This document summarizes the prominence of Wesleyan University alumni in New York City's digital media and technology industries. It describes how over 100 Wesleyan alumni attended an event at the offices of media investment firm ZelnickMedia, highlighting the growing network of Wesleyan graduates across New York's tech sector. It attributes Wesleyan's influence to nurturing creative, collaborative thinking suited to empowering individuals through new media tools, and notes several influential alumni like John Borthwick who have founded successful startups and investment firms in digital fields.
The document discusses integrative studies and the author's educational journey. It defines integrative studies as making connections among ideas and applying learning to new situations. The author studied art and computers before pursuing a degree in Business Management Information Systems to blend business and technology. This enabled connections between the author's experiences and prepared them for a career in IT security, where complex problems require considering multiple perspectives. Upon graduation, the author plans to work for USAA, applying their knowledge and continuing to develop skills through education.
HRevolution Session presented at the HR Technology Conference October 5, 2011 - 'Your Kid Will Never Work in an Office'. Presented by Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane.
Technology Changing at Lightning Fast SpeedsNicole Black
The document discusses how technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate and how this is changing the legal profession. It notes that in just the past decade, new technologies like smartphones, social media, tablets, and cloud computing have been invented and widely adopted. The document criticizes a recent ABA ethics opinion for implying that all electronic communication poses risks, which could discourage lawyers from adapting to new technologies. It argues that ethics committees should provide thoughtful guidance to help lawyers navigate this changing landscape. The rapid pace of technological change is transforming society and the legal field must acknowledge, understand, accept, and encourage the adoption of new technologies.
- The document provides updates on enrollment numbers, an ongoing dean search, and upcoming events at Louisiana Tech University's College of Business. First-time freshman enrollment was up 13% and total enrollment in the college of business was 1147, a 3.1% increase. The search committee for a new dean hopes to make recommendations in February.
- The computer information systems program at Louisiana Tech prepares students with both technical and business skills for careers in fields like software development, database administration, and project management. The program partners with local companies like Computer Sciences Corporation and CenturyLink to provide career opportunities for graduates.
- Dr. Christie Fuller of the College of Business recently obtained the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional
This document traces the evolution of social media and user-generated content from early bulletin board systems (BBS) to modern platforms. It discusses how BBS allowed users to communicate, share information, and interact online in the 1980s. Blogs emerged in the late 1990s as online diaries that became popular ways to publish content. Factors like simplified publishing tools, affordable electronics, and broadband internet helped blogs flourish in the early 2000s. Today's social media builds on these foundations by facilitating participatory sharing and user-centered design through platforms like social networks, wikis, and video/image sharing sites. The shift from a "read-only" Web 1.0 to a more conversational Web 2.0 empower
This document discusses the rise of entrepreneurship and home-based businesses over large corporations. It argues that technological advances have reduced transaction costs, making it more efficient for individuals to work independently. Home-based entrepreneurs now have access to the best technology and can be more innovative than large corporations. Recent tax law changes also provide benefits like retirement savings and health insurance to self-employed individuals, leveling the playing field compared to traditional employees. The author concludes that the greatest opportunities today lie in entrepreneurship rather than working for large corporations that are increasingly being dismantled.
Essay 3 annotated bibliography final copy 18 july 2012rclambert
This document contains an annotated bibliography by Curtis Lambert for an English course. It summarizes 5 sources that discuss issues of media piracy and its impact on the entertainment industry. The sources include an essay by Lawrence Lessig, a film about do-it-yourself television production, an e-book on intellectual property wars, a long essay on the history of copyright debates, and a research paper questioning claims of economic harm from piracy. Lambert argues that the sources support the view that piracy has been an ongoing issue even as technologies change, and that the basic laws around unauthorized media duplication have remained constant.
