Rubber Bracelets: Pop Culture or Awareness?

I recently read a short article from the October 13th issue of Time magazine titled "A Brief History of Bracelets" and it fascinated me. The article mentioned many types of bracelets including stainless steel, black metal, bronze metal and rubber silicone. Since I wear a rubber silicone bracelet myself, I figured I provide you some history on bracelets.

Memorial bracelets have been around since the Vietnam War when a student group, Voices in Vital America (VIVA) began a campaign on behalf of missing American soldiers and prisoners of war using silver bands with soldier information imprinted on them. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both wore stainless steel bracelets during the Sept 26th Presidential Debate.

Rubber bracelets originated as a punk rock anti-fashion statement when punks would put black rubber o-rings around their wrists and wear them as bracelets in the late 70's and early 80's because the rubber had practically no value compared to traditional jewelry materials. Madonna and Cindy Lauper helped with mainstream popularity in the 80's when they wore o-rings (often in many colors) in their videos and performances.

In the late 90's, the colorful o-rings (or jelly bracelets) reemerged among trendy youth and got some bad press when a rumor scared many parents decreeing that the different colors of the bracelets represented different sexual acts one was willing to perform. Later into the 90's, Rubber Band Bracelets became popular after people would take the thick rubber bands that you get wrapped around broccoli and asparagus at the grocery store and wear them as bracelets. Some companies began making and selling these types of rubber band bracelets printed with a variety of commercial messages although the trend didn't last very long.

The Rubber Band Bracelet trend did last long enough for NBA players to start sporting them and Nike with their keen eye on basketball fashion improved the trend by using the silicone rubber they previously used on sports watch bands and created the Nike Baller ID Band Bracelets. These bracelets came in specific team colors and had sports messages embossed or imprinted into the rubber which many NBA players wore on and off the court.

The first consciousness wristband was shaped by the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 2004 which was essentially a Baller ID Band in yellow and imprinted with "LiveStrong", the motto of Lance Armstrong's foundation for cancer research. The bracelets were sold for $1 each to raise money for cancer research.

Rubber silicone bracelets are even more popular today as many other charities, organizations, schools and accessories producers create them in a wide array of colors and with all kinds of messages, some just for fun. Below are some of the more popular representations:

• Red: Usually for HIV AIDS, Diabetes and Heart Disease awareness and prevention.


• Orange: Signify support for Multiple Sclerosis, American Cancer Society, Asperger's Syndrome and The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).


• Yellow: Lance Armstrong's support for general Cancer research and support for our troops.


• Green: Ecology support, Leukemia, Muscular Dystropy and Kidney Disease awareness in addition to Darfur awareness.


• Blue: Autism, Crohn's disease, Fighting Childhood Bullying in the UK, Violence and Child Abuse prevention and Cystic Fibrosis.


• Purple: Alheimer's, Lupus and Domestic Violence awareness.


• White: Anti-poverty and to support Christian themes.
  
• Black: Melanoma research and Anti-Racism messages in UK (Black and White together).


• Pink: Breast Cancer research.


• Other: Red, White and Blue for American Pride, Rainbow for Gay Pride, Camouflage for troop support and multicolored for major NBA and MLB teams.
  

Now that you see how popular these rubber silicone bracelets are, you can decide for yourself if you'd like to jump on the bandwagon whether for fun or to show support. My challenge to you is to guess which band I personally wear on an everyday basis.

Ciao,
Vinnie

Anne Caputo of Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group is 2009 President-Elect of SLA

Alexandria, Virginia, October 2, 2008- The Special Libraries Association (SLA) announced the results of its Board of Directors election today. Anne Caputo, CTS Executive Director of Learning & Information Professional Programs, was named President-Elect of the 12,000 member global association of researchers and information professionals. When her term begins in January 2009, Anne will participate in the development of strategy and outreach for this key professional association which represents researchers and other information professionals within enterprise settings around the world. Members of SLA form a core group of purchasers and influencers for key CTS products such as Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Insight and taxonomy solutions.

Anne said, “I am honored to be elected to this position by my professional colleagues. This is a wonderful testament to the respect Dow Jones holds in this important market and to the opportunity for me to work with my global colleagues on issues important to research and information functions within organizations.”

All of her colleagues at Dow Jones congratulate Anne on this significant recognition of her dedication and support of SLA and the information professional community.

Teenagers - Vagrants or Misunderstood?

Believe it or not this coming weekend is the last weekend before Labor Day here in the US which means the teenagers will be heading back to school and not a moment too soon. Even though some of you are in different regions, you may experience the same thing with the summer months ending and school beginning.

You see, I live in a pretty nice neighborhood down here in South Jersey that is about 12 years old. Our subdivision connects to a couple other ones and it seems as if the young teenagers were quite bored this summer as they caused havoc to some of the neighbors. It's pretty much the teenage vandalism sort of things (knocking over mailboxes, stealing bikes and lawn furniture, etc.) but I guess when it's happening to you it's not minor. To top it off, our township has a 10:00pm curvew for minors under the age of 18 but it's not enforced that strongly. To fuel the fire, there's this area behind one of the other subdivisions that they call "The Pit" which consists of dirt mounds where people ride their 4-wheel quads and dirtbikes. But at night, it becomes a hangout for the teenagers and the cause of many phone calls to the police authorities. So much, that our community has now formed a neighborhood watch program to keep an eye out for anything that is peculiar. My partner and I do patrols after 10pm each night while we're walking our dogs so it's a perfect opportunity to be the eyes and ears for the police. In the 3 weeks since we started patrolling the neighborhoods, we personally have only had to telephone the police once when it was well past 10:00pm on a weeknight. This was because we came across a group of about 6 - 8 teenagers making lots of loud noise and tossing glass bottles across one of our streets in our neighborhood. So the police were called and that was the end of that.

By no means am I an advocate of vandalism, but I have to be honest and say that if I had had a place like "The Pit" to hang out in when I was a teenager, I would have taken advantage of it also. The difference is that I would have respected my elders as well as their property and would never have caused damage or made too much noise. So in a way I feel sorry for the teenagers who don't seem to have anything to do to keep them busy. Heck, with the extremely high property taxes that we pay to live here, I think our township should offer activities that could be both eductational and stimulating to keep the teenagers occupied and off of the streets at night. So...are the teenagers true vagrants or are they sadly misunderstood?

