Speakers in the News »

5/19/06
HEATHER GOLD

Heather Gold talks about her concept of Open Source Management in an interview with Bryan Zilar posted recently on Webmonkey. Gold contends that businesses should incorporate the notions of inclusiveness, openness and transparency that make free software so effective: "If employers want to encourage a culture of honesty and caring in their work environment, the most important thing for employers to do is to begin with themselves.To be ridiculously simplistic about it: Businessperson, heal thyself. Have regular meetings with everyone who works for you in which you listen and respond, and then show them afterwards, with your actions, that you really heard what people said. Follow up on the things you said you'd follow up on. This involves learning how to listen without reacting. Don't insist on people faking passion and caring around your business. Be honest about what you care about and organize your business around that. Make a point of seeking out the opinions of the most marginalized and quiet people in the organization, then publicly validate those opinions. This can help create a ripple effect. Wikis and blogs and other open tools are great, but they are only as useful as the honesty with which you use them." Gold led a panel on this topic of "Open Source Management" at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:41am CST | +

5/18/06
JENEANE SESSUM

"Does Your Small Business Need a Blog?" is an article in the current issue of BusinessWeek that explores the benefits of personal publishing for small enterprises. A followup story ("The ABC's of Beginning Your Blog") quotes Jeneane Sessum, who advises on the best person to create content for such an endeavor: "The role of corporate blogger can be filled by a passionate employee...or [through] a concerted effort that encourages all employees to blog...or it can be the CEO, the development team, or the courier." In the story, Sessum also warns that the decision to start a blog should not be made lightly. "If small businesses are thinking of reiterating internal news or press releases on the company blog, they would do well to save their energy and avoid the wrath of the commenters who have been known to swarm on lame entrants into the blogosphere" Sessum spoke on the "Bloggers in Love: Intimacy, Technology and Mask-Making" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:43am CST | +

5/17/06
GEORGE OATES

Everyone's favorite photo sharing program, Flickr, has introduced several new improvements that upgrade the service beyond beta stage. Says George Oates in a short post on the Flickrblog, "We've just released the big round of changes I mentioned last week: New Navigation, New Search, New and Improved Organizr, and the Person Menu. All of these improvements have been designed to help you navigate the site with less effort and organize your photos more efficiently. Instead of explaining everything in minute detail, I'd much rather just step back and let you get started exploring the new Gamma site." A native of Australia who serves as one of the main designers for this company, Oates spoke on the "Designing the Next Generation of Web Apps" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:54am CST | +

5/16/06
MICHAEL KREMPASKY

Michael Krempasky

How much does new media innovation impact the ongoing political process? Very significantly, according to speakers at the Personal Democracy Forum, which occurred on Monday in New York City. Yet, others at this event, warned that too much reliance on technology is never a good thing. As noted by the Associated Press, conservative analyst Michael Krempasky feels that old school is still new school, "Get off the computer. Any long-term political movement demands personal relationships." The founder of redstate.org, Krempasky spoke on similar themes at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival, where he was part of the "Revenge of the Blogs: Election 2008" session.

11:01am CST | +

5/15/06
danah boyd

Recently proposed federal legislation that would "protect minors from commercial social networking sites and chat rooms" is the focus of great concern from danah boyd. She comments on her blog: "Because it affects both libraries and schools, it will dramatically increase the digital divide. Poor youth only gain access to these sites through libraries and schools. With this ban, poor youth will have no access to the cultural artifacts of their day. Furthermore, because libraries won't be able to maintain separate 18+ and minor computers, this legislation will affect everyone who uses libraries, including adults. This legislation is horrifying and culturally damaging. Please, all of you invested in social technologies, do something to make this stop. . . . This legislation will not protect minors, but it will continue to erode their (and our) freedoms. There are so many amazing things that teens do with social technologies. To lose all of this because of the culture of fear is terrifying to me." At the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival, boyd led the "Designing for Global and Local Social Play" panel.