New York SBDC Research Network

Here's a fun, short article from this month's issue of The Atlantic . Titled " Pac Rat ," it describes the efforts being made in certain circles of higher education to save the source code of video games that have long since gone out of favor (and whose intellectual property may no longer be in force). It also speaks to the issues behind technological preservation in general - with so much digitization in force, what becomes of data in general? Can it remain in a non-hard-copy ephemeral state forever? What becomes of the 1,000+ digital photos on my hard drive at home? How about this blog post? I'm fascinated by the judgments that will be made in the not-so-distant future, which reveals what amongst the deluge will live on, and what will fade away.

A list from ABC News, reminding me of just how long ago 1999 really was: http://tinyurl.com/ycjabyb Nonetheless, I can't believe the Snuggie didn't make the cut.

Marketing, sales and customer service don’t share information, according to Economist Intelligence Unit surveys . A series of surveys across six industries— financial services, technology, telecommunications, utilities, consumer goods and retail —reveals that most companies still fall short when trying to deliver value consistently in all the functions that interact with customers. In other words, cautionary tales.

Occasionally, we've gotten questions about "technology" or "high tech". While we can get reports, there is no one business code that encompasses such a broad category. The AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, "uses 45 SIC codes to define the high-technology industry." The organization recognizes that " these 45 SIC codes do not comprehensively cover the entire high-tech industry as the structure of the SIC system is limited. In an effort to produce solid statistics, AeA's definition consists of SIC codes that fall into three broad categories -- high-tech manufacturing, communications services, and software and computer-related services. It does not include broad categories if the high-tech portion does not represent a clear majority. Also, AeA's definition does not include many 'related' industries, such as biotechnology, engineering services, and research and testing services." Likewise, "the 49 NAICS cod

Docuticker recently posted documents put out by Deloitte, LLP about the 2009 automotive and technology, media & telecom TMT) industries.   2009 Industry Outlook: Automotive discusses the challenges to the big 3 in the coming year; 2009 Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT) Predictions are broken down into three respective topics and "provide an in-depth look at the emerging issues that will have an impact on the technology, media and telecommunications sectors in the coming year. The 2009 series has drawn on internal and external inputs from conversations with member firm clients, contributions from Deloitte member firms’ 6,000 partners and managers specializing in TMT, and discussions with industry analysts, as well as interviews with leading executives from around the globe. Each report includes recommendations on how to leverage these trends." -Tyler Krumm

There's been a lot of discussion about the Wii in the office lately (Congratulations to Erin, Camille, Molly and Alexis on their special Christmas gifts!), and it's not just about video game fans under the age of 18. Intuitively, we know that " Older folks like Wii , PCs and cellphones, too ," but now there's more evidence to support that fact. This article discusses Wii bowling leagues happening within retirement communities, but it also cites a Forrester report, revealing that "U.S. adults 64 and older who bought technology in a recent three-month period spent an average $365 on consumer electronics products and $429 on computer hardware and peripherals." The author also reminds those who might be interested in marketing technology products to the 55 + crowd to consider senior-friendly computers, smartphones for seniors, tools to keep the mind and body sharp, and the importance of simplicity.

I've written about state rankings from the Milken Institute before. Here's another one, called the State Technology and Science Index . Published last June, this is their third version of this survey (they do it every four years). The survey attempts to rank each state by its level of investment and commitment to high technology and science. To understand how they do this, it's easier to quote from their site: "The State Technology and Science Index looks at 77 unique indicators that are categorized into five major components: * Human Capital Investment * Research and Development Inputs * Risk Capital and Entrepreneurial Infrastructure * Technology and Science Work Force * Technology Concentration and Dynamism" As you'll notice, New York ranks 15th in their list. This is where we ranked in 2004. Massachusetts ranks 1st, and they've held that spot in each of these surveys. If you click on New York on the map, you'll see a breakdown of where we rank am

I hope you all enjoyed staff training as much as I did. It was great to meet so many of you, and to put faces to email addresses! Prior to coming to our staff training, I went to the spring meeting of the Upstate New York Special Libraries Association. Our speaker was Stephen Abram, director of innovation at SirsiDynix, president-elect of SLA, and a library futurist. Like our futurist, Abram stressed the importance of continual learning, and the need for librarians to keep up with Web 2.0 and social web technologies. He cited a project conducted by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County, where employees of the library were encourage to play with web and digital technologies for 15 minutes a day and blog about their experiences. This project supported camaraderie within the library and in a short period of time, taught everyone some great new skills. Read more about that project here : There are so many new technologies out there that could help us in the way we w

"A BNET reader recently asked our Where's the Line? writer (aka "Your Conscience") what she should do after unexpectedly finding an office-wide salary list. Her dilemma? She's making less than her peers. In The Danger of Salary Secrets , the Conscience advises her not to abuse the power. Would you be tempted?" Of course, from the employers' point of view, one ought not to be leaving such information in the copier. Another recent article is The Great Workplace Wiki Divide? , where it discusses the effect of a "younger generation of workers who embrace Web-based tools in a way that often confounds older workers." I liked this recent intro: "No matter how much companies rely on technology to get to the job done faster, managers can't forget the human factor. How employees are managed, motivated, and led can make all the difference in the world about how they feel when they walk in the door and when they shut down their PCs at the end of t