I'm sure everyone has their own opinion and perhaps it depends on the degree of vandalizm that they cause. In any case, if they ever start to vandalize MY property I'll lump them into the vagrant category and they'll become my public enemy #1.

Ciao,

VINNIE

A Day Trip Steeped in History and Danger!

A few weeks ago we took in a French exchange student named David, who incidentally is a wonderful temporary addition to the family. While he has gone on a few day trips with the other students and visited New York, he did not get to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and as a result we planned a day trip to remedy the situation. The fortune tellers at Weatherscan predicted a 60% chance of severe thunderstorms, but as they are far from accurate the vast majority of the time I thought we could chance it as this was our last opportunity to take a day-long excursion. It's a good thing I'm not a gambling man, but I'll come back to that in a bit...

We made a late start and navigated our way to Liberty State Park, where we would take the ferry to the appropriate ports of call. With a minimum of ceremony we arrived and purchased our tickets and wandered around killing time until the next ferry was due to dock, and it was only when we attempted to get in line to board that a ranger told us we needed to go through security before queuing up. We trooped along back to the building and got into a fairly short line that led to an airport-style security checkpoint. I noticed the various signage that warned about the various items on the restricted list and thought momentarily of the small Swiss Army knife I have on my key ring, but being the optimist I dismissed my insignificant single-bladed friend to the army of Europe's most noteworthy neutral country as a trinket barely worth notice.

Arriving at the metal detector and x-ray machine, I put my various items into the plastic bin and proceeded through the arch, setting off the alarm when my Swatch triggered the alert. Second time through was the charm and I emerged on the other side of the checkpoint unscathed. I should add that the older gentleman in the adjacent line had his oversized plaid shorts fall to his ankles after he relinquished his belt, which was pretty entertaining for the rest of us. I should also add that the first security officer commented on my sideburns and tattoos and asked if I was a fan of Danzig before giving me his unflattering opinion of MTV and the state of the music industry. His parting words to me advised me to look up the two-headed girl on YouTube... It was a surreal moment, but as he was polite and talkative I figured it never hurt to exchange pleasantries with a member of the security staff. You never know when it will come in handy...

So now I am waiting to collect my watch, wallet, belt, sunglasses, keys, gum, camera and phone from the bin when a second security officer holds up my overburdened key ring and points to the small knife. I instantly realized that he was not the friendly type I'd encountered moments earlier, and instead was a belligerent fellow with power issues. He informed me that my knife was deemed a weapon and I had two choices facing me: I could return my keys to the car and return sans knife, or I could leave the trinket with him. He then cautioned that if I left it with him, it would be gone forever as they don't hold these items for returning passengers. I looked at him nonplussed for a moment as my gears slowly turned and I evalutated my options.

At this point a previous security checkpoint survivor returned to ask about his cell phone, which he believed was not retrieved from one of the bins. The reaction of the security officer was so venomous and nasty I downgraded my opinion of him further. I opted to return to the car and leave the offending object safely in the center console, and as the reincarnated Nazi prison guard roughly pushed aside a couple of six-year-old children and ushered me through a door I tried to be philosophical about the whole thing and let him off with a single muttered obscenity directed at his back as the door closed. The next hour saw me return to the parking lot some two-hundred meters distant, drop off my key ring (I kept only the single key for the car), return to the security line where I stood for 20 minutes trying to attract the attention of an employee so that I did not have to wait in the queue (which had quintupled in size in my absence) and eventually make it past the baleful glare of the security officer who had been instrumental in my tribulations. We made it onto a departing ferry and were only an hour behind schedule.

In my mind Ellis Island was pretty much the same as it was 15 years ago, though they may have changed much and my memory compensated for my poor recall by making it seem that way. David opted for a French language audio tour, and Alek for an English one. We started in the middle of the main floor and slowly wound our way through the various rooms and exhibits. Ellis Island is a fairly interesting place, and they do a great job of providing you with oodles of historical background in the form of images, quotes and a variety of detritus collected over the years of operation. While Alek wanted to listen to each section completely and constantly held up his finger in a "Just a second" gesture, David wanted to move quickly from one room to the next. The result was one of us shadowing one charge while the other followed the second. We eventually made it to the end of the tour and rendezvoused back at the main area before heading out to catch the Liberty Island Ferry. Let me add that for the immigrants coming to the US back in the days of Ellis Island's busiest years conditions elsewhere must have been appalling if the experiences awaiting them here were seen as a momentary dislocation with some short term discomfort. But back to the story at hand.

Outside the main building we found the line for the Liberty Island Ferry and managed to secure a position maybe 30 meters from the dock where we watched the antics of several children who ignored their parents and ran about like free-range chickens. At this point I happened to look over to the south of the New York skyline and noticed that the sky was looking a bit dark and stormy. In truth, the sky was a turbulent mass of battleship-gray clouds slowly advancing in our direction. Occasional flickers of lightning licked the skies and the winds began to pick up dramatically. It seemed that the race was on and it would be a close shave whether or not our ferry would arrive in time to protect us from the coming storm. Each boat that passed bay was greeted with stares of longing as the crowded masses looked hopefully across the growing swells. It was like some strange apocalyptic film where the final transport was picking up the remains of the human race before the final storms arrived to ravage the Earth's surface. Nervous glances and furtive attempts to move forward in the line sparked some mild shoving matches and if it were not for the advancing wall of terror, there would probably have been an outbreak of violence somewhere in the mob. The ferry rounded the bend and we all surged forward until we eventually made our way onto the lower deck of the tossing vessel. We'd managed to beat the rain and the lashing wind by moments and had only suffered some wind-tangled hair and a few drops of precipitation on our clothes. We watched the skies grow darker and the lightning activity increase as we made our way to Liberty Island.







By the time we arrived at our destination, the waves were enormous, the rain was splashing down, the lightning was putting on an incredible display and the winds were reaching gale-force intensity. Throughout the final leg of the trip to see Lady Liberty we could see the mighty statue staring balefully forth through the stormy skies, and it was not a very heartwarming look... She looked menacing and annoyed as we drifted under her gaze, and I had an eerie thought that she would at that moment decide that she'd had enough and turn into an angry Talos-like figure of wrath and retribution. Instead she just looked grimly on as the lightning illuminated her pale verdigris complexion.

