meta data environment are enormous. Taking a closer look at RSS standard reveals that simplicity and consistency are critical irregardless of context. This indicates that a simple metamodel, such as the Dublin Core, could be easily exchanged by the use of RSS technology. Several of the sample feeds, included at the bottom of this article, contain Dublin Core expansions. Newsreaders could replace the majority of the functionality currently held within the centralized meta data repository. Publishing new content is very similar to the information required for publishing technology asset meta data or will be in the near future. Advancements in the RSS technology will allow code objects, analysis documents, modeling artifacts and other system development life cycle products to publish information about the assets automatically. This will eliminate the need for the extraction of information by hand or forcing integration into a single methodology. RSS already has search functionality and personal taxonomies where the end user can catalog their own content which may prove to be much more valuable than the traditional IT based taxonomies.

I would be very interested in hearing developer's comments on this.

Defending the open, end-to-end Internet

Deal Reached on Managing the Internet

TUNIS, Tunisia -- A U.N. technology summit opened Wednesday after an 11th-hour agreement that leaves the United States with ultimate oversight of the main computers that direct the Internet's flow of information, commerce and dissent.

A lingering and vocal struggle over the Internet's plumbing and its addressing system has overshadowed the summit's original intent: to address ways to expand communications technologies to poorer parts of the world.

Dan Gillmor

There's a lot of angst about the rest of the world "taking control" of the Internet from the U.S. I share some of that concern, given the total disregard for free speech that exists in so many countries and the ITU's record of cloddishness in its regulatory approach. (Tunisia, with its fairly repressive regime, seems like an odd place to hold an "information society" gathering, but the UN does like to be inclusive, which is a good thing.)

This is a hugely complicated topic, involving things like which servers handle lookup requests; arcane regulation; and a lot more. But there's no question in my mind that an Internet a) controlled in serious ways terrible organizations such as the ITU; or b) turned into a bunch of local fiefdoms is not the way we want it to go. The signs are already emerging that the latter will happen, unfortunately.

If the Internet is to work we need everyone on it, including half-literate farmers in the African sahel coming to an internet cafe once a month when they take their goods to market.

We also need to keep it open and not degenerate into walled-off gardens like the bad old days of Compuserve, Prodigy, and only talking to those who subscribed to the same service.

Cultivating the channel

Media Orchard says its time for advertisers to embrace blogs.

Many developer blogs have advertising; this would be a great opportunity for Microsoft, Apple, Sun, etc. to support their independent software developers. An ad on your developer’s blog would reinforce the partnership and generate leads for both of you. It would also be an effective way to reinforce your company’s message to the reader.

Tech on the Potomac, the Mid-Atlantic Technology Blogs

Why the price of online advertising is about to go up

Readers up 11% at US news websites

US newspaper websites are attracting users at a faster pace than the internet overall with visitor numbers up 11 per cent annually, according to figures released yesterday by Nielsen/NetRatings.

I think publications will start charging for more of their online content. I hope someone can develop a technology that would allow bloggers with paid subscriptions to link to individual articles that would allow their readers to click through to that article, and that article only. It would be great marketing for any news organization that employed such technology.

Precise and concise

Keith Casey on why he blogs

Second, it forces me to practice communication in general. I believe most blog readers don't have the time or attention to spend 15 minutes reading an article. It's not from a lack of intellect or anything like that, it's simply a matter of time/attention available. Therefore, I figure I have about 15-30 seconds to draw people in and give them a reason to continue reading. This has caused me to think even faster on my feet in person and give someone a reason to continue the discussion.

The importance of timing

Managing a Crisis in Associations and Nonprofits

When reporters don’t understand RSS

David Carr, The New York Times

Blogs can be serious enough and conventional enough in execution to fit in with mainstream media (as will be the case when Time.com will begin running AndrewSullivan.com in January). But because blogs can be amended or erased, the people who write them tend not to be held to account.

It is perfectly true that you can alter or even delete a post; but the RSS feed is still out there. To say nothing of The Wayback Machine.

Other people’s property

Jim Horton continues his great commentary on the Sony BMG fiasco. The central issue, to my way of thinking, is Sony’s assumption that it was acceptable to harm their customer’s property in attempt to protect their own. This is a line that must never be crossed; to cross this line is to put your foot on a very slippery slope indeed. The IT world would become a cesspool of cyber warlords.

This sort of incident is part of what is driving the free software movement. It is not simply that you have to pay for proprietary software, most of us are OK with that, it is that you have no way of knowing what is buried in that code. Sony did not just hurt itself with this incident; it hurt the whole idea of proprietary software.

Magazines and newspapers survived the invention of the copy machine, TV and films survived the introduction of the VCR, the music industry would not only survive file sharing, it will flourish once it adopts its business model. The increasing adoption of Linux indicates that you can make money from free.

I don’t understand it either.

