Moore's Law on Steroids

This week our readings covered digital technologies and media convergence. I found the readings to be interesting because I never thought twice about the amount of data we produce and what it takes to make our devices to run seamlessly. Due to the progress of technology, various different types of media are combining into one single media. Smartphones are a great example of how one device can deliver several media platforms. It amazes me how you can read the newspaper, watch television, listen to the radio, search the internet and so much more, all from one device. Searching the internet is also becoming a thing of the pat. Today we have app's for just about everything allowing one-touch, instant access. Consumers are choosing their dedicated platforms over the web because they fit better into their lives.

The ability to send, share and receive right at your fingertips, contributes to the endless information stored in our digital universe. Moore’s law states that the power of technology hardware doubles approximately every two years. The law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, whose prediction has proven to be true for almost half a century. The music we download, the messages we tweet, this blog I’m writing all require data storage. New technology such as the I-phone and I-pad has made it easier for individuals to create and share information digitally. The volume of information continues to grow relentlessly creating digital chaos, also known as “Big Data”.

A study by EMC Corporation measured and forecasted the amount of digital information created and copied annually. The study found that the world’s information is more than doubling every two years. In 2011, 1.8 zettabytes were created and replicated. The article Worl' Data More Than Doubling Every Two Years—Driving Big Data Opportunity, New IT Roles gave some great examples of equivalents of 1.8 zettabytes of data to help you put things into perspective:

• Every person in the United States tweeting 3 tweets per minute for 26,976 years nonstop 
• Every person in the world having over 215 million high-resolution MRI scans per day
• Over 200 billion HD movies (each 2 hours in length)-would take 1 person 47 million years to watch every movie 24x7
• The amount of information needed to fill 57.5 billion 32GB Apple iPads. With that many iPads we could:
• Create a wall of iPads, 4,005-miles long and 61-feet highh extending from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida
• Build the Great iPad Wall of China-at twice the average height of the original
• Build a 20-foot high wall around South America
• Cover 86% of Mexico City
• Build a mountain 25-times higher than Mt. Fuji         

Media has evolved so much that IT professionals need to make changes to data in order for everything to operate seamlessly. More data requires more storage, which requires more IT professionals. EMC’s study reports that the skills, experience and resources are not keeping the pace to manage the data. Over the next decade (by 2020), IT departments worldwide will experience:

• 10X the number of servers (virtual and physical)
• 50X the amount of information to be managed 
• 75X the number of files or containers that encapsulate the information in the digital universe, which is growing even faster than the information itself as more and more embedded systems, such as sensors in clothing, in bridges, or medical devices. 
• 1.5X the number of IT professionals available to manage it all. 

Technological changes are creating a challenge for data experts. More data does not always equal more value. More data is making it difficult to extract meaning from too much data. Decluttering our digital lives is important to protect us from the digital dirt that may live out there.

Adding information to the digital universe leaves a digital footprint. A digital footprint is a trail of your digital interactions. Your digital footprint is your identity. Everything from your name, age, address, sites you have searched, things that you have shared or purchased online leave a trail of what you have done digitally. Unlike the footprints I made in our recent snowstorms, these footprints live somewhere out in cyberspace and can last forever. My college friends and I always say “thank God we didn’t have Facebook while we were in college”. Not that we were extremely wild and crazy in college, but our digital footprints would have been the last things on our minds. We would have been careless with what we posted and shared. Internet users are becoming more aware of their digital existence and are more careful about what they share. Educators are increasingly teaching their students to be cyber smart. A negative digital image can affect your relationships, entrance to a university, and employment.

Pew Research has found that more than half of all adult internet users have used a search engine to follow others’ footprints. When asked about eight different groups of people one might search for online—ranging from family and friends to romantic interests and business colleagues—53% of adult internet users said they had looked for information connected to at least one of these groups.

• Most are casually curious in their searches for others. Just 7% of those who have searched for information on key people in their lives report doing so on a regular basis.
• Users are most likely to search for someone they have lost touch with. Fully 36% of adult internet users say they have used a search engine to find information about someone from their past.
• 19% of adult internet users have searched for information about co-workers, professional colleagues or business competitors.
• 11% of adult internet users say they have searched online for information about someone they are thinking about hiring or working with.
• 9% of online adults say they have searched online for information about someone they are dating or in a relationship with. Perhaps due to safety concerns, online women tend to do their dating homework more than online men.

While you are researching information about a potential employer, they are researching you right back. According to a survey from CareerBuilder , one in five employers search social networking sites for information about job applicants. 

It is important to think about what we are contributing to our digital universe before we share. Is it digital clutter? Do you want it stored somewhere forever? How much data space will be required? Would you share with your future employer? 