The docks, upon our arrival, were overburdened with people fleeing the storm. Masses of churning bodies huddled under the huge covered loading bay, their $10 green rain ponchos clinging like a second skin. After disembarking and walking past hundreds of fleeing refugees, their eyes shadowed with desperation and fear, we slipped and slid towards the towering behemoth only to find out that you needed to purchase your tickets a week in advance... We stood for a brief moment in the tented concession stand/gift shop as David made a purchase, and then it was off to the docks for the ferry ride back to Liberty State Park.

We made it to the ferry just as it was preparing to leave, but it was so crowded we were forced to wait for the next one. It was actually somewhat exhilarating to watch the waves crashing against the walls as we observed the passengers on the departing ferry watching us. Within a few minutes I understood why they looked at us in a manner that said "You're having fun now... wait till the ferry leaves and the protection of the boat no longer shields you from nature's wrath."

Sure enough, the ferry pulled away from the dock and the gale-force winds tore through the roofed boarding dock with the ferocity of a dozen Hollywood wind machines. The spray from the ocean, mingles with the rain pelting down from the heavens swept across the miserable crowd drenching anyone unfortunate to be standing in the front lines. Those cowering behind their human shields scrunched lower in an effort to maintain a stitch or two of dry clothes for the ferry ride back. The minutes ticked by as the winds and water continued to harass us while we looked into the distance for the arrival of our ferry. You tend to lose track of time when you are single mindedly focussed on watching for any signs of rescue. The boat rounded the bend and eventually we made it aboard, wet and windblown but otherwise in good shape.

Our return trip was fairly uneventful as we navigated our way out of the storm to arrive at Liberty State Park bedraggled and looking like we'd just escaped certain doom. Anything else I add at this point would be anticlimactic as the walk to the car consisted of a 200 meter jog punctuated by yelps of pain when a small rock from the gravel driveway managed to attempt to stow away in our Crocs or sandals. The day was an adventure to say the least. We were not only treated to some amazing history about a pivotal point in our nation's history, we also stared death in the face and laughed as the thunder crashed and the poison arrows fell from the sky and the pillars of heaven shook.

I hope you enjoyed my dramatic and lengthy tale...  I should look for some side work with the Travel Channel.

Thanks and Regards,

Thomas

How was YOUR time in Seattle?

I actually have about 400 images that I took, though most of them are from the city and surrounding environments as I used every millisecond of my time not in the convention center doing something fun or interesting...

  

 
  

 

Seattle was a blast and a great time was had by one and all.  Our Dow Jones Tech Zones went off with minimal typical technical issues (little browser tweaks and adjustments for the most part), and were well received.  From Taxonomy and Sharepoint to eLearning and Social Media in the Enterprise, we delivered our lectures to sold out crowds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  By the way, if you did not get a chance to attend the very popular "Taxonomy and Sharepoint" Tech Zone during SLA, sign up for our Sept. 11th webinar today!

 

I'll set up a slideshow of all my SLA images soon, but in the meantime feel free to send us YOUR images from the Seattle conference and we'll put together a big image collection.  If you haven't read Vin's account of his excursion to Mount Ranier, please take the time to...  It is a hoot!

I'll end this post with a few images from our customer event at the Space Needle.  I already can't wait for 2009 and Washington DC!

  

Thanks and Regards,

Thomas

STRANDED (Not Sleepless) IN SEATTLE

Hello Everyone. I just returned from Seattle, WA while attending and exhibiting in the Dow Jones booth during the 2008 SLA Annual Conference. All I'll say is that the conference was great and I'll let one of my colleagues blog about that. I'm here to share a personal experience I had in Seattle that was unrelated to the actual conference.

After a busy week of exhibiting at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle, I extended my trip so that I could spend a few extra days touring the city and visiting other cool places, mainly Mount Rainier National Park. Because we had such beautiful weather during my stay with clear skies, seeing Mount Rainier from my hotel room totally peaked my curiousity. So the only thing to do was to hop on an excursion made possible by Grayline of Seattle to see this enourmous mountain with breathtaking views. Mount Rainier is an active Cascade volcano encased in 35 square miles of snow and glacial ice. The 14,410’ mountain is surrounded by lush old growth forests, spectacular subalpine meadows and a National Historic Landmark District. Mount Rainer is the 17th highest mountain peak in the United States and the 31st highest mountain peak in all of North America.

Back to my personal experience. My companion and I boarded the tour bus at approximately 8:00am EST outside of the Sheraton Seattle along with 18 other tourists for a 10 hour excursion to see Mount Rainier. The driver was very outgoing and joked with me inside of the hotel informing me that I would be the one driving the bus and finding the mountain. Our driver fed our minds with lots of Seattle history during the 2+ hour ride to the base camp just outside of the Nisqually entrance. Once at the base camp, we grabbed lunch because we were told this would be our only opportunity to get food. While here we also had the opportunity to watch a powerpoint slideshow featuring photos of enthusiastic climbers who conquered the mighty mountain. After about an hour at this rest stop, all 20 of us boarded the bus (the driver counted us to make sure nobody was left behind) and embarked on our journey to the Nisqually entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.

The bus drove through the entrance and beauty reared her face immediatley as we were surrounded by some of the tallest trees I had ever seen that were older then America's freedom. A few miles after entering the park, our driver pulled over informing us that we would see one of the oldest and widest trees in the national park measuring in at 24 feet around. Everyone departed from bus to take photos of this gigantic tree that was only about 50 feet from the roadway. My companion and I along with another couple who coincidentally had also attended the 2008 SLA Annual Convention, walked maybe another 25 feet to another tree that appeared even larger and wider than the one pointed out to us by our driver. The four of us began taking photos of the newly discovered tree when all of a sudden we heard the bus engine start. We proceeded back down the path towards the road and heard the roar of the engine as the bus pulled away in our sights. STRANDED IN SEATTLE!

The look on our faces was that of shock because we couldn't believe the driver would pull off without us. Our first thoughts were that he would pull over immediately when he did his tourist count and would wait for us up the road. We proceeded to walk up the windy road while several autos, motorcycles, trucks and trailers passed us by. The sun was out and the weather a bit warm and after walking for about 30 minutes, panic struck when we realized the bus driver did not realize we were missing. How could he not know this if he did his tourist count as he previously did at the base camp?