Another reason to do business with the government

Government Enters Fray Over BlackBerry Patents

The Justice Department has filed a legal brief in a patent dispute, asking a federal court to delay any immediate shutdown of the popular wireless e-mail system to ensure that state and federal workers can continue to use their devices.

... The Justice Department, filing on behalf of various government agencies, requested a stay of 90 days to put together an electronic database of government users whose service should not be cut off in the event Research In Motion loses its final legal battles and does not reach a settlement. In addition, the "statement of interest" filed by Justice said the government is concerned "there may be a substantial public interest that may be impaired" by shutting down the service.

There are more than 3 million BlackBerry users in the United States, approximately 10 percent of whom are state and federal government employees who use the devices to keep in contact when out of the office.

The Federal government can be a very powerful ally in this kind of fight.

What if your blog were vaporized?

Morgan McClintic helpfully points to WebGrabber for Macs and HTTrack for PCs.

It wouldn't be just the disappointment of losing all your work. Once you've put something on the web, you are responsible, so it is helpful to have your own copy of the historical record.

See it now

I saw Good Night and Good Luck last night at the Uptown Theater. A friend recommended it as reminiscent of the world of our parents men in white shirts, smoking cigarettes, doing important things. (My friend does not smoke, nor does she recommend it.) The film really is that; it did put me forcibly in mind of my parents' world. Clooney wisely decided to go with old tapes of Joseph McCarthy, rather than have an actor play him. That dictated that the film be shot in black and white, which coincidentally enhanced its historical authenticity.

Good Night and Good Luck offers a glimpse of how television news really works, the assorted pressures of running a commercial news operation, the complications that come from aggressively covering a government that has the power to regulate you via the FCC licensing process.

It is also a great film about fear, how silence enables it and how speaking out destroys it. Highly recommended.

Government procurement, why it’s different

Mass. reference model controversy over open formats

Since its release last September, a technical reference model issued by Massachusetts has sparked considerable debate within the government technology community—and beyond.

At stake is the issue of how active a role public offices should take in fostering open standards. Should an agency adopt a new open format—one that would better suit its goals but may prove more difficult to deploy and manage? Or should agencies follow the best practices of the commercial IT industry, taking full advantage of cost efficiencies and new features that may follow?

If a private company decided to migrate to open source systems, that would be that. The customer is always right and there isn’t much a vendor can do. But with the multiple decision makers involved in government systems, elected, appointed and civil service, it is an entirely different situation.

Why would a government insist on open standards?

... Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn has indicated that the reason behind the move to OpenDocument is that it will allow the state to better keep permanent records.

“Ease of access to electronic records created in proprietary formats is limited in time. Once the proprietary vendor abandons a particular version of an application or format, documents created and formatted in those applications and formats may become inaccessible to all readers,” according to the frequently asked questions section of the state CIO’s Web site .

Massachusetts Enterprise Technical Reference Model - Version 3.5

Dan Bricklin’s audio files of the public meetings the state has held on the matter.

New to me local content management blog

Kensington Business Solutions

New to me tech organization

The Content Management Community of Practice

Sony gets a clue

Ted Bridis, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Stung by continuing criticism, the world's second-largest music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to temporarily suspend making music CDs with antipiracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers.

Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music but said it will halt manufacturing CDs with the "XCP" technology as a precautionary measure. "We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use," the company said in a statement.

No way to know what happened; but I suspect the Sony PR department explained the facts of customer relations to management.

Jim Horton has a good summary here and an earlier one here.

Contrary to legend, Macs are vulnerable.

Now the Legalese Rootkit: Sony-BMG's EULA

How to detect a root kit hack

Looking for a web hosting service?

These web hosting services recommended by Novajug members.

Veterans' day

The Armed Forces Relief Trust

United Services Organization

This is satire

Faith based firewalls

I say that because it is getting harder and harder to tell what is satire and what is real.

FTP software for Mac OS X

RBrowser

Cyberduck

Fetch Softworks

Pure Mac: FTP Software for Macintosh

I haven't tried any of these, so can't speak to their quality, but on the MacEdit discussion list RBrowser, Cyberduck, and Fetch all got recommendations.

Why blog relations is a growth industry

Intelliseek

CINCINNATI, Ohio (Sept. 26, 2005) -- Consumer trust toward traditional advertising is being challenged by growing confidence in consumer-generated-media (CGM) and the recommendations of other consumers, according to a new study of consumer behavior by Intelliseek Inc., a leader in word-of-mouth measurement.

A follow-up to a 2004 "Trust in Advertising" study, the "2005 Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) and Engagement Study" finds that, compared to traditional advertising, word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior continues to grow in importance in consumer awareness, trial, and purchase of new products.

Consumers are 50 percent more likely to be influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations from their peers than by radio/TV ads – a slightly higher level of influence/trust than found in the 2004 study co-authored by Intelliseek and Forrester.

