Monthly Archives: April 2011

An Ode to the Typewriter

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The End of the Typewriter

Time for a Big Shift

Today in Mashable I read about the end of an era, one with many memories for me.  The last typewriter will roll off the assembly line in Mumbai, India.  Godrej and Boyce has shut down their production lines.  India had been one of the last bastions of the typewriter, but even there the addition of computers made the manual typewriter obsolete.

I had my first typewriter in Junior High School – a totally manual, non-correcting typewriter.  I quickly learned the use of easy-erase typewriter paper.  The only problem is that it tended to smear a lot, so it was hard to get a very clean looking paper.  By college I had graduated to a portable electric typewriter with correction tape.  Progress of sorts, but still no spell check, and doing footnotes was a real challenge.  Writing a paper of the fly was not an option.  The drill was – library, 3×5 cards, draft, final draft with footnotes, and final copy.  Writing papers was hell.

In grad school I opted to get a Xerox, my Alma Mater Company, automatic typewriter to use in my MBA dissertation.  A big move up, but still used large floppy disks, and the screen as very small.  In 1980 I bought an Apple II computer, and my life changed forever.

As I have posted in the past a number of manual typewriters are still in using – mainly by younger hipsters who are in their nostalgic phases – with many more to come.  For me, the passing of the typewriter is another of the signposts to the past, to a simpler time…what the hell am I talking about.  Writing papers and research in the ‘stacks’ was never fun, and this has been written on my Mac with spell check.  Life is good!  Rest in peace my old trusty manual typewriter; you deserve your long earned rest.

Now just In:  Never Mind – Gawker has dug into the story and found that there are still production lines in China, Japan and Indonesia making typewriters.  The saga will live on for awhile longer I guess.  They could be very helpful when the power goes out, or your batteries die, which mine do all the time.

 

To the Twitter Barricades, Men!

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Back in March I posted on the Egyptian revolution – “The Facebook Revolution” and how digital tools and social communications helped to power the people’s revolution there, as well as in Yemen and then Libya.  My quick research lead me to Evgeny Morzov and his book “The Net Delusion.”  In it, Morozov postulated that the social media tools of Facebook and Twitter, and all of the other digital tools were helping to provide channels of communication that were hard for established channels to completely cutoff.  However, the down side was that these tools could also be used by the ‘other’ side to listen, and to counter these social attacks on the establishment.

In Egypt we saw the results of both sides of the confrontation, and it still appears that the revolution did accomplish most of its goals in the initial phases, including the resignation of Mubarak.  This left the Egyptian military in control, and it now appears that they are also using many of these same tools to help control the current situation and to help set the direction of the public discourse on how Egypt will be shaped in the immediate future.

Flash forward, and revolts have come in Syria, Bahrain and Libya.  The playing field appears to have been leveled with all sides now using these very same tools.  In the current edition of Newsweek author Niall Ferguson, eminent historian has spoken on the issue as only can in an elegant style.  In “The Mash of Civilizations” he has also recognized that “Social networks might promote democracy, but they also empower the enemies of freedom.”  Well said, Niall.

Where Niall hit a home run was the example he gave about the “Mobile Detachment” of the “al-Ansar al’Mujahideen Forum” creating a special data package for cell phones.  Users can download a host of services including encryptian software, pictures and 3G video clips including one title called “A Martyr Eulogizing Another Martyr.” There is also an electronic magazine “Resistance” published by the Afghan branch of the Taliban.  Digital tools are very democratic, and now well used by all sides. It was noted that these could all be downloaded in MS Word and Adobe formats.

While Wael Ghonim, of Google fame, who help to use Twitter to fan the Egyptian revolution, Ferguson highlights his opposite, Fauod X, the head of IT for Hesbola in Lebanon from the “The Age of the Unthinkable,” by Joshua Ramo – as being flooded with resumes from Islamist geeks wanting to ‘serve a sacred cause.’  As Ferguson noted these peoeple are really creating – ‘killer apps’, for sure.

So now we know that all of our digital and social tools are being used for both good and evil.  If there is anyone out there who has not adopted these tools for their business – well, shame on you.  You’re going to be caught in the crossfire, and your only defense is a good offense.  Time to man the Twitter barricades before we are over run!

Is Your Data Safe…Don’t Bet On It

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Recently it was announced that one of the premier data sources and handling company, Epsilon, had been breached and that millions of names had been compramized as result.  These names and records belonged to some of the leading corporations in the U.S. and were being managed by Epsilon for use in email marketing campaigns.  Epsilon is an outstanding company, and a leader in its field.  This is why this is such a scary story.