We attempted to use our cell phones to call 911 but we had no cell phone reception at all. All four of us strandees (backpacks, water, snacks, cameras, iPods, etc. were left behind on the bus) proceeded to flag down every passing vehicle with no luck until finally one family from Ocean City, NJ pulled over. We explained our circumstance to them and they said they would drive up the mountain to the Paradise meadow which was the intended destination mentioned by the bus driver and let him know that we were missing. Our walking continued for about another 40 minutes when we were approached by a Forest Ranger who pulled aside us letting us know that they were contacted by a concerned tourist who told them 4 people were stranded by their bus driver. She informed us that the bus driver had been radioed and informed that we were missing and that he was on his way back down the mountain to get us.

After waiting on the side of the road for another 20 minutes, the bus approached with the 16 remaining passengers sitting in their air conditioned seats. The driver pulled over and opened the door for us to board. There was silence as I was the first to step onto the bus. I jokingly said SURPRISE and the bus driver immediately responded by saying, "I just said to the passengers that if you had mean looks on your faces, I was going to drive right by you." Did he just say what I thought he said? I responded to him, "Is that the way to treat your customers who you neglectfully stranded down the road?" He closed the door and did not comment.

At this point, the tour continued as the driver took us to several other pullover spots so we could take in the beauty of Mount Rainier. Each time the driver stopped, he let us know how much time we had at the particular location and did a headcount before the bus pulled off. When we reached the Paradise meadow and observation point, we again disembarked from the bus to take photos and enjoy the surroundings. We departed Paradise meadown by way of the backside of the mountain until we reached the bottom where we made one last stop at a souveneir shop. My companion and I purchased a couple of t-shirts and hats and the owner of the store asked us if we knew the people who were left on the side of the road. I told her "we" were indeed the people and that it was not a pleasant experience. She actually apologized and said it was the first time she had ever heard of an incident such as this happening and hoped we were ok. Physically we were fine but being stranded on the side of a volcanic glacier is no fun at all.

Not once did the bus driver apologize or offer empathy to us for being left behind. As a matter of fact, we heard him making light of the situation while joking with the other tourists. Proper protocol was not consistently followed at the area where we were abandoned and 4 out-of-towners who were looking for a relaxing bus tour, left Seattle with a tainted experience. Upon returning home to New Jersey, I contacted Grayline management who were very apologetic and assured me that they would look into the incident.

Ciao,

Vinnie

See you in Seattle

OMG! It's SLA at the end of the week. I booked my flight ages ago, but more than that...? Well, in truth, as a conference partner (vendor) we have been eating, sleeping, dreaming SLA Seattle for some months and on a personal level I've done the online conference planner thing, every event is entered into my blackberry calendar (I am a librarian after all) with a 15 minute default reminder (on mute, of course) to make sure I'm supposed to be where I need to be at the right time ...in theory at least.

But before I depart the UK I need to tell you about the SLA Europe Information Professional Award winner for 2008. He is Dennie Heye, Information Specialist, Shell International based in The Netherlands. You can see him receive his award and meet him at the International Reception on Monday 16th June from 6.00pm - 7.30pm at the Sheraton Hotel, Cirrus Ballroom. Alternatively you can come to his session on Using the Power of Visualisation Techniques and Technologies on Wednesday 18th June at 8.00am - 9.30am in the Convention Centre 601.

Those of you who can't make it to the conference should definitely read Dennie's blog http://olfh.blogspot.com/ It is required reading and therapy for every infopro....and their Friends!

So Seattle, is almost upon us. Of course all of us from Dow Jones will out in force so please come and say hello - Booth 401 - and yes, the hand writing experts are back by popular demand.

Now I must think about packing. At SLA Seattle 1998 the weather was just gorgeous. I'm packing my sunglasses....

See you there
Gill and the Dow Jones team

A Podcaster: The New Me

I'm one of those individuals that really has to force myself to try new things, specifically new technologies. The reason could be age related. I still have memories of typewriters, carbon paper and blue fingers. However, I know people in my age group that embrace new technologies and eagerly await the release of the latest tools into the marketplace.

I've decided my problem is that I am in a rut and need to climb out of it. How can I do this? By reaching outside the boundaries I've boxed myself into. So, I'm learning how to create a Podcast. I bought a "Quamut: how to do it" guide in the bookstore. They had several guides on different topics, including Podcasting. The guide contains step by step instructions on creating an audio podcast.

The term "podcasting" is a combination of the words iPod and broadcasting. It refers primarily to the distribution of audio content over the internet. However, video podcasting is becoming more popular.

Here's a general overview of how podcasting works.

1. A podcaster creates, plans, edits, records and publishes the podcast. Most podcasts are published as MP3 files, because they use less memory than other audio files. This make it easier to upload and download the file.

2. The podcast is published to the internet. It is uploaded to a website and is made available through an RSS feed.

3. People subscribe to the podcast using special RSS reader software programs, "podcatchers or "podcast aggregators." The RSS reader software will download the podcast to the subscribers computer.

4. Once the podcast is downloaded, you can listen to it on your computer or on a digital music player, like an iPod.

Sounds easy, right? Well I'm about to find out. My hands are on the edges of the rut and I'm pulling myself up . Let's see if I can actually pull myself out. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Lorraine

The Newbie Podcaster

A Short Guide to Successful Training Concepts

When it comes to training, teaching, educating or enlightening people, there are some very simple concepts that can make or break a session or lecture.  Actually, there are only two major things to contend with and a few minor issues you should be aware of.  First though, think about all of those mind-numbing experiences that made you hate attending some training initiative and identify exactly what it was that made them so ghastly and then I'll attempt to provide some sound advice...

Content Knowledge - There have been a few times that I recall looking forward to learning something new or interesting that would benefit me or my work flow in some way only to find out that the instructor was a little shaky when it came to understanding the content.  The delivery was chock-full of backtracking and apologies and in some cases was so distracting that you couldn't even feel bad for the person... instead you felt cheated of an hour taken from your life that you would never reclaim.  We are all busy boys and girls and having someone waste your time attempting to explain something they have a very tenuous grasp of can be infuriating.

My tip to those of you thrown to the wolves is to take the time to learn the most important aspects, even if it means staying up all night when you have short notice.  Confidence is great to have, but unwarranted confidence can sometimes backfire.  If you are not comfortable talking about a topic because of unfamiliarity, your best bet is to not talk about it.  Don't attempt to get up in front of the masses, or even a couple of people to explain something if you are not 100% prepared to act confident and then back it up with some good strong examples and enough understanding to make you feel comfortable.