Obviously Intelliseek has a vested interest in promoting this point of view; but I think this in on track. The smart way for companies to tap into the blog phenomena is to encourage their employees to blog and link to the influential blogs in their industry. No astroturf, just let nature take its course.

It was just a question of time

Tom Biro tells us that Google is going to add print ads to its present service.

PDF is not search engine friendly

It is amazing how many companies are still putting their press releases on their websites in PDF format. Why?

"Scalable, holistic, end-to-end solutions."

A Journalist Calls For Less Jargon From PR, Marketing Folks
John Wagner speculates that PR pros use these words to prove we fit in with our clients. I think he is one to something. In fact I will go further, our clients use words like that to show how advanced they are.

I think industry analysts are the worst offenders. They invent words like that so they can charge clients to explain what they mean.

I started Presto Vivace to help liberate our industry from this.

John Wagner: PR Pros As Translators

Fun with memos

Bill Gates has written a memo about missed opportunities and the necessity for Microsoft to stay on top of the emerging market in online services. Reports of the memo have found their way into so many publications that one can only conclude that it was a deliberate leak. Maybe it has something to do with the word Washington, east or west, everything has to be an off-the-record leak.

Dave Winer correctly concluded that the public should have a chance to read the memos for themselves. So he asked his contacts within Microsoft to send him copies and they have.

Here is some unsolicited advice for Microsoft. Next time you want to offer the world a view of your internal marketing discussion, just post the memos on your website. It would set a good example for Washington East.

At least Microsoft is smart enough not to sue bloggers over leaks.

Whack a mole

The entertainment industry killed the original Napster, they just killed Grokster; but you can best believe file sharing will survive.

The pity is that if they made their peace with it they could make trillions. All their old play lists would be marketable. With this method of distribution small bands, regional music and other niche styles could be profitably promoted. It would be like the old 45RPM, only even better, because everything ever recorded would be a single.

OMB mulls evolving beyond GILS

Agency looks for ideas on replacing metadata tagging for document searches

Now OMB is asking whether technology has surpassed GILS, which officials said relies on metadata tagging, and whether there is something that is less costly and more effective for searching the mounds of government data.

“The question is whether we want to go down the GILS road again, or hasn’t current search technology leapfrogged metadata tagging?” said Glenn Schlarman, chief of OMB’s information policy and technology branch. “GILS is time-consuming and arduous to do.”

OMB, through the General Services Administration, recently released a request for information asking vendors for ideas for more “efficient and effective information retrieval and sharing.” Responses were due Oct. 21, and OMB expects to analyze the answers this month.

Let's see what comes out of the Request for Information. I'm inclined to think a too top-down policy on tagging will prove unworkable.

In any case, if the government decides to upgrade the Government Information Locator Service with a more flexible, exact search technology, there is a great deal of money to be made.

Bad news for newspapers

Is bad news for flacks.

Eighteen out of the top 20 papers reported weekday circulation losses

No, blogs aren't the answer. Blogs don't do much original reporting and don't do product reviews on a consistent basis. Reporting is a profession. They need pay. They need health plans. We need them and they need us.

eXtensible Public Relations Language

From Tom Murphy we learn that there is an XML for PR.

Responding to riots

As a PR practitioner I have not had occasion to do crisis communications, even less respond to riots; but I would offer a few observations. Politicians and law enforcement would be well advised to study the 1991 riot in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, DC. While initially the police were slow to recognize the significance of the disturbance, once they realized what they had on their hands their response was very intelligent.

The mayor met with the community, the chief of police went to the scene personally to take charge. This gave the police officers confidence that they would not be scapegoated for whatever happened. It was also a visible sign to the community that the their government was serious and not playing political games.

By meeting with community leaders Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly drove a wedge between those with legitimate grievances that needed a response, and those who just like to loot. There is a lesson there and too often it is ignored.

Local Sharepoint users have formed a group

Tomorrow is their first meeting.

New to me local tech blog

Casey Software Development Blog

The Internet really has changed everything

James Boyle: Web’s never-to-be-repeated revolution

First, it is more amazing than we think. Second, the conjunction of technologies that made the web successful was extremely unlikely. Third, we probably would not create it, or any technology like it, today. In fact, we would be more likely to cripple it, or declare it illegal.

The openness of the Web creates endless opportunities for communicators and our clients.

The fight for the open Internet

SBC Head Ignites Access Debate

The head of a major telecommunications company stirred up a hornets' nest this week by suggesting that he wants to charge companies like Google and Yahoo a fee for bringing them into consumers' homes.

Let me see if I understand this. Mr. Whitacre wants to charge me for access to Google, Yahoo, and the rest of the Internet, (and since SBC bought my ISP provider he would be charging me) and Google and Yahoo and the rest of the Internet for their access to me. Quite a racket. I sincerely trust our political system will not let him get away with it.

An open end-to-end Internet is in the best interests of the PR industry, to say nothing of free speech.

