New look for the Watcher ... a new approach to sponsorship ... Future plans
A note from the publisher
Thanks to our media tech architect Nick Aster and media/managing editor Richard Koman (plus Amy’s advice), we have added a new look to SVW and a design feature that helps showcase our top stories, interviews and scoops. And it will make it easier to introduce other voices/writers and guest bloggers.
The showcase panel gets around the problem of our best stories being pushed down and down the page, and eventually off the page by the most recent stories--a characteristic of blogging software.
User interface design is often difficult to implement in blogging software because of the use of cascading style sheets (CSS). This allows for an unprecedented level of central control over the design of an entire web site, but CSS it is not easy to use well. Fortunately for us, nobody has more experience with blogging software and CSS in commercial environments than our Nick Aster.
InfineonWatch: a different approach
Nick has been working with our sponsor Infineon Technologies, setting up a web site to show the world through Infineon’s eyes. On InfineonWatch, in addition to deep links into the main Infineon site, you’ll be able to see what links, articles, ideas, Infineon is following externally.
These are based on the daily media watch collection of newspaper and magazine clippings that all large companies produce for internal use every day.
It’ll be interesting to see what types of external stories Infineon will choose to highlight. Will it be something that readers find valuable and interesting? Will the selection of stories communicate something about the culture of Infineon?
We’ll see, but it’s exactly this kind of project that we like to be involved with because it is a central topic of interest: how enterprises use media technologies. This is what drives markets.
Can Infineon, and our other sponsors, forge a way of communicating a brand identity/voice by showing the world what stories and issues they are watching? Are their other ways to use this format?
Our sponsors get to experiment with new media technologies, and they start building valuable experience in this area.
There are many questions within the enterprise sector about blogging and communications. We have some of the answers, and we will develop more answers over time. And as a media technology enabled publisher, we will share our top experts and what we learn with our readers, sponsors, partners, clients and others.
Our editorial coverage...
This blog is transitioning towards my original goal of establishing an online news magazine reporting on the business of Silicon Valley. This is an economic region that is one of the world's wealthiest, and a global brand that inspires millions of people to tackle some of the most challenging problems through innovation.
The newest trends are the emerging media technologies, such as blogging, wikis, RSS, that are becoming an important part in helping drive this next Silicon Valley business cycle.
We will also report on the many other aspects of Internet 2.0, the companies, the people, and the issues. I want to find the new generation of Silicon Valley leaders, the disruptors of conventional thinking. I’m bored to blazes with the same old media brands and the same old Silicon Valley establishment characters/executives. One more moderate-sized bubble will clear out this aging establishment and Silicon Valley will be a much different place by 2010.
We will add more bloggers and editors and guest writers. And we plan to use some of the media technologies to launch new types of publications and media businesses. We are especially interested in harnessing RSS, the syndication technology at the heart of the media technologies...and reporting on developments in this area.
RSS will be very important because it is an unpolluted communications channel. At least for now...