Style - Content knowledge is absolutely important, but it isn't everything.  Just like people in film and the theater you need to know your lines, and how to deliver them.  Just because someone has one of those covered, does not mean they will be successful.  Quite the contrary.  How many times have you been in a lecture or session and had to remind yourself that you were not in some sort of purgatory-like limbo?  The person leading the session is undeniably knowledgeable, but the Ben Stein monotone, or constant long pauses for thoughtful consideration make the experience an exercise in sleep deprivation.  You want to close your eyes and succumb to the lethargy emanating from the speaker, but you know that you need to stay awake.  You almost feel robbed of slumber when the speaker finishes and you didn't even net a good 15 minute nap out of it. 

It takes a good deal of acting ability to be a superior trainer or teacher.  The showmanship of a session is just as important as understanding the topic and knowing your audience is part of that.  Organization of your content also falls under style as you need to have a fairly solid set of objectives, yet the flexibility to go off topic occasionally to keep it light, fresh and entertaining.  Even the most stultifying topics can be made entertaining to some degree if you have a few good analogies to tie the boring to something more understandable.  I used to have a running catalogue of thousands of analogies that expanded constantly, and I would use them to make a stronger connection with my students.  These analogies invariably were delivered with input from the audience, even if I deliberately baited them into talking by conveniently forgetting a simple term so that someone could provide it and I could say "Exactly!" and they then felt like they were playing a greater roll in the experience.  I don't mean to make it seem more calculated than it is, but it is these little tricks that help to engage your audience.

The Minor Issues - There are plenty of little obstacles and hazards waiting to sabotage a lesson, lecture or session and we'll look at those the next time I blog.  Right now I have to get back to preparing for my SLA Tech Zone for Seattle.  Feel free to ask questions or give a scenario where my advice might be beneficial and I'll be happy to do what I can to lend a hand.  :)

Regards,

Thomas

CONVERGE \ CONNECT \ COMMUNICATE

Just last week I attended the 22nd annual AIIP (Association of Independent Information Professionals) conference in Pittsburgh, PA at the beautiful Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel as a vendor representing Dow Jones & Company. This gathering of roughly 122 professional researchers all had the opportunity to Converge, Connect and Communicate with each other from April 30 – May 4, 2008. Although a relatively small group when it comes to conference numbers, AIIP members are a lively bunch who love to network and consume information. The organizers of the conference promised a busy schedule packed with pre-conference workshops, vendor training, general sessions facilitated by wonderful speakers, roundtable discussions and numerous networking opportunities.

INTIMATE is the word I would use to describe the venue setting, and PASSIONATE is the word I would use to describe most of the attendees. One of my roles during this conference was to provide vendor training for our Dow Jones Factiva product. Dow Jones Factiva is an award-winning service with powerful tools to monitor your competitors, customers, and industry, while also conducting in-depth research, gathering company financial data, and more. I delivered two training sessions to the attendees:

1) Factiva.com Overview: The Best Choice for Global Business Information
2) Factiva Search 2.0: Build Competitive Advantage with a Simple Search

During my first session, I had about 15 attendees who were quite engaged and asked many questions, especially when it came to talking about the Discovery Pane within our Factiva Search 2.0 component of Factiva.com. This great feature further analyzes your search results providing you with visual cues and insight. When I delivered my second session which focused primarily on the Factiva Search 2.0 component, the majority of the attendees stayed from the first session with new faces also in attendance. Here is where I truly learned how much these people love to consume knowledge and information.

Over the next couple days, my colleague and I sat at our exhibit table and mingled with attendees and other vendors while continuing to demonstrate the many features of our Dow Jones Factiva product to everyone who stopped by. I can’t remember many moments when I wasn’t engaged in conversation with someone who wanted to know if they could find specific information from our award winning product. The 3rd day of the conference, there was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get to know each other when they announced that we all had to walk up to a microphone and provide a 30 second introduction of ourselves. During this time, AIIP presented several awards to their members which included:

*Myra T. Grenier Award
*Sue Rugge Memorial Award
*Roger Summit Conference Sponsorship
*AIIP President’s Award
*Connections Writer’s Award

As I said earlier, AIIP members are an intimate group who are passionate about what they do and who they meet, so this really made many of the first time attendees (both members and vendors) feel welcomed.

I departed the conference early Saturday morning for my flight back into the Philadelphia area. However, another networking opportunity was planned for that evening as the AIIP folks were having a gala banquet aboard a historical Riverboat that would cruise them along all 3 Pittsburgh rivers. I left the conference and once I was home pondered those three C’s: CONVERGE, CONNECT and COMMUNICATE. If I learned to embrace these 3 words in all of my endeavors as the AIIP attendees did back in Pittsburgh, could I somehow portray that same passion no matter what the circumstance?

Ciao,
Vinnie

Corporate $ocial Responsibility – A Deal Maker or a Deal Breaker?

Let’s continue the “green” theme…

At a recent customer meeting, I was expecting to hear the standard commentary about the importance of high quality customer service, along with similar topics like timely customer communications, as being crucial elements in vendor selection. While these topics were discussed, an unexpected criterion found its way into the decision making process, namely Corporate Social Responsibility.

The media campaigns of Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio were instrumental in sounding the alarm and delivering to our living rooms the impact of commercialism on our fragile natural resources. In the B2C marketplace, this had a direct impact on how individual consumers exercise their purchasing power. This has translated into a blitz of ad campaigns from a variety of companies to emphasize their initiatives for reducing their carbon footprint.

It appears that this trend is also moving into the B2B marketplace. As evidence of this trend, during the same customer meeting mentioned earlier, one attendee expressed the fact that her company, as a standard part of their purchasing practice, now requires a prospective vendor to complete a form that describes the company’s stance on Corporate Social Responsibility.

To close the deal then, organizations need to have more than the best product, service or communication platform. The company that closes the deal will also have a strategy to deliver products in a way that demonstrates a goal toward protecting the environment and slowing climate change.

I am fortunate to be employed by an organization that recognizes the importance of this issue. For example, the Dow Jones Indexes contributes to the calculation of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, which tracks the financial performance of companies based on economic, environmental, and social criteria. It is just one source to help organizations monitor companies that are actively reducing their carbon footprint. Further, our parent company, News Corp, is passionate about corporate social responsibility and has articulated a clear goal of “0 carbon emission by 2010” . That sounds like a “Deal Maker” to me.