Edit-
Businessweek

Commentary from David Coursey

SBC CEO Edward Whitacre says his company's paying customers should pay more for using the SBC network to exchange content. His plan would cripple the Internet.

Selling to the Federal Government

Scott Orbach of EZGSA spoke to IPRA yesterday about the finer points of marketing to the Federal Government. He pointed out that the things that hold you back elsewhere, being a small business, being a women or minority, having a physical disability, actually help in marketing to the Federal government. Federal procurement laws require all branches of the federal government to set aside a certain percentage of their contracts for small business. There are also requirements for businesses owned by women or minorities, veterans, or located in a HUB Zone.

Orbach said that you have to select an agency within the government and explain how your business can solve a problem for them. Don’t go to the contracting officer, go to the office you would be doing business with and explain what you can offer.

Orbach said the best way to discover opportunities was to read the Washington Post . I’m sure they will be pleased to know that. He made a telling point that when the President and Congress are held by different parties they will seek to embarrass each other by calling different Federal Agencies to account. Inspector General’s reports and hearings are the favored means. I had not thought of this previously, but I think he is on to something.

Sandra Chaloux also spoke about her work for the Dept. of Defense. Most of the time when the Federal Government hires outside PR agencies it is for community relations and media monitoring. They prefer to use their public affairs people for story pitching, and I think they are well advised. Chaloux talked about negotiating a GSA agreement. A business has to disclose just about everything, but it makes it easy for procurement officers to do business with you.

Chaloux’s experience mirrors my own, by the time a contract has been put up for bid it has already been wired, as we say in Federal contracting. That is, the agency wrote the specifications with a particular company in mind, and the chances of taking it away from them are not good.

Small Business Administration

SBA Small Disadvantaged Business

Woman’s Business Enterprise National Council

Center for Veterans Enterprise

Minority Business Development Agency

HUB Zone Program

8(a) Business Development

The Financial Times asks a question

Who’s afraid of the big, bad blog?

My favorite line in the piece, from IBM's guidelines:
stick to writing about what they know.

HR 1606

Excellent analysis of the Online Freedom of Speech Act from Jim Horton. It would have given bloggers the same media exemption from campaign finance laws enjoyed by General Electric, er, NBC. Its defeat is a blow to free speech in my judgment.

Public Service Announcements

DC Communicator Seminar Nov. 9

The DC Communicator is hosting its third free seminar Wednesday, Nov. 9, on the role and value of public service announcements in your communications program.

Join John Quinn, PSA director of WJLA-TV, and experts from EFX Media, Williams Whittle Associates, and West Glen Communications for this roundtable discussion on the latest PSA trends and how PSAs can help your organization reach your target audiences.

The seminar will be held at 1875 I St, NW, and starts at 12:15 p.m. Space is limited, so call WestGlen's Debbie Friez at (202) 429-2018 today for details.

DC Communicator

About interviews

Strategic Guy has a great rundown of things to keep in mind, this is my favorite:

Identify “power statements” that bring life to your key messages. I recently met with a company that says it designs and manufactures state-of-the-art proprietary hardware solutions (DC to 40 GHz) to facilitate broadband RF signal management for complex cable networks. What’s their power statement? As it turns out, if you’re watching cable television in North America the signal is directed by this company’s product.

Techno-speak does not impress anyone. I started Presto Vivace in part to liberate technology marketing from this sort of annoyance.

Tracking online influence

This company has developed a technology that can search, index, track, and summarize information on the Internet. Don’t know much about this, so I would be interested in learning from others' experience.

They have a blog; but since it is in Spanish, I can’t tell you much about it.

What's wrong with RFID in your passport

Properties of National ID Systems

The new RFID-enabled US passports will provide anyone who comes in contact with them with a new, globally unique number, and it will be impossible to know who is collecting that number, or how they'll use it. That is a poor design for a system.

It never ceases to amaze me that politicians vote for this sort of system. No one should know better how personal information can be abused than politicians.

Strategies for Creating Enterprise Collaborative Environments

NCC-AIIM Monthly Meeting
Thursday, November 10, 2005

Ronald Simmons, Program Manager

Knowledge Services Network, FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken Knowledge Management theory and put it to work!! Each day, over 15,000 users in 1,500 teams across more than 150 FAA Business Units use FAA’s Knowledge Services Network (KSN) to carry out their mission more effectively.

Mr. Ronald Simmons, Program Manager for FAA’s Knowledge Services Network, will describe the virtual environment which has promoted more efficient business practices, document management, and collaboration within his organization. KSN has not only improved operations within the FAA, but it has also allowed the organization to better communicate with external customers, stakeholders, and partners.

Mr. Simmons will provide a brief overview of the environment, identify the strategies that contributed to success, contrast traditional deployment approaches with the KSN adoption approach, and describe the natural evolution of document management within the FAA. Anyone that is tasked with planning and/or implementing an enterprise content management system within a complex business environment will benefit from Mr. Simmons’ experience and insight.

