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SSP Sessions I Plan to Attend (and Liveblog)

May 28, 2009 By Adam

I am at the Society for Scholarly Publishing‘s Annual Meeting in Baltimore this week. In addition to participating in the wrap up panel on Friday at 2 p.m. and recording some multimedia pieces while I’m here, I will be trying my hand at liveblogging (and live tweeting via @AdamWeiss on Twitter) the sessions I attend.

So, for those of you who are at the meeting and want a heads up on what will be covered, here are the titles, times, and descriptions of the sessions I plan to attend. Of course, I will also attend the Keynote and Plenary sessions that all attendees will be able to see.

Thursday 5/28/2009

Concurrent 1C: Publishing for the Google Generation (10:45 AM to 12:15 PM)
Google, Facebook, YouTube, IM, MySpace, Second Life- the last few years have seen the emergence of a new generation of Web tools that are a way of life for today’s students and young professionals. These young users have grown up using online information in a completely new way.
Knowing which of these products and services is here to stay and which isn’t, how they are being used and why, and what impact they will have on the way we publish and disseminate scholarly content is key for all publishers, large and small.
This session will feature a panel of experts from the publishing and information worlds to discuss their experiences in publishing for the “Google generation,” as well as their projections for what’s likely to be in store next.

Concurrent 2B: Market Big, Spend Small (2:00 PM to 3:30 PM)As operating budgets face increasing pressure from the uncertain global economy, many organizations are carefully scrutinizing expenses for places to cut costs from already lean budgets. Marketing and advertising budgets are often targeted when hefty cuts are levied, in part because the expenses associated with these activities seem unnecessary compared with other expense items. With so many organizations competing for the same pool of potential members and subscribers, reaching this audience is more important than ever. Do lower-cost options such as e-mail blasts and online brochures really work? Or do we need direct mail and social networking to reach other end users? Does the effectiveness of various types of marketing vary around the world?This session will present cost-effective and effective ways to market publications and associated services to markets around the world. We look at low-cost activities and how they can be combined with other types of promotions for added effectiveness.

Concurrent 3A: Brave Adventures: New Publishing Models for the “Now” World (4:00 PM to 5:30 PM)

Will disruptive innovation create brave new content forms and business models for scholarly publishing as it has in many related industries? Can we imagine what new models might look like? Where can we look for the adventurers who are charting new paths?
Join us to hear from speakers who are rethinking the mission, forms, and business models of publishing today. They will provide concrete examples and bold ideas of what the future might bring.
Whether you are currently piloting new models or just thinking about them, this session can help stimulate your vision for the future as well as suggest ways to bridge from traditional models to the new.

Friday, 5/29/2009

Concurrent 4C: Publishing 2.0… (10:45 AM to 12:15 PM)Publishing 2.0 Tools and Technologies Shaping the Future of Publishing

What tools and technologies will have the biggest impact on publishing in the near future? What do publishers need to know to better evaluate their technology investment decisions?
This session presents examples in which publishers have evaluated and implemented new technologies in the areas of semantic taxonomies, mobile applications, and social media. Join us for a free-flowing discussion and be prepared to participate in an interactive question and answer session.
This is one time where attendees will be asked to keep their cell phones turned on as audience members will be encouraged to ask questions and submit responses via text messaging.

Testing the Twitter LiveBlog Plugin before the SSP09 Meeting

May 27, 2009 By Adam

5:37:25 PM: Preemptive apologies for the next rapid-fire string of tweets about Baltimore…

5:39:27 PM: I visited the National Aquarium today. Cool place, and big. Not sure it was worth the $27.95 it cost to walk around and see a Dolphin show.

5:42:19 PM: The dolphin show at the Aquarium only cost $3 extra, so that was certainly worth the money.

5:44:05 PM: I also visited the USCGS Taney, a 1930s-era Coast Guard Cutter that is similar to the one my Dad served on in the 60s.

5:44:41 PM: It was quite cool to see a ship like the one my dad lived on for 4 years. 327 feet long, but that’s not much space for months at a time.

5:45:58 PM: The first time I tested Twitter LiveBlog, I got a bunch of new posts, not one post that updated with each tweet. Has anyone else seen that?

5:47:17 PM: If anyone is in Baltimore and wants to meet up for dinner with a Podcaster/Digital Media Strategist, get in touch. I’m here for #ssp09.

5:49:27 PM: The USCG Taney was worth the $10. Most ship museums I’ve been on require a guide, but here I was allowed to wander on my own.

5:49:49 PM: I was the only one on board the ship for most of the 90 min I was visiting. It was quite cool to have a 327-foot military ship to myself.

5:54:32 PM: This Twitter LiveBlog test would be a lot easier if the hotel wifi wasn’t flakey. Isn’t the Hilton Garden Inn supposed to be business-savvy?

5:57:58 PM: Twitter LiveBlog test so far: Only one post, and it updates (good), but it’s slow (not good). Tweets show up on the site 5+ minutes late.

6:02:59 PM: The lag in posts appearing might be due to the bad wifi I’m on. Hilton says they’re working on it, but can’t answer “hours or days?” Really?