The document discusses integrative studies and the author's educational journey. It defines integrative studies as making connections among ideas and applying learning to new situations. The author studied art and computers before pursuing a degree in Business Management Information Systems to blend business and technology. This enabled connections between the author's experiences and prepared them for a career in IT security, where complex problems require considering multiple perspectives. Upon graduation, the author plans to work for USAA, applying their knowledge and continuing to develop skills through education.
HRevolution Session presented at the HR Technology Conference October 5, 2011 - 'Your Kid Will Never Work in an Office'. Presented by Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane.
Technology Changing at Lightning Fast SpeedsNicole Black
The document discusses how technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate and how this is changing the legal profession. It notes that in just the past decade, new technologies like smartphones, social media, tablets, and cloud computing have been invented and widely adopted. The document criticizes a recent ABA ethics opinion for implying that all electronic communication poses risks, which could discourage lawyers from adapting to new technologies. It argues that ethics committees should provide thoughtful guidance to help lawyers navigate this changing landscape. The rapid pace of technological change is transforming society and the legal field must acknowledge, understand, accept, and encourage the adoption of new technologies.
- The document provides updates on enrollment numbers, an ongoing dean search, and upcoming events at Louisiana Tech University's College of Business. First-time freshman enrollment was up 13% and total enrollment in the college of business was 1147, a 3.1% increase. The search committee for a new dean hopes to make recommendations in February.
- The computer information systems program at Louisiana Tech prepares students with both technical and business skills for careers in fields like software development, database administration, and project management. The program partners with local companies like Computer Sciences Corporation and CenturyLink to provide career opportunities for graduates.
- Dr. Christie Fuller of the College of Business recently obtained the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional
This document traces the evolution of social media and user-generated content from early bulletin board systems (BBS) to modern platforms. It discusses how BBS allowed users to communicate, share information, and interact online in the 1980s. Blogs emerged in the late 1990s as online diaries that became popular ways to publish content. Factors like simplified publishing tools, affordable electronics, and broadband internet helped blogs flourish in the early 2000s. Today's social media builds on these foundations by facilitating participatory sharing and user-centered design through platforms like social networks, wikis, and video/image sharing sites. The shift from a "read-only" Web 1.0 to a more conversational Web 2.0 empower
This document discusses the rise of entrepreneurship and home-based businesses over large corporations. It argues that technological advances have reduced transaction costs, making it more efficient for individuals to work independently. Home-based entrepreneurs now have access to the best technology and can be more innovative than large corporations. Recent tax law changes also provide benefits like retirement savings and health insurance to self-employed individuals, leveling the playing field compared to traditional employees. The author concludes that the greatest opportunities today lie in entrepreneurship rather than working for large corporations that are increasingly being dismantled.
Essay 3 annotated bibliography final copy 18 july 2012rclambert
This document contains an annotated bibliography by Curtis Lambert for an English course. It summarizes 5 sources that discuss issues of media piracy and its impact on the entertainment industry. The sources include an essay by Lawrence Lessig, a film about do-it-yourself television production, an e-book on intellectual property wars, a long essay on the history of copyright debates, and a research paper questioning claims of economic harm from piracy. Lambert argues that the sources support the view that piracy has been an ongoing issue even as technologies change, and that the basic laws around unauthorized media duplication have remained constant.
This document discusses the declining interest in engineering careers in the UK and proposes potential solutions. It notes that while only 3% of engineering graduates enter finance, the perception exists that engineering does not pay well or offer interesting work. It advocates raising the profile of successful engineers through business leaders promoting their backgrounds. Overall it argues that a cohesive national strategy is needed to change perceptions of engineering and inspire more young people, especially women, to pursue engineering careers.
Digital Transformation in Procurement 2018 Jon Hansen
This discussion paper examines the cultural effect or influence on the development, introduction, and successful implementation of a digital strategy from four key areas; home culture, generational culture, gender culture, and senior management culture.
Through the examination of these four areas, the reader will be able to determine the alignment of their current cultural environments, and use said understanding as a predictive tool for determining their organization's digital readiness and as a result the likelihood of initiative success.
