Tell Tale Signs of a Website needing CMS
Don't miss What Web Content Management can do for You
April 30, 2009
Telltale signs of your Website Needing Content Management System
Do you need a Webcontent management system for your website? If this is a tough decision,listen to this podcast describing the tell tale signs of a website needing CMS
Tell Tale Signs of a Website needing CMS
Don't miss What Web Content Management can do for You
Tell Tale Signs of a Website needing CMS
Don't miss What Web Content Management can do for You
April 29, 2009
Wiki to support your CMS
Wiki allows content to be edited by many people.CMS allows editing your content to keep the content fresh.So basically are these two pitted against each other? People in the wiki camp suggest that Wiki can do at a lower price what a CMS does at a higher price. People in the CMS camp seem to disagree and raise questions over the quality of the finished product.Where is the golden mean? The solution is often discovered when there are a number of pages to be updated and all under different categories.What can be done is to take all of the web content as contained in the CMS into a wiki and allow some of the sections to be edited there.The navigation does not have to be transferred to a wiki(although it could be).This way the CMS takes care of the major updates and wiki allows a segregated updation process.Once the content in wiki is ready, it is taken back to CMS and then published.
Watch a Screencast showing how Wiki and CMS systems can be used together to Update Content
Watch a Screencast showing how Wiki and CMS systems can be used together to Update Content
What web content management can do for you?
In a short phrase, the answer is "relieve you". CMS is not simply a template with generic design.With so many CMS systems flooding the scene, custom made design is pretty much in trend and the interface is user friendly. A CMS system can ensure that the content is updated regularly and is done automatically.With little, or no addition to the cost already being incurred, a CMS system allows features like site search, blogging,discussion forums, password protected content and more. However the greatest benefit of CMS is the navigation.If a new category appears overnight, you dont have to redesign your entire website.A CMS system allows the "expansion" of your website with the new category added to all pages. Web content management can actually take the load off your websmaster's shoulders, and for you it means updated content all the time without sweating it out.A good CMS(content management system) can help you repurpose and channel your content for different audiences - saving time, money, and simplifying the web management process.
Watch a video on Content Management.This video can also be watched on YouTube.
Also listen to the podcast
:Tell Tale Signs of Website Needing CMS
Watch a video on Content Management.This video can also be watched on YouTube.
Also listen to the podcast
:Tell Tale Signs of Website Needing CMS
April 22, 2009
Understanding the meaning of Competitive Intelligence
Business intelligence (BI) refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its commercial context. Business intelligence may also refer to the collected information itself.Some people use the terms business intelligence and competitive intelligence synomously whereas some say that competitive intelligence is the language of business intelligence.
In a short phrase, it may be defined as both a product and a process, and in more complex words we may define CI as an ethical and legal business practice. This ethical and legal part is very important as CI professionals emphasize that the discipline is not the same as industrial espionage which is both unethical and usually illegal. In competitve intelligence ,the focus is on the external business environment.There is a process involved in gathering information, converting it into intelligence and then utilizing this in business decision making. CI professionals emphasize that if the intelligence gathered is not usable (or actionable) then it is not intelligence.
A more focused definition of the term is that CI is the organizational function responsible for the early identification of risks and opportunities in the market before they become obvious. This definition focuses attention on the difference between dissemination of widely available factual information (such as market statistics, financial reports, newspaper clippings) performed by libraries and information centers.
CI can be summarized as Finding out information for business planning.
Typically, information must be quantitative, in dollars, not references to documents.
It is usually needed in a huge rush.It’s usually about the future, and thus inherently uncertain.Often a high premium on assertiveness, not accuracy.But it can have high importance and status in a company.
CI is the purposeful and coordinated monitoring of your competitors, wherever and whoever they may be, within a specific marketplace. Your "competitors" are those firms which you consider rivals in business, and with whom you compete for market share. CI also has to do with determining what your business rivals WILL DO before they do it. Strategically, to gain foreknowledge of your competitor's plans and to plan your business strategy to countervail their plans.
Companies and industries prosper through improvements in competitiveness, leveraging core competencies, and competitive intelligence is at the core of the objective of improving competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence is therefore;the core of competitive strategy .
On a lighter note: Here is a strategy game picked by the Editor of Addicting Games.com .This game is called The Balloon Invasion and requires the same caution and strategic mind required while doing Competitive Intelligence.
Play Games at AddictingGames
In a short phrase, it may be defined as both a product and a process, and in more complex words we may define CI as an ethical and legal business practice. This ethical and legal part is very important as CI professionals emphasize that the discipline is not the same as industrial espionage which is both unethical and usually illegal. In competitve intelligence ,the focus is on the external business environment.There is a process involved in gathering information, converting it into intelligence and then utilizing this in business decision making. CI professionals emphasize that if the intelligence gathered is not usable (or actionable) then it is not intelligence.