KSN is based on Microsoft’s SharePoint collaboration suite. The program was recognized in 2003 with an “e-Gov Knowledge Management Award” and in 2004 with “Government Productive Solution Award”. Please join us to learn how the FAA has delivered this incredible service to its employees and constituents.

An analytical approach to the new PR

Society for New Communications Research Launches

Palo Alto, Calif. – October 31, 2005 – The Society for New Communications Research (http://www.sncr.org), a new international, non-profit think tank, was announced today. The group was formed to provide a forum for research and education and a source of expertise focused on the broad theoretical and practical implications surrounding new communications methodologies, tools and technologies.

The Society will study the impact of emerging modes of communication such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, videocasts, collaborative tools and the growing phenomena of participatory communications and their effect on traditional media, marketing, public relations and advertising, as well as their broader impact on business, politics, entertainment, culture, education, religion and society at large. Activities will include the development of in-depth research studies, whitepapers, case studies, best practices and standards; industry education, the publication of the Journal of New Communications Research and an annual research symposium and awards program.

From the remarkable team of Elizabeth Albrycht and Jennifer McClure.

Blogging emergency reponse

Nick Mudge has found the Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue blog. This is a great development in increasing public awareness of first responder issues. See also First Responder Coalition blog.

Pay extra for privacy

Microsoft propose business shift to online services

Bill Gates has announced a fundamental shift in Microsoft’s core business offering by announcing that the company will be launching a free online office application next year.

If I pay a license fee for application software installed on my computer, then only I know how I have used that software and the data I have produced. What Microsoft is proposing is free as in beer, not free as in speech. It will come at a price.

Acronym alert

ColdFusion Open-Source Project List

Everyday new acronyms are streaming into our copy. There ought to be some way to cut this down to manageable proportions.

The harsh rhetoric of techies

HOW TO Avoid Being Called a Bozo When Producing XML

Okay, I couldn't code my way out of a paper bag. But I cannot believe that this style of rhetoric is conducive to process improvement.

Figuring out AdSense

Google AdSense for Search versus AdSense for Content

I'd be interested in learning about the advertiser side of AdSense.

US Supreme Court lets telecommuter tax stand

High court won’t hear local case

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to take up the case of a Nashville computer programmer who challenged New York’s taxes on his income while he worked from his Nashville home.

It should be born in mind that the US Supreme Court did not rule that this tax was advisable, nor even fair, simply that it did not violate the constitution.

Still, I don't understand it.

XML - Now A PR Technology

PR Machine

Similar to tagging on Technorati, data tagging is a new format for enhancing financial reporting data using eXtensible Mark-Up Language (XML) derivatives, such as XBRL. Tagging provides greater context to data through standard definitions that turn text-based information, into documents that can be more efficiently and effectively retrieved, searched and analyzed through automated means (like the Internet and blogs).

I have been remiss, I am going to have to start using tags.

The future of corporate blogging

Blogging Tools Need Integration

Unlike most of its popular rivals, the TypePad service from Six Apart Ltd. costs money. But with your subscription fee, which starts at $4.95 a month, you get free tools for creating and hosting your own photo albums _ and now a pair of programs for video.

The simpler of the two video programs comes from VideoEgg Inc. Go to http://typepad.videoegg.com, enter your account information and download a small plug-in for your browser.

I think smaller clients will want us to offer this as part of our service in the future.

PR blog surveys

Expert analysis from Robert French.

Paperboy

Newspaper Ad Circulars Find Their Way Online

Gannett, one of the nation's biggest newspaper publishers, said it would introduce a new service on its newspaper Web sites next month that displays banner ads that readers can expand into a virtual version of the weekly local circulars so familiar to offline newspaper readers.

Industry executives said the service, called PaperBoy, devised by a unit of Gannett called PointRoll, would give national advertisers a way to reach online readers in local markets with promotions tied to neighborhood stores.

Newspapers and their advertisers are going to do just fine.

Congratulations NYTimes.com

NYTimes.com Wins Big at ONA Awards

NYTimes.com won the General Excellence award, Outstanding Use of Multiple Media for its "Class Matters" series, and Breaking News for "Asia's Deadly Waves," the Web site's coverage of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. A table filled with Times staffers celebrated the awards.

They also have The New York Times latest headlines on a registration free RSS reader.

Boo

Happy Halloween

This Just In: Customers Hate Their Software Vendors

Joshua Greenbaum, Intelligent Enterprise

The last implementation was a total disaster. Of course, it was the implementer's fault, but let's not cloud the issue with facts. Anyway, it really is the vendor's responsibility to make sure that its partners are doing a good job. Being an enterprise software vendor means having to sell against the sins of the past every day. And the past was pretty sinful—software was expensive and hard to implement. And often still is.