The document discusses learning in the 21st century and how technology is changing education. It outlines how skills like creativity, collaboration, and communication are important for learning in today's world. New technologies like mobile apps, social media, and e-learning tools can help develop these skills while also optimizing thinking and knowledge building.
The document discusses learning in the 21st century. It outlines how 21st century life and economic values have shifted to prioritize knowledge, creativity, and innovation. As a result, education needs to focus on developing core cognitive skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. New technologies can support collaborative and self-directed learning to help develop these skills. Overall, the document argues that education needs to evolve to cultivate skills that will help societies and individuals succeed in a global, knowledge-based economy.
The 2012 Roundtable on Institutional Innovation convened leaders to explore how organizations can stay atop today’s constant technological advancement. In the current economic environment, growth and underemployment are two outstanding national, indeed international, problems. While technological advances and globalization are often cited as instigators of the current plight, they are also beacons of hope for the future. Connecting the Edges concludes that by integrating the core of an organization with the edge, where innovation is more likely to happen, we can create dynamic, learning networks.
This document discusses digital literacy for adults and young people. It begins by defining digital literacy as the ability to use technology to find, evaluate, create and share information. The scope of digital literacy is broad, impacting many areas of life from relationships to employment. Some adults and young people may lack digital skills due to barriers like access to technology, connectivity issues, disabilities or low literacy levels. People are motivated to improve digital literacy for reasons like job searching, communication, education and supporting others. Barriers can be overcome through education, raising awareness of resources, and providing supportive learning environments.
This document provides guidance on engaging customers through effective messaging and content creation. It discusses three key steps: having a simple message conveyed in 10 words or less, creating shareable visual content like photos and videos, and targeting the messaging at early adopters who will spread the word. The goal is to develop content that resonates and spreads widely through social sharing.
Whitepaper: Helping you test drive your Big data for a progressive journey aheadIntellectyx Inc
PAPER OVERVIEW
Today most of the industries such as Banking, Finance, Manufacturing, Retail, etc... face common big data issues and are in search of the right solution to resolve them.
Do any of the following big data issues sound familiar to you?
• Supply Chain Analytics
• Managing Trend Analysis
• Data Management
• Market Mix Modelling
• Inventory Optimization
• Profitability Analysis
• Consumer Insights, Predict Consumer Behavior, Loyalty Programs Management
• Reporting and Dashboards Solutions for Management
If your answer is ‘Yes’, then Big Data POC is the perfect solution to all your problems.
A History of Product Development at betaworksNeil Wehrle
Slides from my talk covering a history of product development at betaworks in New York, where I work. I talk about bit.ly and chartbeat, and the paths and decisions made along the way.
Over the last few years there has been a growing movement of contemporary artists positioning their practice in the space between art and commerce via standard revenue models. More recent is the growing number of artists leaving creative and technical enterprises to launch their own practice leveraging the startup model.
Founder of Net.Work and the art tech community Mimetic Network discusses the emerging art tech market and the entrepreneurial artist.
The end of the (startup) world as we know itBrant Cooper
The document discusses the changing realities for startups and the rise of the "lean startup" model. It advocates for an approach where entrepreneurs validate their business model through customer development and iterative product testing rather than long development cycles. The key aspects of a lean startup discussed are developing a minimum viable product, continuously testing product-market fit, and getting customer feedback to make rapid pivots rather than large-scale launches. The goal is to maximize learning with limited funds and prove viability before scaling up.
Whitepaper: Thriving in the Big Data era Manage Data before Data Manages you Intellectyx Inc
Paper Overview -
Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone.
Data comes from everywhere and we are generating data more than ever before.
This white paper will explain what Big Data is and provide practical examples, concluding with a message how to put data your data to work.
Lean hardware startups: elements of a ubiquitous computing innovation ecosystemMike Kuniavsky
(Look at slide notes for full transcript)
How can digital hardware startups be more like Github and less like General Motors?