Until next time…

Nikki

Going Green for SLA

Late last year, SLA (the Special Libraries Association), began a going green initiative by asking all their exhibitors at their annual conference in June to think about ways to reduce or even eliminate their carbon footprint. This is a big challenge for large exhibitors like Dow Jones, who occupy 40' x 40' exhibit spaces with attendant superstructures, traditional construction techniques and massive amounts of paper handouts and interesting but eco-unfriendly give-aways.

As we began meeting with our exhibit design consultants, Atlantic Skyline, we also learned that going green does not come without considerable cost. Eco-friendly fabrics and dyes are more costly than conventional ones. Recycled carpets made from plastic bottles are more expensive than conventional carpets and reducing the amount of hard structures in a booth design requires skill and knowledge.

As we look forward to the June 15-18, 2008 SLA Annual Conference in Seattle (where better to practice going green than in the Emerald City) we have made some very good first steps. Here's what you can look forward to seeing - or not seeing - as the case may be:

• Use of Eco-Systems Dyesub Pillowcase fabric banners which use fabric and dyes much friendlier to the environment than traditional dye processes. Not only are they better for initial fabrication, but also better when they are ultimately recycled.
• Use of recycled rental carpet made from plastic bottles and re-used by others when we are finished
• We are recycling 95% of the 2008 booth construction for reuse in our 2009 exhibit in Washington, DC
• We are using local contractors when possible to reduce shipping impact, this includes local rental of all LCD panels and in-booth computers
• Eliminating about 90% of all printed booth collateral in favor of use of electronic print-on-demand documents
• Instead of physical giveaways such as pens, mugs, stress balls or other items we are featuring handwriting analysis as the booth ‘give-away’ and we are using recycled paper for the handwriting analyists to use
  

None of this is rocket science, and this is only the beginning effort, but we all need to start somewhere in thinking about how to reduce the impact of our global carbon footprint. We look forward to seeing you at Booth 401 in Seattle and to showing off our green efforts.

So long for now,

Anne

A History of Newsletters

Wikipedia’s definition of a Newsletter states: A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Webster’s Dictionary states a Newsletter to be: A printed report usually issued at regular intervals, giving news about or information of interest to a particular group.

Traditional newsletters were printed on paper in a hard copy format; however that is not the norm in most cases today with the majority being delivered via e-mail (eNewsletters or electronic newsletters). Research shows that the first newsletter appeared in 1538, long before newspapers became the standard medium for news stories. One of the first known newsletters was distributed in England in 1631 featuring happenings of locals overseas. In 1704, the Boston News-letter made its appearance in the US and eventually became a newspaper. Many other newsletters flourished in the 1700’s and also followed suit by becoming newspapers.

By the early 1900’s, newsletters made a comeback mainly because businesses and industries needed specialized information. In 1904 Babson’s Report, an investment advisory newsletter, surfaced and was followed by the Kiplinger Letter in 1923. The Kiplinger Letter continues to be the most widely-read business forecasting periodical in the world.

A few decades later in 1930, corporate newsletters emerged rapidly. To be specific, Telecommunications Reports (a telecommunications industry newsletter) took the lead in 1934 and was followed by a series of business newsletters. Several types of newsletters ranging from farming to fashion also became commonplace.

Jump ahead to mid-1980 with the advent of personal computers which altered the concept of the rapidly changing workplace. The term “e-mail” becomes part of our regular vocabulary and it is during this time that Desktop Publishing and the use of PC’s to produce print materials became common place buzzwords. Newsletters were welcomed with open arms because desktop publishing software allowed them to be created with ease.

In the 21st century, newsletters appeared in another medium – online or web versions. These are known today as electronic newsletters (eNewsletters) which are usually distributed by email to people who voluntarily subscribed to them online. Initially these types of newsletters contained hyperlinks to webpages so that website operators could draw surfers to their websites. This would increase hits and pageviews allowing website operators to get revenue from banner ads put up by advertisers. Over time, it was clear that web surfers were more interested in getting information from their e-mail accounts than from websites.

Hence today, eNewsletters are now full-fledged, content-rich publications. Advertisers are also more willing to sponsor such newsletters as they believe their ads are better targeted and more effective than banner ads. All types of newsletters fall into one of these broad categories whether they are print or electronic:

• Promotional Newsletters: Frequently used by businesses to promote a product or service (I receive several of these each day). Also known as marketing newsletters, they are typically sent to current or prospective customers free of charge. Promotional newsletters also strive to turn prospects into customers and customers into repeat customers.


• Relationship Newsletters: These focus on the shared interests of the target audience (club newsletters, employee newsletters, church newsletters, alumni newsletters, etc.). Typically distributed at no charge, some organizations may send newsletters only to paid members. Our Dow Jones InfoPro Alliance Bulletin monthly newsletter is a great example of a relationship newsletter.


• Expert Newsletters: Usually subscription-based, these normally focus on a specific topic and the recipient is someone who has specifically requested the information in the newsletter and is willing to pay for the information.

As you can see, Newsletters have been around for a long time and have truly evolved into an important mainstream communications tool that can be created quite easily using inexpensive software programs. As a matter of fact, our Dow Jones Factiva product has a built-in Newsletter Builder feature that is simple to use and is offered at no additional cost to our customers. So the next time you need a way to keep in touch with customers, develop relationships with people who have similar interests as you or provide a group of people with proprietary information, consider starting a newsletter.

Ciao,
VINNIE

Professional Pride - It Isn't Dead Yet

Anyone you talk to can tell you tales of a coworker's lack of effort and how it impacts their own efforts.  It seems that it is common, or even expected to hear stories about someone not pulling their weight and contributing to the productivity of a team or even a company.  For every example someone can give about the individual who went above and beyond to get something done right, there are dozens of examples where someone's lack of effort contributes to making progress nearly impossible.  Why are there so many people allowed to contribute detrimentally to the efforts of a team, department, division or company?  Why do we tolerate this in any environment?  For the longest time I was a firm believer in the Objectivist Philosophy, until I realized that the nature of my fellow workers made implementation impossible.  As a result, I modified my thinking so that I would do my very best and expect little from others and this has worked out depressingly well.  What goes into cultivating a sense of professional pride?  I have three basic ideas that may help, though you should keep in mind that I am referring primarily to the corporate or business world:

1. Enjoy the work you do (or find work you enjoy).  Easier said than done, you say?  It all depends on your situation I suppose.  If you are employed doing something you don't like but you need the money or the benefits, you need to evaluate what matters most to you.  You spend most of your waking hours working, so you should seriously consider the sum of your life after taking into account how much time will be tallied up in the cosmic balance sheet under "Time spent being miserable doing something I detest."  Is there something productive that you'd like to do, or want to do but don't know how to go about it?  I recommend taking the time to investigate alternatives so that you don't end up looking back and see thirty or more years of wasted time you'll never get back.
2. Look at each job or task as representing you.  This is something I can never understand about some people.  If you do a job, even one that is repetitious or tedious, you should consider it an extension of you.  Even if you don't believe in karma or a "reaping future benefits for my potentially unrecognized efforts" sort of philosophy, it still seems like a crime to look at a task as just a task.  If the job requires little actual thought, then don't put in a lot of thought.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't treat the job as something unattached to you.  Do the job well for the sake of doing it well and you will be able to go through the rest of your life knowing that you did what you were supposed to do so efficiently and well that your name is synonymous with great work and a good work ethic.  It is great praise to have a boss or peer refer to you as a great worker regardless of what you do.  My tasks and jobs represent me, so when someone brings up one of these accomplishments they will link me irrevocably with good work.  "Oh, Tom?  Great worker!"  Who knew that I'd adopt such a philosophy?  My former classmates from my high school days would suffer apoplectic seizures if they heard such crazy talk from me.
3. If at all possible, go above and beyond expectations.  Again, some jobs have very little scope for this, but as I work in a corporate environment I am exposed to a large number of comments like "That isn't my job" or "It isn't in my job description" or "I don't get paid to do that."  There are plenty of things in life we don't get paid for that we still do, but when it comes to work it seems like a stupid, short-sighted and lazy approach to a career.  Movies about slacker employees having all the fun and getting the chicks is a great Hollywood formula, but after a few cubicle mishaps and seeing the snarky manager spluttering in indignation it all becomes a bit contrived and as rooted in fantasy as Lord of the Rings.  Keep in mind that I am not advocating putting your career and such above family and your real priorities, but while you are on the clock why not try to get something done ahead of schedule?  The tired old argument of "Then they'll expect me to always get it done ahead of schedule" is just rot.  In the end, you'll be seen as a responsible contributor and if you start feeling like you are being taken advantage of or that you are going to start falling behind, explain the situation and odds are the powers that be will cut you a break.  A good employer will see that you are worth more if you are kept reasonably happy and treated with some respect.

Now, I am speaking from personal experience and have only adopted this work ethic within the last 10 years, but I feel very strongly about it.  My director allows me the flexibility to expand on my projects or add new elements that exceed the scope if I see it as adding a benefit.  My manager gives me a great deal of scope for developing my skills and pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve.  I look at each project as a challenge and I view each new task as another chance to make a difference in my little bit of real estate in the cosmos.  When I complete something, I know people will not be disappointed in what they get from me.  I take an immense pride in my work.

Why don't more people have this elusive trait?  It is probably due to a combination of innate laziness coupled with  administrative disconnect with workers.  Now, does the fact that I have this trait make me better than others?  It sure as hell makes me a better worker than many others.  Is it possible to cultivate this sense of professional pride in employees in a department, division or company?  Maybe we should investigate this topic further...

Stay tuned for some great pre-SLA 2008 posts as the clock is ticking towards June and Seattle.  I can't wait to see you all there!

Thanks and Regards,

Thomas

The Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Teaching

When encountering former students from my classes in ‘library school’, I often start the conversation by asking what they are doing now - in their professional lives - that they had not imagined doing (or prepared for doing) in their MLS programs. The single most common answer is teaching.

So this is my personal ode to the 10 greatest joys of teaching adults:

1) The unimaginable rush you get when you say something and an entire room full of people write it down.
2) Turning on the light bulb (or the ah-ha) moment when you see the class ‘gets it’.
3) When someone tells you they got the job/promotion/project they wanted because of the skills you helped them develop.
4) Explaining something complex or difficult in simple terms and having the class relate to your explanation.
5) Thinking of great analogies to get to #4 above.
6) Starting a discussion where there are lively and differing opinions hotly defended in the most civil possible way.
7) Having someone tell you ‘I thought about what we talked about in class all week’.
8) Hearing (or overhearing) yourself quoted.
9) The first day of class when everything seems possible and the last day of class when we have moved together through the entire semester’s curriculum with demonstrable knowledge and skills.
10) Watching adults color outside the lines – with confidence and capability.

Ta-ta for now,

Anne

Is it time to conduct a communications audit? Attend our next webinar and find out.

Mars & Venus for Information Professionals: Are your stakeholders hearing the message you intended to send?

8 April, 2008

11:00am US Eastern Time

Presenters: Ulla de Stricker, President of de Stricker Associates & Barbie Keiser, President of Barbie E Keiser, Inc.

As the world changes, libraries find that the communication vehicles they currently employ to keep in touch with thier clients (e.g., intranets, extranets, e-newsletters) may be a bit outmoded and are no longer doing their intended jobs. When this occurs, it might be time to conduct a communications audit to gather valuable insight into the particular communication vehicle your information center may be using.

The audit utilizes a mix of techniques, including:

• Conducting a comprehensive survey of users to assess how they use the library's communication vehicles
• Facilitating focus group discussions to delve more deeply into existing challenges and uncover potential solutions
• Holding interviews with selected clients to verify findings through actual on-site observations

If conducted properly, the communications audit should reshape not only the concrete website, intranet or e-newsletter, but the processes used to create, update and deliver them.

Register today. Make sure your stakeholders are hearing the message you intended to send.

Lorraine

The Widget Webcast!

Last week's webcast "Widgets: Internet Sushi for the Web 2.0 Crowd" had a great turnout. A large global community of InfoPros, knowledge managers and interested parties joined me online for a look at the widgetsphere and how things are looking these days for one of the many stepchildren of the Web 2.0 family. Here are some highlights:

What makes it a "widget"?

• A widget by any other name still has the following two key attributes:
  It is a distributable web object (A miniature application that you can port into nearly any web environment)


• It allows for interaction with and displays dynamic content on the client side in a digestible visual format that changes via server-side updates and user initiated modifications

What makes it a “distributable” object you ask?

One thing that makes a widget (the generic term I will use henceforth) a distributable object is the use of code generators. Code generators have been around for ages. You simply fill in some fields, choose some values and click a button. Then copy your newly minted code and away you go!