Of all the work that IJIS does, none is more important than bringing together the users and vendors in the criminal justice technology community. Vendors do not always understand user requirements and users need to be educated on the available technology in order to make informed decisions. I really think IJIS can stand as a model to the larger technology community as to how we can work together to improve technology and its implementation.

Nothing says "can't-put-it-down reading!" like census data.

Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post has a summary of the latest Census Report on Computer and Internet Use. It seems more ladies are online and more Internet users are shopping. I'm sure there is no connection. :)

Kitty Genovese and the cold call six

On March 13th, 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her apartment building in an assault that lasted thirty-five minutes. Thirty-eight people witnessed the attack, not one took any step to stop it, not even to call the police.

In July of 2003, Scooter Libby shopped a story with six different journalists, Matt Cooper, Judith Miller, Walter Pincus, Tim Russert, Andrea Mitchell, and Robert Novak, that Joe Wilson’s wife was the CIA Case officer in charge of monitoring the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Libby was trying to paint Amb. Joe Wilson as the beneficiary of nepotism, that his wife was responsible for his assignment to investigate claims that the Iraqis were trying to obtain Niger uranium.

Not a single reporter put his country first. Not a single reporter understood that his first obligation was to his readers/viewers/listeners. The real story here was that the administration was so desperate to discredit its critics, that they were prepared to blow an entire intelligence operation for the sake of political payback. It should never had required a special investigation. All of these reporters should have run with the story instantly, and the story should have been that Scooter Libby’s political warfare was placing an intelligence operation at risk. It would have been possible to write such a story without indicating which intelligence operation. Let me make this clear. Citizens have certain obligations, one of them is to report crimes in progress. A reporter’s obligation to their source is trivial by comparison.

Try to imagine what it was like to have been Valerie Wilson that morning, to wake up before dawn to the sound of your beeper, to be informed that your cover has been blown and you have hours to warn whichever agents you can.

Try to look at this from point of view of international opinion. The world sees the United States insisting that a war against Iraq is necessary to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The world is told we cannot wait for diplomatic efforts. As the war progresses it becomes embarrassingly clear that there are no weapons of mass destruction.


Imagine the diplomatic corps opening their Washington Post on the morning of July 14, 2003. Imagine them reading Robert Novak’s column to discover the name of the CIA case officer in charge of monitoring the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Attachés from our allies are on the phone with their counterparts in the CIA demanding an explanation. Attachés from hostile intelligence agencies are convulsed in laughter. But for the American people this is no laughing matter.

It will now be far more difficult for our spies to recruit agents. Allied intelligence agencies will be hesitant to share information. Hostile intelligence agencies will be more aggressive, and with Plame’s network shot to pieces (in some cases literally) we will have great difficulty monitoring developments. We are at great risk.

All of this we owe to the pernicious practice of anonymous sources. And who are these sources? Well, in many cases our clients. Let us put an end to this evil practice.

WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL I. LEWIS LIBBY INDICTED ON OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, FALSE STATEMENT AND PERJURY CHARGES RELATING TO LEAK OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION REVEALING CIA OFFICER'S IDENTITY

Daniel Lyons’ anti-blogging screed

Forbes Magazine has, for reasons best known to itself, has published an anti-blogging screed. It is filled with misinformation and spectacularly bad advice. The first paragraph says it all:

Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo.

Katie bar the door! The blogs are coming!

Gregory Halpern knows how to hype. Shares of his publicly held company, Circle Group Holdings, quadrupled in price early last year amid reports that its new fat substitute, Z-Trim, was being tested by Nestlé. As the stock spurted from $2 to $8.50, Halpern's 35% stake in the company he founded rose to $90 million. He put out 56 press releases last year.

Then the bloggers attacked. A supposed crusading journalist launched an online campaign long on invective and wobbly on facts, posting articles on his Web log (blog) calling Halpern "deceitful,""unethical,""incredibly stupid" and "a pathological liar" who had misled investors. The author claimed to be Nick Tracy, a London writer who started his one-man "watchdog" Web site, our-street.com, to expose corporate fraud. He put out press releases saying he had filed complaints against Circle with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Did Circle Holdings post a response on its website? Did it engage sympathetic bloggers? No, it got into it with the blogger. Because putting a stick in a hornets’ nest works so well.

...Some companies now use blogs as a weapon, unleashing swarms of critics on their rivals. "I'd say 50% to 60% of attacks are sponsored by competitors," says Bruce Fischman, a lawyer in Miami for targets of online abuse.

And the evidence to support this contention would be?

Dry treatises on patent law and trade policy don't drive traffic (or ad sales) for bloggers and hosts; blood sport does.

Depends on the blog.

... "A blogger can go out and make any statement about anybody, and you can't control it. That's a difficult thing,"says Steven Down, general manager of bike lock maker Kryptonite, owned by Ingersoll-Rand and based in Canton,Mass.

George III felt the same way.

..."Blogging is still in its infancy. Imposing regulations would create a chilling effect," says Annalee Newitz

It would also be unconstitutional.