The pieces that fell together to create the ecosystem of tools and business models that lead to the creation of Eric Ries' Lean Startup model for online products are now falling into place in the hardware sector. We're about to see an explosion of hardware startups based on the same ideas. Technological, social and financial changes are coming together to allow entrepreneurs to rapidly iterate new digital devices focused on customer needs. These core elements create a new way to conceptualize the development of digital hardware products. This talk will examine the components that are creating this change and suggest some directions we can expect things to go, and how we can take advantage of it.
Presentation_Using Startup Culture To Scale Social Impact_General Assembly 12...Joey Womack
Joey Womack founded Amplify4Good to use startup culture and rapid experimentation to help address social problems in underserved areas. Basic needs in these areas lag behind national averages due to an inefficient social change ecosystem. Amplify4Good works with organizations and clients to help solve problems through rapid problem-solving techniques inspired by tech startups. Their work has reached over 500 million people of social impact and they teach others to think like tech entrepreneurs to create positive change.
This document describes Innovatube Foundation's Apprentice 2016 startup studio program. The 3-month program will train engineers to build minimum viable products, develop business models, and launch sustainable startups. Participants will receive resources like mentors, funding, and office space. Eligible candidates are engineers aged 20-30 based in Hanoi with strong English and entrepreneurial spirit. The application deadline is May 4th, with the program running from June to August 2016.
Our unique Startup Experienceships aim to kick internships into the 21st century with a blend of practical training on business startup and real time work experience in innovative cowork spaces from the worlds most entrepreneurial capitals.
Hacking Education:: Practical Skills to Build Your Product And Startup #Start...Kalina King
From talks given at #StartupAddVenture and #StartupTurkey. An introduction to education today, the need for digital skills and practical education, a few words on General Assembly, and <13> practical tips / resources for entrepreneurs to get started learning online and offline.
Credits/Attributions:
GA Core Values - slides from General Assembly
Own Photography, Gif image (and endless inspiration!) from Mart van de Ven https://slides.com/martvandeven, Select graphics from General Assembly website, Vector Icons from http://www.flaticon.com/, Product Hunt screenshot from http://producthunt.com
Thank you to friends, colleagues, mentors, teachers from around the world and particularly from my time at GA.
Take these lists as just that, lists and words and links. There was a lot of context that isn't captured in the text on the slides. Suggestions welcome @kalinaking
Estimote q3-demo-betaworks ja00044-dosadaDaisuke Osada
The document introduces Jakub Krzych, Co-Founder and CEO of Estimote, Inc., an American company located in Walnut, California and Poland that develops wireless beacons and a digital platform to provide micro-location context to smartphones and other smart devices using Bluetooth Low Energy technology. It describes Estimote's iBeacon-compatible wireless sensors that can provide proximity marketing, product engagement, indoor analytics and other location-based services to industries like retail through APIs and SDKs. The company aims to make connectivity and location-awareness automatic without friction for users.
Business Model Innovation: Designing and testing business model in a corporat...Milan Vukas
A hands-on workshop about how to design and test business models in a corporate environment. This workshop will empower you to create better value propositions for your innovative ideas.
This workshop was part of the Knowledge in Focus Conference 2016 organized by Podravka on 24. November 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia (More information about the event here: http://www.podravka.com/company/knowledge-in-focus-2016/)
The Innovation HitList: If You're A Startup Looking To Work With Brands, Thes...Partnered
From http://news.partnered.com - the company-to-company innovation & bizdev, network, 21 of the most important investors, brand managers, agencies and more in the world where brands meet startups. Startups are transforming how brands advertise and market.
But what does it take to compete in this landscape? For new entrepreneurs trying to build companies, there are key players in the ecosystem - from investors to brand managers to agencies to media partners - who are breaking new ground and who can open vital doors.
This document discusses the declining interest in engineering careers in the UK and proposes potential solutions. It notes that while only 3% of engineering graduates enter finance, the perception exists that engineering does not pay well or offer interesting work. It advocates raising the profile of successful engineers through business leaders promoting their backgrounds. Overall it argues that a cohesive national strategy is needed to change perceptions of engineering and inspire more young people, especially women, to pursue engineering careers.
