The goal of this project is to measure the health and needs of Information Technology (IT) in various parts of Wisconsin, including the service areas for The Community Foundation of Greater South Wood County, Midstate Technical College, and Wisconsin's 9th District for the Department of Workforce Development.

To accomplish these goals, we plan to start with job data from Indeed.com, a job agreggator site to determine current demand for employees where IT is a core part of their function within an organization. We also plan to look at national and international trends by comparing that data to job postings on odesk.com.

We hope that this information will help inform employees and job candidates about the skills necessary to be succesful in the field. We expect that we might be able to inform local employers on current trends in the industry. And we expect to also inform educators so that they may continue to prepare well-trained graduates for the workforce.

Links for researchers

Job Scraper Application - Prototype 3 - Jul 13, 2011

Job Scraper Application - Prototype 2 - Jul 11, 2011

Job Scraper Application - Prototype 1 - Jul 11, 2011

Links for job seekers

Web Development

But who knew I needed pandas to really succeed?

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A shift from capitalism to creationism. How technology will make us creators more than consumers.

Slides 27-end

Discusses some of the key state and federal policy issues that could impact ecommerce and the web, including the digital divide, access, taxation, privacy, and copyright issues.

Slides 16-26

Some thoughts on convergence as it pertains to ecommerce.

Slides 11-15

Basic introduction to security concepts for ecommerce.

Slides 1-10

1. Facebook only updates every 3 or 4 days when reporting statistics on groups.
2. Make sure you know what is important and you measure accordingly right from the start.
3. People reciprocate. Comment on the work of others: they and their friends will return the favor.
4. The timing of your tweets and other communication makes a significant difference. Look for patterns.
5. On Twitter, find people with large networks and try and get them to retweet your work.
6. Write your tweets so that readers feel like they're part of your cause.
7. Iterate on your campaign; your first idea might not be your best idea.
8. Catchy names and titles are essential.
9. Platforms matter. Although you might be able to build it yourself, using platforms like YouTube and Flickr can help generate traffic.
10. Write or produce content ahead of time if you want to maintain momentum over the weekend.
11. Promoting just one piece of content can be much more difficult.
12. Humor works especially well (whether it's bacon or pandas).

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Micro-payments are those payments that are--according to the credit card companies--those that are under $12-$20. Wikipedia claims that systems handling payments under $1 have been unsuccessful. Apparently their authors haven't heard of iTunes.

But it got me to thinking about the history of micro-payments in general. While iTunes may have been the first to really turn micro-payments into a viable part of their business model, the notion has been around for some time.

Back in the spring of 1996* I wrote my second peer-reviewed article on something I called 'ecash'.

Here's the screenshot that I'm interested in:

I think there are a couple of notable things when we reflect back. The first is that names are powerful things. In 1996 digital cash was just as pervasive a term as ecommerce and 'net checking'. Part of what was happening was an intense effort to get consumers comfortable with the notion. The names, like net checking, were clear efforts to do that. Of course, they were also clear efforts to connect the concept to the players, like banks and credit card companies, that had a strong vested interest in the outcome. 

I was shocked that spring when an editor with Wired magazine called to interview me on the concept of what they were referring to as 'ecash'. It would make sense that they would align themselves with the same terminology that the most cutting edge businesses were using: the dot-coms.

That leads me to the second notion of micro-payments. Most of the interview revolved around my not only describing the features of ecash that I think it needed to succeed, but especially focused on the fact that I believed even in 1996 that ultimately online commerce was going to be dramatically shaped by transactions under $1. I also thought it was going to happen much, much, much more quickly than it has.

What's next for me? I think I'll take a look at Rupert Murdoch's publication (the Daily) that's exclusive to the iPad. We've got micro-payments that seem to be reshaping the music and software industry. Publishing doesn't need reshaping: it needs a little resussetation and micro-payments may just save a small piece of an otherwise soon-to-be-dead industry.

* “Mapping Ecash: Using the WWW to Teach Business Writing,” Kairos 1.1 (Spring 1996): np.