The Sometimes Picayune

In my last blog I mentioned that my posts would probably not be as frequent as they were, but my Strategic Communication and Emerging Media class also encourages a weekly blog. Lucky for you there will be more blogging from me coming your way. For those of you just joining, welcome to my blog.  My name is Nicole Johnson. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I studied Spanish at the University of Southern Mississippi (Go Eagles!). Currently, I am a Marketing Communications Coordinator at a health insurance company. I decided that I enjoyed working in the field of communications and wanted to learn more, so I enrolled in Troy University’s Strategic Communications graduate program. I feel that continuing my education will help me excel in my current position and advance my career in the future. The primary purpose of this course is to explore the quickly changing world of strategic communications and how it is being transformed by digital and social media. My topics will cover information based on our readings and discussions in class. The topic of this weeks blog will touch on the decline of traditional media due to the presence of new media sources.

Growing up in the out skirts of New Orleans, I was raised to appreciate tradition, which is why I’m a bit nostalgic about the local newspaper, The Times Picayune. We would celebrate Mardi Gras, go to Jazz Fest, eat beignets, and enjoy our crawfish boils. I can remember grabbing the Times Picayune from the front porch to lie out on the picnic table for our weekly crawfish boils with family and friends. I use to make copies of the comic strips on silly putty by flattening the putty with my elbow. On weekends that we would drive out to visit my grandma in Slidell, we would sit at her dinner table and help clip coupons. As I grew older, I would read the Lagniappe to see what’s happening around town. The Times Picayune was unlike any other newspaper for a city unlike any other city in the world.

When I moved off to college I did not really think twice about my local newspaper. If I wanted to see what was going on in my hometown, I would rely on the internet and view the news on www.nola.com instantly. Well in those days we had dial-up and the internet wasn’t near as fast as it is now, so it wasn’t instantly but it was quicker than looking through the newspaper. 

In 2012, the two time Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper announced that The Times Picayune will only print the news three days a week in order to focus on its online "new media" source, www.nola.com. They began to only publish on Wednesdays, Fridays and a special Sunday edition to be distributed the night before. This was a first after 175 years of service to the Crescent City. The decision makes New Orleans the largest city in the United States without a daily new publication.

There is a growing number of other newspaper organizations dropping to only three publications per week and focusing on the online editions. Online news is becoming more and more popular. Instant news updates make online news more attractive to news readers. By the time news is printed and delivered to your door, the news you are reading is yesterday’s news.

Mass media’s landscape is quickly changing. There are many new ways to get the news these days. The internet and digital devices such as the smartphone and IPad make accessing the news you want to read so much more convenient and it’s free.

Pew Research reports that 50% of the public cites the internet as a main source of national and international news. Among those, younger Americans ages 18-29, 71% cite the internet as a main news source. Ages 30-49, not far behind at 63% get their news online.

Pew research also reports that more Americans consume news on mobile devices: 64%of tablet owners and 62% of smartphone owners said they got their news onmobile devices in 2012.

Technology has played a major role in the digital switch from traditional media. Our smartphones are more than just phones. They allow us instant access to the information we desire to read. Why would I pay money for information that I have on my I-Phone, laptop or tablet for free? It’s not really free, because I’m paying my monthly phone bill and internet connection bill in order to have the luxury of digital access at my fingertips. I choose not to read the newspaper because I prefer to look up my news online. The newspaper would create unwanted clutter in my house, which I do not need with a family of five.

People are different and not everyone has internet access or a digital device. Even if they do they still appreciate traditional news. A traditional media generation still exists and they want to feel and smell their news in their hands. They enjoy the whole experience of it. As long as this generation still exists, there will be a market for the traditional news. The problem is, the news organizations struggle to accommodate this generation with the decline of subscriptions and advertisers.

Newspaper designer Jacek Urko made some interesting points in his Ted Talk video Can design save newspapers? He has proven that design can reconnect people to the newspaper. Design can change your brand, product and workflow. Urko redesigned newspapers by experimenting with artistic pictures, type and illustration and had fun with it. The front page was his opportunity to grab the reader’s attention with an artistic statement of reality. Then he treated the entire newspaper as one composition. Like a musical piece with ups and downs. He spread articles over two pages instead of one. In Bulgaria alone circulation increased 100% after redesign.

Maybe newspaper organization should give the power to the designers like Urko suggests. Redesigning the newspapers may be what they need to help them survive a little bit longer. If it worked for so many other countries, why not give it a chance?

What are some things that you think could help save newspapers? 

