Manage To Change

SIIA: New Rules for Licensing, Building & Aggregating Information

Earlier in the spring, while attending the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) NetGain conference, I was asked to answer a question as part of a series for the SIIA Content Division. 

As the result of sheer coincidence, Chris Anderson was a keynote at the conference and was also asked the same question.

Several people were interviewed and the SIIA has posted all of the interviews as well as all of the sessions from NetGain.

The question?

What are the new rules for licensing, building and aggregating information?

Chris' answer was brief and pointed to Freemium as the new model.

My answer was a little longer and is included here just for fun!

Anderson, Gladwell, and Godin - Oh My!

Image via CrunchBase

As many of you know, there has been an interesting and spirited debate going on around Chris Anderson's (pictured) new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, Malcolm Gladwell's review of that book, and Seth Godin's rebuttal to Gladwell's review.

Those arguments speak for themselves and you can see them on this Squidoo lens started by Seth Godin.

What I find interesting are that the tactics being used and the roles being assumed look very much like those employed during a change management effort within an organization.

There are people advocating, recognizing, and interpreting change (Anderson and Godin) and there are those seemingly resisting change or debating its impact (Gladwell).

Those that bring up alternatives or poke holes at the new direction are regarded by the "change visionaries" as resistant, threatened, or sometimes, simply ignorant.  Often, while some are truly resistant to change, many are simply raising issues and perspectives that haven't been fully considered by the change management effort.

On the other side, change visionaries are often resistant to considering anything contrary to their position. Adaptation or adjustment of the change being implemented is viewed as selling out or lacking faith.

It's the healthy debate between these groups, and the shades of gray between them, that allows the organization to find its way and avoid some costly mistakes in the process.

As General George S. Patton said, "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."

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Boring Technology & Convening Supporters

Kent Anderson from the Scholarly Kitchen linked to this Clay Shirky video filmed at the State Department by TED.

It's 17:03 minutes of insight!

"What matters here isn't technological capital, it's social capital.  These tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring...when everybody is able to take them for granted."

"They had understood that their role with my.barackobama.com was to convene their supporters, but not to control their supporters."

The Evolution of Content

Take a look at this video created by Mark Logic.

It's a fabulous summary of where we've been and the challenges and opportunities facing us in media and publishing.

Twitter: Unintended Consequences

Image via CrunchBase

A couple of months ago, someone to whom I'm connected on Facebook mentioned that I over ran their home page with Twitter updates the last time I was at a conference.

I tend to take conference notes on Twitter.   When I had Twitter feed Facebook updates, my status was being updated every couple of minutes.  It had never occurred to me that I was monopolizing my friends' Facebook home pages!

When I started to look for a way to selectively update Facebook, but still use Twitter the way I wanted to use it, I consulted several of my Twitter connections.

Most of them weren't aware of a solution. 

What really surprised me was that they also said not to worry about it.

I learned two things from this:

1. Experimentation with new things often has unintended consequences.  They may be good or bad, but we should be looking for them.
2. If we're not careful our advocacy of a product, feature, platform (fill in the blank) will actually turn people off, rather than stimulate their interest.  Ignoring feedback is never a good idea.
   

If you're having the same issue I was with updates, there is an application that enables selective Twitter updates to Facebook.  I started using it during Web 2.0 Expo and it works perfectly for me.

PS Someone else (not the source of the original feedback) recently thanked me for updating Facebook more judiciously.

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• When to NOT Use Social Media (readwriteweb.com)

Are We Strangling Innovation or Strengthening It?

Lately, the economy is all we hear about in the news.  It seems as though there are constantly more layoffs, more programs being cut, and more industries asking for help from the government.

When so many individuals, companies, and industries are worried about their survival, what happens to innovation?

Is opportunity a side effect of our pitiful economy? 

Some might argue, as Guy Kawasaki did in 2006, that limited resources aren't the worst thing that could happen to an entrepreneur.

What are your thoughts?

Communication: Know What You Know

Image by maveric2003 via Flickr

Not everyone in a company hears the same thing at the same time.