A more focused definition of the term is that CI is the organizational function responsible for the early identification of risks and opportunities in the market before they become obvious. This definition focuses attention on the difference between dissemination of widely available factual information (such as market statistics, financial reports, newspaper clippings) performed by libraries and information centers.
CI can be summarized as Finding out information for business planning.
Typically, information must be quantitative, in dollars, not references to documents.
It is usually needed in a huge rush.It’s usually about the future, and thus inherently uncertain.Often a high premium on assertiveness, not accuracy.But it can have high importance and status in a company.
CI is the purposeful and coordinated monitoring of your competitors, wherever and whoever they may be, within a specific marketplace. Your "competitors" are those firms which you consider rivals in business, and with whom you compete for market share. CI also has to do with determining what your business rivals WILL DO before they do it. Strategically, to gain foreknowledge of your competitor's plans and to plan your business strategy to countervail their plans.
Companies and industries prosper through improvements in competitiveness, leveraging core competencies, and competitive intelligence is at the core of the objective of improving competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence is therefore;the core of competitive strategy .
On a lighter note: Here is a strategy game picked by the Editor of Addicting Games.com .This game is called The Balloon Invasion and requires the same caution and strategic mind required while doing Competitive Intelligence.
Play Games at AddictingGames
Screencasting:Best Practices
Screencasting is fun if you know it well else it can cause some embarassment for creators.
When creatng a screencast, one great tip is to close any other aplications which are running.Presence of browser windows or folders not only cause clutter, but also can release some information about you which you may not want to share.I would also suggest clearing the address bar and not allowing autocomplete to fill in forms.
Another tip I learnt last week is related to script narration. For Jing , since the videos were 5 minutes or less, I narrated my scripts impromptu.However; for another class this week,I tried doing a screencast with camtasia and since it was a long script, I wrote down and read it.The final product was much better than what came out through Jing.
A final tip I would say would be to anticipate actions which seem to be normally paced while working on a screen, but in a screencast, it seems like ages have past by.An example is deciding where to move mouse pointer.Espeically while playing games, i noticed my cursor moving back and forth for no reason.This seemed awkward in a screencast whereas it would look normal in aday to day situation.
When creatng a screencast, one great tip is to close any other aplications which are running.Presence of browser windows or folders not only cause clutter, but also can release some information about you which you may not want to share.I would also suggest clearing the address bar and not allowing autocomplete to fill in forms.
Another tip I learnt last week is related to script narration. For Jing , since the videos were 5 minutes or less, I narrated my scripts impromptu.However; for another class this week,I tried doing a screencast with camtasia and since it was a long script, I wrote down and read it.The final product was much better than what came out through Jing.
A final tip I would say would be to anticipate actions which seem to be normally paced while working on a screen, but in a screencast, it seems like ages have past by.An example is deciding where to move mouse pointer.Espeically while playing games, i noticed my cursor moving back and forth for no reason.This seemed awkward in a screencast whereas it would look normal in aday to day situation.
Is Bad Really Good?
Is the pop culture sophisticatedly delivering studpidity?Is the bad bad , or is it good? The answer depends on which side of the fence are we talking about. In many situations pop culture has been rightly blamed for loss of actual "culture". In these situations more often than not, the user learnt only the "bad" part from these media which are not intelligent themselves , but are run by intelligenct people.Children and teenagers have been known to lose concentration, increase aggressive and hyperactive beahviour upon too much exposure to these media.Much has been already spoken about the evils of TV and the omnipresent video games which kids cannot forsake even at the Thanksgiving table.
Now jumping to the other side of fence, these very media can be used for educative purposes.We all know, internet and TV have homework hotlines and kid friendly programs run by the board of education.These programs really have a value in them and can be a good and effective substitution for the values that were usually handed over by hoards of family members and relatives(who are now spread across the world and cannot be physically present ).
To summarize, I think the pop culture is delivering sophisticatedly, no doubts.Also, no doubts that they are delivering stupidity, as well as some fine content.Which one do we take? It depends on us and our personal filters.How receptive are we to something which is simply present, and not being imposed on us?We have the choice.Afterall; all TVs come with remotes, video gaames come with buttons and most important of all, we choose to let them influence us the way we want.
Now jumping to the other side of fence, these very media can be used for educative purposes.We all know, internet and TV have homework hotlines and kid friendly programs run by the board of education.These programs really have a value in them and can be a good and effective substitution for the values that were usually handed over by hoards of family members and relatives(who are now spread across the world and cannot be physically present ).
To summarize, I think the pop culture is delivering sophisticatedly, no doubts.Also, no doubts that they are delivering stupidity, as well as some fine content.Which one do we take? It depends on us and our personal filters.How receptive are we to something which is simply present, and not being imposed on us?We have the choice.Afterall; all TVs come with remotes, video gaames come with buttons and most important of all, we choose to let them influence us the way we want.