Digital Transformation in Procurement 2018 Jon Hansen
This discussion paper examines the cultural effect or influence on the development, introduction, and successful implementation of a digital strategy from four key areas; home culture, generational culture, gender culture, and senior management culture.
Through the examination of these four areas, the reader will be able to determine the alignment of their current cultural environments, and use said understanding as a predictive tool for determining their organization's digital readiness and as a result the likelihood of initiative success.
The document discusses learning in the 21st century and how technology is changing education. It outlines how skills like creativity, collaboration, and communication are important for learning in today's world. New technologies like mobile apps, social media, and e-learning tools can help develop these skills while also optimizing thinking and knowledge building.
The document discusses learning in the 21st century. It outlines how 21st century life and economic values have shifted to prioritize knowledge, creativity, and innovation. As a result, education needs to focus on developing core cognitive skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. New technologies can support collaborative and self-directed learning to help develop these skills. Overall, the document argues that education needs to evolve to cultivate skills that will help societies and individuals succeed in a global, knowledge-based economy.
The 2012 Roundtable on Institutional Innovation convened leaders to explore how organizations can stay atop today’s constant technological advancement. In the current economic environment, growth and underemployment are two outstanding national, indeed international, problems. While technological advances and globalization are often cited as instigators of the current plight, they are also beacons of hope for the future. Connecting the Edges concludes that by integrating the core of an organization with the edge, where innovation is more likely to happen, we can create dynamic, learning networks.
This document discusses digital literacy for adults and young people. It begins by defining digital literacy as the ability to use technology to find, evaluate, create and share information. The scope of digital literacy is broad, impacting many areas of life from relationships to employment. Some adults and young people may lack digital skills due to barriers like access to technology, connectivity issues, disabilities or low literacy levels. People are motivated to improve digital literacy for reasons like job searching, communication, education and supporting others. Barriers can be overcome through education, raising awareness of resources, and providing supportive learning environments.
This document provides guidance on engaging customers through effective messaging and content creation. It discusses three key steps: having a simple message conveyed in 10 words or less, creating shareable visual content like photos and videos, and targeting the messaging at early adopters who will spread the word. The goal is to develop content that resonates and spreads widely through social sharing.
Whitepaper: Helping you test drive your Big data for a progressive journey aheadIntellectyx Inc
PAPER OVERVIEW
Today most of the industries such as Banking, Finance, Manufacturing, Retail, etc... face common big data issues and are in search of the right solution to resolve them.
Do any of the following big data issues sound familiar to you?
• Supply Chain Analytics
• Managing Trend Analysis
• Data Management
• Market Mix Modelling
• Inventory Optimization
• Profitability Analysis
• Consumer Insights, Predict Consumer Behavior, Loyalty Programs Management
• Reporting and Dashboards Solutions for Management
If your answer is ‘Yes’, then Big Data POC is the perfect solution to all your problems.
A History of Product Development at betaworksNeil Wehrle
Slides from my talk covering a history of product development at betaworks in New York, where I work. I talk about bit.ly and chartbeat, and the paths and decisions made along the way.
Over the last few years there has been a growing movement of contemporary artists positioning their practice in the space between art and commerce via standard revenue models. More recent is the growing number of artists leaving creative and technical enterprises to launch their own practice leveraging the startup model.
Founder of Net.Work and the art tech community Mimetic Network discusses the emerging art tech market and the entrepreneurial artist.
The end of the (startup) world as we know itBrant Cooper
The document discusses the changing realities for startups and the rise of the "lean startup" model. It advocates for an approach where entrepreneurs validate their business model through customer development and iterative product testing rather than long development cycles. The key aspects of a lean startup discussed are developing a minimum viable product, continuously testing product-market fit, and getting customer feedback to make rapid pivots rather than large-scale launches. The goal is to maximize learning with limited funds and prove viability before scaling up.
