Yankee in Canada.com

A report out in December from the Economist Intelligence Unit says, “Only 3% of [C-suite executives] describe their companies as ‘experts’ in using business data to drive better decisions, and only 27% agree that their company makes better, faster business decisions than their main competitors.”

According to The intelligent enterprise: Creating a culture of speedy and efficient decision-making:

• Decision-making is accelerating, and becoming centralised in the C-suite, rather than being pushed
  out to regions or business units.
• Despite the wide recognition that accurate and timely decision-making is crucial, most firms’ ability to
  make good decisions needs improvement.
• Customer service is a significant trouble spot. Information from customer service and support is ranked
  among the most critical to a company’s business strategy, yet it ranks poorly as a source of good
  business insight.
• Although data-driven decision-making is espoused by the C-suite, formal governance policies
  or procedures to ensure the consistency, integrity and accuracy of the data are rare. Even fewer
  companies dedicate resources to information governance, which is key to ensuring that information is
  properly analysed and transformed into actionable intelligence.

Fascinating that only 3% of executives would describe their own companies as being the best at using timely, relevant and accurate information for descision-making.

There’s one graph, in particular, that should grab the attention of any savvy knowledge and information professional out there.  It speaks to many potential opportunities out there for you.

About the survey
This survey included 208 respondents, 21% of whom were CEOs, presidents or managing directors, 45% held other C-level titles, and 23% were senior vicepresidents, vice-presidents or directors. Thirty-eight percent of respondents were located in North America, 27% in Western Europe and 23% in Asia-Pacifi c, while 29% worked at companies with annual revenue of US$10bn or more and 31% of respondents worked at companies with annual revenue of US$500m or less.

Social network graph of #slaname tweet replies October 14, 2009 to December 11, 2009.

The more lines you have, the more @replies to different people you sent. If you don’t appear on the graph, but know that you sent out @replies, it’s because the person you sent your @reply to never sent out an @reply and so that person won’t appear on the graph and unfortunately, you can’t either!

For a more detailed explanation of how this was done, see #sla2009 Social Network Graph.

Based on the code of eskimoblood.

Created using Processing with data from the #slaname Twapper Keeper archive setup by iBraryGuy.

For larger sizes, see the original on flickr.

There is a very interesting discussion going on over at Creating Passionate Users that’s related to the Library 2.0 event held recently here in Toronto.  The bit that pulled me in is thus:

But to say [Web 2.0] means nothing (or WORSE–to say it’s just a marketing label) is to mistake jargon (good) for buzzwords (bad). Where buzzwords are used to impress or mislead, jargon is used to communicate more efficiently and interestingly with others who share a similar level of knowledge and skills in a specific area.

I have to admit that prior to the SLA Toronto event, I was skeptical about the Library 2.0 term…that it was just another buzzword.  But the recent discussion on Library Crunch about deleting Library 2.0 from Wikipedia, which got my hackles up (Wait just a second here, they can’t take this away from us!) and CPUs enlightening piece about the difference between jargon and buzzwords has changed me.  I now look forward to continuing this discussion about how Library 2.0 is here to stay and how as information professionals we have to continue to define what Library 2.0 means and developing our own jargon – as CUP points out – not to be elitist but efficient in our discussions with each other. How exciting!

SLA Toronto put on a tremendous program last night.  Amanda Etches-Johnson, Carolyne Sidey, Connie Crosby, and Dave Hook spoke to nearly 50 members of the Chapter on the latest tech tools they are using to deliver products and services to their clients.  Following the four presentations, the group broke into six (at times very lively and loud) round-table discussions.  Each table was asked to consider the following two questions:

1. What are you doing in your library with these tech tools?
2. If you aren’t using these tech tools now, what tools do you plan to start using and why?

From the discussion at my table, web 2.0 (and by extension library 2.0) is a very new concept for a lot of special librarians.  Interestingly, most of the folks at my table had already begun to experiment with social bookmarking, flickr, commenting on blog posts and news articles, etc. but hadn’t realized this was part of the 2.0 concept.

By far, RSS feeds, wikis and blogs were the tools mostly likely to be used in the workplace for delivering information and collaboration (when technology barriers are overcome).  Social bookmarking via furl or del.icio.us won out, however, as the "low hanging fruit" of the bunch, i.e. the easiest and quickest of the 2.0 tools to start using.

To prepare for their presentation, the speakers started a wiki.  In the spirit of 2.0 the wiki was opened to all participants to be used as the group sees fit, e.g. for posting further resources, discussion, as a sandbox to figure out how wiki’s work, etc.  I’m particularly interested in seeing if the group assembled last night will actually use the wiki – even if it’s only for a brief time.  Talk about being given the chance to get your feet wet!  Is anyone going to dip a toe in?

Young Canadians who are frequent readers of newspapers are also more likely to vote in elections, volunteer time in community service, and be more socially active than less frequent readers, according to a national survey released this week by the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA).

• Reading Between the Lines: Debunking Common Myths about Young Newspaper Readers (Full report – PDF)
• Canadian Newspaper Association
  • Ultimate Online Guide to Canadian Newspapers
  • Media Links in Canada and Abroad
  • Newspaper Resources (circulation, market research, workshops and seminars)
• D-Code

From the release:

1. "Young newspaper readers are involved in the world around them. As a result, there are strong social benefits correlated with newspaper readership among youth. These include: increased participation in the political process and increased involvement in community activities.
2. Young newspaper readers readily form opinions and seek out opportunities to express them so as to influence others.
3. Young newspaper readers are socially active and outgoing. They are more likely to visit shopping malls, restaurants, bars or night clubs than infrequent readers.
4. Young readers depend more on conventional sources than on new media for information on issues of importance to them. They rate newspapers highly for credibility, but prefer online sources for world news, entertainment and weather.
5. Young readers participate in new media and embrace new technologies more than less frequent readers.
6. They are plugged-in, but not tuned out. The news-heavy front sections and local news are the top two content areas read by young readers.
7. If young people have not become newspaper readers by age 24 they are unlikely to become readers later in life. Exposure to newspapers in schools as well as in the home has a significant impact on future readership.
8. Newspapers should not take their younger readers for granted. Young readers actively seek out news and information and have embraced all the technologies that deliver it. They will go elsewhere if they cannot find what they are looking for in the pages of a daily newspaper."

1,500 young people aged 14-34 participated in the study, conducted online across Canada in April, 2006.