April 20, 2009
Sticky Websites
How do websites like Facebook and Myspace get the users to stay on their site for a long time? To speak tongue-in-cheek, I think partly due to the very unintuitive interface they have! Do I see many raising eyebrows?Well, these sites are somewhat targeted towards the teenagers and young adults and I am sure they dont have a tough time browsing these sites.
Speaking on a more contemplative note, I think these sites are sticky owing to the very nature of its user base. Teenagers tend to stick to each other even offline.The feeling of belonging to a group and sharing everything with peers is a strong feeling in the teenage-young adult population.The advent of these social networking sites has made it easier for the teenagers/young adults to "share" without actually having to physically transport themselves.Moreover the thrill of using the latest and the "coolest" is so much predominant in the above mentioned population group, that they prefer to send wall-to-wall messages even if they are sitting next to each other in a classroom or a cafetaria.
Facebook & Myspace offer the perfect atmosphere for not only sharing as a group, but also as an individual.Users get to play games and write blogs.Also, I think these portals offer the opportunity to brag about things which are not really considered very important in the mainstream. Say,an announcement is made that a certain user 'A' scored 100% on a movie quiz. Now these things really dont carry too much weight professionally, or in the acadmeic world.However;youngsters derive a sense of achievement and it boosts their self-confidence and self-perception.
Sometimes social networking sites are also used by people who have lost touch with their friends and colleagues, and at a certain stage in life they get a strong feeling to reconnect. The age of these users may not be fitting the teenage/YA population.Infact these users may be in their middle age .Social networking sites allow easy way of communication and such users "stick" to these protals for the sheer fascination of it. When they were teenagers/YA, they perhaps never had the liberty of "hanging around" so much, and now they get an opportunity to fulfill those unfullfilled yearnings.
In any case I believe the "stickiness" has got to do with the internal psychology of users. These sites have very successfully studied human behavior, and the potential it has for their business so they are happily tapping upon it.
Speaking on a more contemplative note, I think these sites are sticky owing to the very nature of its user base. Teenagers tend to stick to each other even offline.The feeling of belonging to a group and sharing everything with peers is a strong feeling in the teenage-young adult population.The advent of these social networking sites has made it easier for the teenagers/young adults to "share" without actually having to physically transport themselves.Moreover the thrill of using the latest and the "coolest" is so much predominant in the above mentioned population group, that they prefer to send wall-to-wall messages even if they are sitting next to each other in a classroom or a cafetaria.
Facebook & Myspace offer the perfect atmosphere for not only sharing as a group, but also as an individual.Users get to play games and write blogs.Also, I think these portals offer the opportunity to brag about things which are not really considered very important in the mainstream. Say,an announcement is made that a certain user 'A' scored 100% on a movie quiz. Now these things really dont carry too much weight professionally, or in the acadmeic world.However;youngsters derive a sense of achievement and it boosts their self-confidence and self-perception.
Sometimes social networking sites are also used by people who have lost touch with their friends and colleagues, and at a certain stage in life they get a strong feeling to reconnect. The age of these users may not be fitting the teenage/YA population.Infact these users may be in their middle age .Social networking sites allow easy way of communication and such users "stick" to these protals for the sheer fascination of it. When they were teenagers/YA, they perhaps never had the liberty of "hanging around" so much, and now they get an opportunity to fulfill those unfullfilled yearnings.
In any case I believe the "stickiness" has got to do with the internal psychology of users. These sites have very successfully studied human behavior, and the potential it has for their business so they are happily tapping upon it.
Education Vs Entertainment?
Do educational videos have a chance when entertainment videos are flooding the scene?The answer is YES. Actually they gain more importance since they are lesser in number.
I think times have changed and research for homework is no longer confined to the physical libraries. People definitely choose to Google the information from their homes before they go out to look out for information.Educational videos can demonstrate at home what a professor would teach in class, or a scientist would demonstrate in his/her lab.
I think educational videos can also offer the "extra something" for all grade levels which may be stimulating to the minds of the gifted kids and which may not be taught in school.
The information behavior of users finding information on internet has matured.Users have started searching for videos specifically( and not that they encounter these videos by chance).
Educational videos definitely stand apart from the crowd of entertainment videos.
I think times have changed and research for homework is no longer confined to the physical libraries. People definitely choose to Google the information from their homes before they go out to look out for information.Educational videos can demonstrate at home what a professor would teach in class, or a scientist would demonstrate in his/her lab.
I think educational videos can also offer the "extra something" for all grade levels which may be stimulating to the minds of the gifted kids and which may not be taught in school.
The information behavior of users finding information on internet has matured.Users have started searching for videos specifically( and not that they encounter these videos by chance).
Educational videos definitely stand apart from the crowd of entertainment videos.
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