What the Future Holds

Well this is the last week of my Leadership and Media Strategies course. I have truly enjoyed and learned so much from this course. When I discovered that I would have to create this professional blog each week I felt a little intimidated at first. Blogging isn't so bad and you just might see more blogs from me, but maybe not as frequent.

This week we watched a Ted video, Medicine’s future? There’s an app for that by Daniel Kraft, which spoke about the future of medical technology. This video caught my attention since I have worked in the health insurance industry for the past ten years. I have already started to hear about virtual office visits/telemedicine at work. This is where the physician can treat a patient from a video chat type setting making it easier for a patient to visit their doctor. Kraft also spoke of mirrors that have pulse rate monitors, artificial retinas, assisted living contact lenses, telephonic microscopes and scar less surgery. Stethoscopes are now digital and there’s an app for that.

Medical professionals are now moving toward digital medicine. Medical records are stored digitally, eliminating the need for paper. Digital records make it easier to transfer information from doctor to doctor and information can be accessed from where ever you are from any digital device.

Electronic devices like the Fit Bit and heart rate monitors are now available. These devices allow people to easily track their own health and this information could be shared with their doctors to help make critical medical decisions. I recently bought a Fit Bit and I love how it monitors my sleep. If I ever need to see a doctor about trouble sleeping, I will show the doctor the reports I get about my sleep from my Fit Bit. 

The advancements in medical technology are so fascinating and I look forward to learning more about them in the future. Like the way we communicate and get our news, the medical industry is changing to be more accessible and convenient.

Thank you for reading my blog. I look forward to reading your comments.  

Lessons Learned

This week our readings were on evaluating media strategies. Evaluation research determines if a plan was effective, how it reached its goals, and creates efficiency. Evaluating your before, during and after can help build a successful campaign to sell your product or service. Leaders should account for the cost and time for evaluation of both tangible and intangible products when implementing a project. The cost for evaluation research should be around 10% to 15% of the total project budget. Many organizations skip this vital step and it leads to duplication of mistakes in the future. Without evaluation, campaigns are subject to criticism.

To improve the probability of program success the evaluation process should encompass three policies:

• Determine the expected outcome and impact of the program.
• Understand how or why something worked and why something did not work.
• Implement more effective plan in the future.

Eight years ago, my husband Gary, and I started a recycling company called “Curbside Recycling.” I was in charge of the clerical aspects of the operation and he did the muscle work. This was in addition to our full-time jobs and two of the three beautiful daughters we now have. Still to this day, I do not know how we did it.

Most areas had recycling services provided by the city, but some areas had nothing available. We outlined the areas that we knew needed a recycling service and targeted those residents. We started out by creating door knob hangers and flyers to advertise our company. That brought in about 50 customers and we worked with what we had for a while. Then we decided to test different strategies to bring in more customers. The cost of advertising can really add up, so we decided to track the amount of customers each attempt brought to our company.

Each town had a monthly newsletter that was mailed. We bought ads in a few of them and waited to see the results. The phone calls started to trickle in and we were quite pleased with the turn out. We also set up tables at local events and passed out information and register people that were interested in joining. One time a friend that worked for a news station offered a spot on the air to spread the word. We started a “refer-a-friend” email campaign with our existing customers. Each strategy was beneficial, but we wanted to focus on what worked to bring in the most clients.

The newsletters ads presented the most registration of new customers. We decided to stick with worked best for us. We ran a few more ads, but added the incentive of waiving the sign-up fee if the member referred-a-friend. The second ad brought in more new customers than the first.

I also decided to email our existing customers a short survey asking a few questions to find out how the liked their service. One question asked what they liked about our service. Another question asked what we could do to improve our service. Some customers reported that the recycling bins were not big enough to fit all of their recyclables. Others requested that we not pick-up so early in the morning because they kept missing pick-up. I was pleased that some customers like my monthly recycling facts that I provided on their invoice.

After reviewing the results from the surveys, we made some business decisions to change some things to ensure customer satisfaction. We changed the pick-up times to an hour later and we began to offer customers the option to purchase bigger recycling bins.

After three years of service, the city began providing recycling service in the areas we were working in. It was bitter sweet to have to close our business. Our third child was on her way and it was time to venture on to new opportunities.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have attempted some social media exposure and evaluated the effects. Back then social media was not as popular as it is today, but it still would have been interesting to see the results.

Organizations should implement rigorous evaluations into their practice. They should make sure the goals are specific and measurable. Know if a program worked, how and why it worked, and make the future programs better. Also, be prepared ahead of time to alter your program for changes in the way we communicate and technological advances. 

Evaluation provides useful feedback which aids in decision-making. It provides effectiveness that help you reach the outcomes you seek. Evaluating your media strategy can help you stay on course and reach your destination.