Gregory Halpern at Circle Group, in Mundelein, Ill., used this approach against his nemesis, Nick Tracy, a.k.a. Timothy Miles. After the first attack Halpern contacted the blogger's lawyer but got nowhere. He demanded a correction, only to get mocked:Miles posted on his blog an audio file of a perturbed message Halpern had left on his voice mail.

Halpern had better luck, however, when he allied with Gayle Essary, who runs the FinancialWire online news service and had tangled with Miles, too. Halpern dug up details on Miles (his photo and Oregon driver's license; his links to a litany of questionable companies; his claim to be an ordained minister; his Web site that describes a mysterious crystal that contains a message from God) and fed them to Essary. Essary did 15 articles on Miles without citing Halpern as a source, and when Halpern heard from people asking about Miles' allegations against Circle Group, he referred them to FinancialWire, saying it had "exposed this guy a long time ago."

Great, character assassination via anonymous sources, because it's working so well for Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.

But you just have to love the ending:

Halpern has had less luck getting anyone in Congress to listen to his plaint. He says that may change if a few politicians get a taste of what he has gone through. "Wait until the next election rolls around and these bloggers start smearing people who are up for reelection,"Halpern says. "Maybe then things will start to happen."

Mr. Lyons, why didn’t you call Trent Lott for a quote?

New Communications Forum 2006, call for speakers

The deadline has been extended to November 4, a week from tomorrow. The last one was super, so I am planning to go to the next one.

New Communications Forum

Where the government blogs are

David Fletcher points to Nick Mudge's government blog aggregator.

Now all he needs to do is put it on a RSS reader.

Another sign that blogging has become part of the establishment

From Steve Rubel we learn that the World Bank is blogging.

Safari, not ready for prime time

I have been trying out the Safari browser. Not good enough. Renders most sites slowly and some not at all. It seems to have great difficulty with web forms. It won't work at all with Blogger, publishes the titles; but swallows the body of the post whole.

Stay with Firefox.

Never rise to bait

Randall Sanborn shows us how it's done.

They said the same thing about mainframe computers

Henry Copeland

I've been arguing that anyone who thinks the "old media" model is a gonner should stop theorizing and just short newspaper stocks.

"Newspaper" is an oxymoron. Nowadays, anything on paper is either history or a novel. Though newspaper companies are buying and building online extensions, the revenue gains will never offset the scale of losses coming as subscribers and advertisers defect to cheaper, faster tools AND as individual papers lose their monopoly pricing leverage in their respective markets.

It is more likely that Henry Copeland will be offering to help advertisers place ads in a complementary mix of newspapers, magazines and blogs before newspapers disappear. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get commissions from mainstream media for the service.

PR blunder of the day

A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.

Writing press releases just got more complicated

Shel Holtz points to this advice from Lee Oden on writing press releases in the age of the Web:

A talented writer should be able to incorporate keywords into a press release as well as satisfy any creative requirements for a compelling read.

It is difficult enough to write a release that communicates your client's message in a way that is interesting and compelling. Inserting the critical key words adds a whole different dimension. But then if it were easy, clients wouldn't pay us.

A 16-city, 4 week treasure hunt for cash prizes.

BL Ochman has orchestrated a first, an all-blog promotion campaign for Budget Rent-a-car. The first winner has been announced.

I think all of PR blogosphere will be using it as a model for future campaigns.

Well done. Very well done.

Responding to a negative analyst report

Tom Murphy pointed to this great post, When Analysts Attack. I particularly like this advice:

2. Ask the analyst firm to discuss . After you have done your preparation, contact the firm formally. Do not be angry.

It bears repetition, do not be angry. So much of good public relations consists of never getting angry, but looking for solutions.

I am still learning about analyst relations, so blogosphere has been a great resource for free information. I think the key must be preparation. Tekrati is the best place to begin research on analysts.

A dangerous precedent

BL Ochman tells us that the Delaware Supreme court has rejected a town councilman's quest to discover the identity of a blogger who was posting obscene things about him.

Now perhaps the court did right, surely we have the right to call into question the possible ancestry and personal virtue of politicians and other public figures. But if those obscenities went beyond general insult to specific obscene allegations, then that would seem to this observer to be libelous. And I don't think it would be a healthy thing for free speech if libel could hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

I don't think you have to be very sophisticated to see how that sort of digital brown shirt, as Al Gore might put it, could threaten free speech.

Towards an integrated emergency response

IJIS Institute Endorses Functional Specification for Computer Aided Dispatching

On Thursday the IJIS Institute announced that its Board of Directors, on behalf of the 140 member and affiliated companies of the IJIS Institute, has endorsed the functional specification for computer aided dispatching systems that was developed by the Law Enforcement Information Technology Standards Council (LEITSC).