Another method for creating a widget as a distributable object is the use of an object generator. They have many names, but do the same job…

According to the marketing gurus in the Widgetsphere, this method is preferred by both end users and distributors as it does not require users to copy and paste code or even leave the site to implement their new widget.

And what was that about “displays dynamic content”?

The dynamic content sits on the host’s servers and is often delivered via a feed. This “push” technology means that it is updated on-the-fly. “The blinkx Video Wall is a tool which allows bloggers and website creators to embed a video wall of clips from a selected search term into their sites (and pulling from over 18 million searchable hours of footage). The display is fed by RSS, so it updates automatically as new search results come in. Users can choose the size of their desired wall, composing it with anywhere from one to sixty-four glimmering video screens. Users can even compile a specific selection of videos to be made into a video wall and embed it to their pages with ease.”

And how about that “digestible visual format ”?

Because of the limited amount of visual real estate, it is essential that widgets can compensate for high levels of data transfer through graphics. “Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator.”And how about “changes via server-side updates…”?

Whether or not the user triggers the change to the content displayed, or it is updated on a timed increment, the push ultimately comes from the host. You may have your top RSS feeds displayed, or maybe you are employing a mini-search box like the Bitty Browser widget but it all comes down to a solid architectural connection between the embedded or framed object and the host from whence the actual data is pushed from.

The webcast continued on, describing the primary widget types and categories and eventually walked through the current obstacles facing the expansion of widgets as well as five recommended methods for ensuring a brighter future for these little apps. We'll be posting a recording of the webcast on our Dow Jones InfoPro page once it is available, but in the meantime take a virtual walk over to Widgetbox or Clearspring and see more of the widgets I've talked about and maybe incorporate one into your blog.

I'll be back with more on the widget webcast after these messages...

Regards,

Thomas

Two Spaces Between Sentences or One?

I still use two, as I was dogmatically instructed by my 10th grade keyboarding teacher in the 80s. (I’ve just dated myself, haven’t I?) But apparently the rule has changed. This, along with other rules of customer engagement and communication in the Web 2.0 landscape were discussed in a recent workshop I attended, The New Rules of Marketing, presented by David Meerman Scott.

David kicked off the workshop by asking a series of questions that exposed how we personally make buying decisions today. The responses provided strong evidence of a change in buyer behavior. We no longer make buying decisions based on mass corporate advertising, which talks to buyers as a single, generic, monolithic group. Rather, as consumers, we make a decision to buy based on peer recommendations, product reviews (that reflect uses and circumstances similar to our own) and possibly advertising that has been tailored and personalized to our particular interests. This shift can largely be attributed to the free and boundless commerce model of the web, along with the transfer in power from the corporate marketing machine to the individual consumer. David also pointed out that these activities are occurring at the very beginning of the buying cycle, long before a corporatation is even aware that their is a potential customer looking for their products or services. Thus, the workshop emphasized the need to know your buyer persona.

I know some of you may be thinking, so what does this have to do with Information Professionals? Well, the lesson fits any role where a service to a potential client, patron, user, or customer has a CHOICE. Let's face it, our internal customers have a plethora of choices (some good, some bad) when it comes to information needed to perform their jobs. Our job is to make sure individuals in our organizations are making the BEST choice. (We can all think of examples where wrong conclusions were drawn and poor decisions were made based on inaccurate information.) Thus, just as much as a corporation needs to understand a buyer persona, we need to understand and document our internal customer personas. Building a persona will help us to understand and determine information consumption. This means at the end of the day, we can begin to deliver content that matches the current workflow and behavior of our identified personas.

To develop a persona for information consumption, questions like these would need to be answered.

• Do I know the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities of my users, internal customers, etc?
• Do I know their current information seeking habits?
• Do they need real time, minute-by-minute information updates or is a general current awareness sufficient?
• Is there a need to access archived information?
• Do they want to search for information or have it anticipated and delivered?
• Do they want information with analysis or just the data and supporting facts?
• Do they use mobile devices?
• Are they using/searching/contributing to any of the various social media vehicles?
• Are they digital natives or digital immigrants?

Armed with the user persona, we can create an information experience that is relevant, customized and useful.

So are you willing to play by the new rules? I am. And to prove it, all of my future posts will only have one space separating the sentences.

Cheers,

Nikki

More Widgety Postings - Application Spamming vs. The Widget

So you are leaving Facebook after Mark's zombie attacked yours, Mary sent you a smooch and Martine beat you at rock-paper-scisors... The fact of the matter is, the viral nature of some mini-applications make them outstanding examples of friend spamming. Some, like Slide's audio-visual widgets, suggest you share the mini applications with all of your friends. Well, you can kiss a bunch of those friends goodbye if you continuously send them aliens for their solar systems, fish for their aquariums or armadillos for their petting zoos.



It is called Application Spamming and the worst offenders require that you alienate your friends with chain letter efficiency after strafing them with a succession of assault apps. These should not be confused with the true widget, which appears to act independently of social utilities and environments (for now).

If you have a draggable chunk of web usability that you can drop almost anyplace on your page without being asked to send it to your "friends", it could/should be described as a widget. Of course, I am bypassing the tech aspect of code implementation and platform management in favor of loose paraphrasing and simple ideas. :)Let's say that you also have a moveable block of web functionality that when you use it it prompts you to send some of the fun you are having in your friends' directions. "Select all of the friends you want to _______." This would fall into the category of friend spamming. Now that you know the difference, how are social utilities like Facebook battling the attack of the time-killing (and email clogging) apps?

According to Mike Arrington:

"First, users can block applications when they receive a request, so no additional requests from that app will get through. Second, they added a “clear all” requests feature that erases all pending requests (my new favorite, and most used, Facebook feature). Also, Facebook is watching how many people block or ignore application requests - too many, and an application has restrictions placed on it."

So there you have it. Where popups continue to be employed by the faceless ne'er do wells of the Web and spam continues to be blasted out to every permutation of an email address, it seems that the social utilities and networks may just be trying to get it right this time. Time will tell if it will make a difference in the user exodus that is starting to decrease the number of new users joining social networks per diem.

One thing you should remember though... The application spamming going on is not the result of an insideous breed of Assault Widgets as much as developers wanting to spread their application seeds like dandelion fluffs.

Regards,

Thomas