Everyone hasn’t gone to the same meetings, had the same hallway conversations, seen the same PowerPoint decks, read the same emails, or had the same amount of time to digest the information.

This impacts change initiatives, including “restructuring efforts”, in several ways.

We can’t expect people to understand actions for which they have no context.

We can’t get frustrated when someone asks us questions about something we feel pressured to accomplish quickly.  We certainly can't get defensive.

We can’t keep information about changes from the people they impact and then expect them to jump off a cliff with us with confidence in the depth of the waters below - especially when, if we're honest, we don't know how deep they are either.

Times are tough and there are difficult decisions to be made, but people can support decisions they understand, and to which they've had some input, even when they don't like them.

When you've been included early in the communication chain, and understand the context of the message, it’s hard to be patient with those just hearing about it.

What can we do?

Include people at different stages of the thought process to properly assess the impact of the change, worry about accuracy more than secrecy.

When it comes time to spread the word more broadly, take a deep breath and remember the thought that went into defining the action. 

Remember what you know and the process your team went through to come the decision, and try to give your colleagues, audience, staff, the context they need to understand the change in front of them.

Innovation, Change, and Talent

Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins was a singer in the early 1900's who "became famous for her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability."

What's interesting about Florence, is that she seemed to have no clue that she had no talent.

Florence makes me wonder.

It's easy to listen to her and know she can't sing.  But why didn't she hear that herself?  Was she physically unable (tone deaf, perhaps)?  Was she psychologically unable?

Or, did she know she was "different" and consider herself innovative or ground breaking?

Another case in point, The Shaggs.

"There's an innocence to these songs and their performances that's both charming and unsettling. Hacked-at drumbeats, whacked-around chords, songs that seem to have little or no meter to them ... being played on out-of-tune, pawn-shop-quality guitars all converge, creating dissonance and beauty, chaos and tranquility, causing any listener coming to this music to rearrange any pre-existing notions about the relationships between talent, originality, and ability. There is no album you might own that sounds remotely like this one." (Review of Philosophy of Life written by Cub Koda on allmusic.com)

Who ultimately decides what's innovative and what's just plain bad?

(Full disclosure, I kind of like The Shaggs.)

Social Media and the President-Elect

Options, options, options. 

Should developers of content products take a lesson from the Obama campaign, transition, and, hopefully, the administration?

The lesson: Give people what they want, where they want it.

Options people had to monitor the campaign included:
•    The Obama iPhone application (campaign related)
•    BarackObama.com
•    Twitter
•    Text messages
•    Facebook

 

If you’re interested in the transition, there’s the President-Elect’s website.  

Then there are the weekly updates from the transition team that you can view on the change.gov blog or on YouTube.

Too much you say?

Perhaps for one person it's too much.

But is it too much when we consider everyone that might be interested - and all of their device and media preferences?

Back in London

It’s always colder than I think it will be - even when I look at the forecast.

My first stop is Ryman (don’t ask me why – I’m just addicted to office supplies).

My second stop is Boots to stock up on all the pain relievers that I can’t get over the counter in the US (you can get codeine OTC here!).

My first trip to Starbucks reminds me that they don’t have Equal and no one uses “half and half” - so I have to switch to lattes and get my own Equal.

It takes me at least a day to remember to walk on the left side of the sidewalk and another day before I start looking in the proper direction when crossing the street.

Everyone writes dates backwards.  Although, since the US is the only country that writes dates MM-DD-YY, I suppose we’re the ones that are backwards.

Common words and phrases are used differently and almost everyone has a better vocabulary than I do. 

What does this have to do with change?

Being here makes me think more carefully.  It makes me listen more closely.

It reminds me both that sometimes when things look the same they aren’t, and other times when things sound different they’re actually very similar.

It makes transparent some of the basic assumptions under which I continually operate.

Understanding our assumptions, biases, and expectations are absolutely required before we can change (ourselves or our environment).

This is really good practice!

Photo from About.com