If Epsilon can be breached on a Trojan horse style email that gave access to its data banks, then any other data house or corporation who keeps these kinds of records can be breached as well.  I have to admit that I am a little hacked off by the initial response in the media which brushed this off with the admonition that this will just result in more ‘phising’ emails from the hackers in an attempt to get more of your data to use for their ultimate nefarious reasons.  Wow, what a bunch of crap.

This event was covered by many sources, but few with much detail, with the exception of the report by CNET “Who is Epsilon and why does it have my data?’ by Elinor Mills.  It lays out the case that Epsilon is just one of a number of companies that are holding and manipulating data for others.  In some cases your data may pass through several different data houses for cleaning, merging, de-duping, appending of your data.  Every time you use your loyalty card at your grocery store or other retailer your data is being manipulated and recombined with other data.  It is the multiple times your data is handled daily by any number of data houses that gives me the ‘frights.’

One only has to look to the example of Bradley Manning, the Army clerk of the Wiki Leaks fame to understand that your data is handled by regular people, and not just in super secret back rooms with multiple kinds of locks on the doors.  In my capacity leading a list brokerage firm we processed hundreds of millions of names each year, and all of these names were manipulated and processed numerous times by many different and reputable direct marketing vendors.  Never once did my company handle any of the data ourselves – just the final results from the marketing campaigns.  I knew all of the vendors and clients, but mistakes could have happened, and yet we were not in control.

It is this lack of control over our data that should give us pause.  Mistakes and breaches will happen.  We should all change our passwords on a routine basis.  We should all check our financial data frequently to guard against breaches or theft.  At this point in time I have over fifty different accounts, credit, banking and Internet oriented.  It takes a lot of effort to stay on top of all of these things, and I am not as diligent as I should be, and that is why this breach has hit me so hard.  I find myself, as a data manager and leader in my industry and personal life, complicit in how this may have happened.

It is with that sense that I say that you should take charge of your digital life, including your digital reputation.  Don’t give into the calming voice telling you not to worry.  You are your own last line of defense here.  I have to say…’be afraid, be very afraid,’ and then do something about it.  I’m now going to change over 50 passwords before lunch!  What a motivated guy I am.

 

SXSW – Where Freaks and Geeks Rule!

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A Walking Billboard for SXSW

This years’ major event for geeks and freaks of the digital world just ended recently in Austin, Texas.  I’m sure they are still cleaning up after their digital messes and the subsequent music gatherings that followed just days later.  For several days this was the digital and entertainment center of the earth.  I’ve never been, but Austin is dear to me since my digital son and music daughter-in-law are there raising their daughter in all things digital and musical.

Why is this event special?  The NYT article “Reality Crashes the Technocrats’ Party” this last week captures some of the feelings about the event, with a good dash of well deserved ‘snarkiness.’  The digital aristocracy have made this their place, and the very combination of rhythm bereft men, it is mainly men, dancing and partying after days longs digital presentations is amusing to say the least.  I’ve gotten some insights on the presentations from my son who has presented there every year since 2007, this time in a solo event on the topic of ‘bot love.’

It is in Austin at SXSW, the acronym commonly used for ‘South by Southwest’ that many of the recent and future changes arriving on the scene in the digital world are unveiled and discussed, and celebrated with copious amounts of liquid cheer a the parties and bars held all over town.  The author draws an incredible vision of the sight of all of these ‘digital technocrats’ drinking and dancing, most without a shred of real rhythum.  I shudder, since I too suffer from the same maladies, and as a result I seldom drink much, and never dance.  I think somewhere there is a restraining order on my regarding the matters.

This has become more and more important to how I conduct my own business.  After consulting for over 20 years, mainly in the sales and marketing arena, I now find that my clients are really struggling with how to engage with these ‘digital technocrats’ as well as their customers who have been shifted into the new digital business stream.  Everything is different now, and these people are the key to success in this new digital world.

My role has become that of the guide to helping human beings, mainly boomers like myself, understand these new digital thought leaders, and to find ways to harness their output for their organizations.  This has really been a two-way translation course – helping the ‘analog’ bosses understand their digital native employees, and helping the digital natives understand their analog leaders and to be able to communicate with them via analog skills sets.  So far, so good.  It all seems to be meshing well.  Now as far as those dancing skills for our tech gurus – I’m not going there, no expertise here to deal with any of that.  You’re on your own there!