LEITSC is a consortium of law enforcement organizations including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Police Executive Research Forum and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives who have joined forces to develop standards to improve the application of technology to law enforcement operations. The project was funded by grants from the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance in the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Whether it is flood, fire, or terrorism, jurisdictions need their computer aided dispatch systems to work together.

Freedom blogs

The eight Reporters Without Borders nominees for the blog contest

The German radio station Deutsche Welle has published the list of nominees for its weblog contest, including those chosen by Reporters Without Borders for the “freedom of expression” category. The bloggers who have been singled out include former Tunisian judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, currently on a hunger strike in protest against President Ben Ali’s repressive policies.

The longest hurricane season ever. And it's not over.

Hurricane Wilma, Tropical Depression Alpha regional imagery, 2005.10.24 at 1345Z. Centerpoint Latitude: 26:27:24N Longitude: 76:42:39W.

Wilma tracking map

Alpha tracking map

One trusts Wilma will blow Alpha out to sea.

Figuring out community search

PC Magazine has a good introduction to del.icio.us, Clipmarks, et al. Pretty good for those of us who are still trying to puzzle these tools out.

Think my bank would accept it as collateral?

My blog is worth $23,710.68.
How much is your blog worth?

Lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "venture capital"

CIA's investment arm expands high-tech reach

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the CIA, is aggressively expanding its technology portfolio by pumping new investments into startups involved in networking, energy, semiconductor and software visualization.

On Thursday (Oct. 20), In-Q-Tel (Arlington, Va.) separately announced undisclosed investments in three startups and no less than six companies this week alone.

The spy agency's venture capital arm invested in two energy-related companies: Electro Energy Inc. and SkyBuilt Power Inc. It also poured money into two networking startups: Ember Corp., and Tendril Networks Inc.

I have mixed feelings about In-Q-Tel (translation, none of my present or past clients were financed by In-Q-Tel). In some ways it is like the SBIR program; but wouldn't you hate to compete with an In-Q-Tel financed firm?

MHz Goes Nationwide

Merrifield television station links with New York satellite service

On Saturday, Oct. 15, at 12:01 a.m., a satellite feed made its way from Lee Highway to New York City, and from there to the rest of the nation. On that night, for the first time, Merrifield-based MHz Networks made its mix of local and international programming available nationwide.

The rest of the country is in for a treat. One of the delights of living in Fairfax County is MHz Networks' great programming.

Michael Kinsley gives us the memo

Whose Speech Is Free?

That 5,800-word deconstruction of the Miller affair in the Times last Sunday showed how the culture of anonymous sources leads to suppression of information.

Whatever hurts the news media hurts flacks. Let us put an end to this pernicious practice.

3rd Annual Wireless and RFID Conference

Announcing a Call for Participation

February 27 – March 1, 2006
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC

Deadline for Abstract Submission is Friday, November 18, 2005.

The 2006 Wireless and RFID Conference will focus on technologies and strategies for government organizations working to inventory, manage, and secure wireless devices, as well as best practices and applications for RFID across public sector organizations. This conference program is designed to address the current and evolving needs of government program and information technology managers in their efforts to integrate wireless and RFID technologies to meet their diverse mission and business objectives. Those selected for the conference faculty will share their expertise and recommendations with professional colleagues focused on improving government business and programmatic results.

Adventures in project management

Excerpt, Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management

Managing One Person at a Time

Properly done, one-on-ones build relationships. Managers who use one-on-one meetings consistently find them one of the most effective and productive uses of their management time. One-on-ones provide a venue for coaching, feedback, career development, and status reporting.

This sounds about right.

I strongly recommend that PR, marketing and sales people attend meetings of organizations for project managers and developers. You learn things you can learn in no other way. You will also gain an insider's view of software selection and implementation.

Using your web site as a marketing tool

David Meerman Scott has an excellent piece on how to use your corporate web site to shorten a sales cycle. I especially like this suggestion:

The job of Web content in the early stages of the sales consideration process is just to get a prospect interested in your organization. The best way is to provide valuable content that addresses their problems. You want to build empathy.

At this early stage, avoid forcing people to register their name and contact details. The best thing at that point is for your prospect to think: "These guys are smart. They understand my problems. I want to learn more."

Because Robert Novak wasn't available

Judith Miller testifies for a federal shield law.

Dana Blankenhorn comments. My own view.

Wilma

Hurricane Wilma regional imagery, 2005.10.19 at 1615Z. Centerpoint Latitude: 17:29:45N Longitude: 83:09:12W.

Tracking Wilma

On PR

Active Voice

We sit behind. That's our job. We sit behind our client. We sit behind the issue. The spotlight is just in front of us. We orchestrate from the shadows. Once in a while a client will turn around, and with everyone looking, point to the PR professional and acknowledge the work being done from behind.

What’s important is not what people think of us, but what they think of our clients.

Most improbable advertising campaign ever

Thanks for your feedback

Clever headline of the day

Health directors say HHS flu cuts are for the birds