6:05:11 PM: If anyone wants to see the Twitter LiveBlog output, check here:

6:05:24 PM: Testing simultanious posting from my iPhone, along with adding pictures. http://twitpic.com/62u50

6:07:52 PM: That’s my temporary “corner office” if anyone was curious (http://twitpic.com/62u50).

Goodbye, Chase Freedom Card

May 12, 2009 By Adam

I’ve had a Chase Freedom Visa card for a couple of years now, and it had been my go-to card for pretty much every purchase I made.

This was because it offered great rewards on a good chunk of my regular purchases through a mildly-confusing rewards program: It gave me 3% cash back on many of the things I spent the most on, and 1% back on everything else. On top of that, if I waited until you’d accumulated $200 in rewards, I could redeem that for a $250 check — giving me a 25% bonus reward on the spot.

Over the last couple of years, I’d been averaging more than 2% cash back per month with this card after the bonuses, which made it a really great deal.

Apparently, this was too good a deal for Chase to continue giving us customers, as it’s all about to change.

The company just sent out a mailing detailing the following changes (among others) to the Freedom Card rewards program:

No more 3% cash back at your most-visited stores.
No more $50 bonus if you wait to redeem your rewards.
Rewards are now just a flat 1%, with periodic bonuses through special offers.

In other words, the Chase Freedom just became almost every other basic rewards card out there. Therefore, I’ll treat it just like I treat all of the other basic rewards cards out there: I’ll ignore it.

At least this will make my life easier: I’d just been rethinking my credit card usage, and had planned on switching most of my spending to a new Charles Schwab Invest First card that gives a flat 2% cash back on everything — automatically, and on a monthly basis — and has the great bonus of not charging any fees when used overseas.

The plan was to keep buying my groceries on my Freedom Card, along with using it to pay the few bills which would earn me 3% back. I’d be using the 2% card for everything except the purchases I knew I’d get 3% for from Chase. Potentially a bit confusing, I know, but I’d be saving a bit of extra money.

Now I don’t need to do that. Chase has done me a favor: by removing all incentive to use their card, they’ve made my decision to totally switch to one of their competitors a very straightforward one.

Thank you, Chase, for chasing me away.

The Pre-Millennial “Explainer” Generation

April 15, 2009 By Adam

“Just find some high school kid.”

Do you hear that as often as I do? Somebody wants a blog, they need a Facebook page, or they’re looking for help picking out a new gadget. Almost invariably (if the conversation’s participants were born before 1970 or so), somebody will say “Just find some high school kid to do it for you.”

This isn’t bad advice, if you just need a quick solution or you want something set up that you won’t have to use or change. However, there is one important thing that you don’t get if you “Just find some high school kid.”

Perspective.

Well, you do get a perspective on setting up a blog, but it’s the perspective of someone who has never known a world without the Internet. You can get a quick-fix answer on choosing a digital camera, but your adviser may not even know that cameras once took film. What you get is the innate knowledge of a young person who is immersed in technology, but what you miss is the ability to understand why you would want to use that technology — other than purely because it exists.

Now, before you get too far into thoughts of labeling me a curmudgeon or picture me as a grumpy old man, I’m 28 years old. That may count as an old man if you are in high school, but to most people, I’m considered one of those “young tech guys.” What I’ve noticed lately, though, is that being at the high end of the “young tech guys” age spectrum has been an unexpected advantage when dealing with people who aren’t as comfortable with technology because of their age.

I’m not claiming that my few extra years has given me some knowledge or wisdom that a 24-year-old wouldn’t have. Instead, I want to argue that I have important experience that a younger person is lacking — but it’s experience that I acquired before the age of 10.

In the year 2000, Neil Howe and William Strauss published a book where they called the generation born in or after 1982 “Millennials.” Others have called people in that same demographic Digital Natives — making everyone else Digital Immigrants. These young people have always had robust information and communication technologies at their fingertips. In fact, some of them have no concept of a world without that access.

Because I was born in 1980, I’m more like the immigrant who came to their new land as a child, retaining some of the old customs and ways, but also assimilating into a new way of life. In other words, I remember what the world was like before cell phones (or call waiting), and I remember when getting five hours per month of dial-up access to AOL was exciting.

Mine is the last generation who will be able to answer the question “What was it like before the Internet?” Besides making me feel old, this puts me in an ideal position to bridge the gap between true digital natives and the generations who can feel truly uncomfortable with some of these technologies.

Lately, I’ve been working with more digital immigrants on projects of all sizes, and I’ve been surprised by something. The perspective I get from remembering the time when long-distance calls were expensive and people had to think about whether they would have use for a computer is an advantage when relating to these people. In fact, it is reassuring to them that I can understand why someone would want to know how a technology will be useful to them before they jump into it with both feet.

I know that this isn’t solely because of my age, but I do think the transition during which I grew up helps quite a bit. I can approach a technology from both sides: the skeptic and the evangelist.

Are you in my generation? Do you work with someone who is? If so, do you think that being a “Pre-Millennial” is an advantage, or am I just biased by being one of the people I’m writing about? Please share your thoughts and reactions in the comments.