Whitepaper: Thriving in the Big Data era Manage Data before Data Manages you Intellectyx Inc
Paper Overview -
Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone.
Data comes from everywhere and we are generating data more than ever before.
This white paper will explain what Big Data is and provide practical examples, concluding with a message how to put data your data to work.
Lean hardware startups: elements of a ubiquitous computing innovation ecosystemMike Kuniavsky
(Look at slide notes for full transcript)
How can digital hardware startups be more like Github and less like General Motors?
The pieces that fell together to create the ecosystem of tools and business models that lead to the creation of Eric Ries' Lean Startup model for online products are now falling into place in the hardware sector. We're about to see an explosion of hardware startups based on the same ideas. Technological, social and financial changes are coming together to allow entrepreneurs to rapidly iterate new digital devices focused on customer needs. These core elements create a new way to conceptualize the development of digital hardware products. This talk will examine the components that are creating this change and suggest some directions we can expect things to go, and how we can take advantage of it.
Presentation_Using Startup Culture To Scale Social Impact_General Assembly 12...Joey Womack
Joey Womack founded Amplify4Good to use startup culture and rapid experimentation to help address social problems in underserved areas. Basic needs in these areas lag behind national averages due to an inefficient social change ecosystem. Amplify4Good works with organizations and clients to help solve problems through rapid problem-solving techniques inspired by tech startups. Their work has reached over 500 million people of social impact and they teach others to think like tech entrepreneurs to create positive change.
This document describes Innovatube Foundation's Apprentice 2016 startup studio program. The 3-month program will train engineers to build minimum viable products, develop business models, and launch sustainable startups. Participants will receive resources like mentors, funding, and office space. Eligible candidates are engineers aged 20-30 based in Hanoi with strong English and entrepreneurial spirit. The application deadline is May 4th, with the program running from June to August 2016.
Our unique Startup Experienceships aim to kick internships into the 21st century with a blend of practical training on business startup and real time work experience in innovative cowork spaces from the worlds most entrepreneurial capitals.
Hacking Education:: Practical Skills to Build Your Product And Startup #Start...Kalina King
From talks given at #StartupAddVenture and #StartupTurkey. An introduction to education today, the need for digital skills and practical education, a few words on General Assembly, and <13> practical tips / resources for entrepreneurs to get started learning online and offline.
Credits/Attributions:
GA Core Values - slides from General Assembly
Own Photography, Gif image (and endless inspiration!) from Mart van de Ven https://slides.com/martvandeven, Select graphics from General Assembly website, Vector Icons from http://www.flaticon.com/, Product Hunt screenshot from http://producthunt.com
Thank you to friends, colleagues, mentors, teachers from around the world and particularly from my time at GA.
Take these lists as just that, lists and words and links. There was a lot of context that isn't captured in the text on the slides. Suggestions welcome @kalinaking
Estimote q3-demo-betaworks ja00044-dosadaDaisuke Osada
The document introduces Jakub Krzych, Co-Founder and CEO of Estimote, Inc., an American company located in Walnut, California and Poland that develops wireless beacons and a digital platform to provide micro-location context to smartphones and other smart devices using Bluetooth Low Energy technology. It describes Estimote's iBeacon-compatible wireless sensors that can provide proximity marketing, product engagement, indoor analytics and other location-based services to industries like retail through APIs and SDKs. The company aims to make connectivity and location-awareness automatic without friction for users.
Business Model Innovation: Designing and testing business model in a corporat...Milan Vukas
A hands-on workshop about how to design and test business models in a corporate environment. This workshop will empower you to create better value propositions for your innovative ideas.
This workshop was part of the Knowledge in Focus Conference 2016 organized by Podravka on 24. November 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia (More information about the event here: http://www.podravka.com/company/knowledge-in-focus-2016/)
The Innovation HitList: If You're A Startup Looking To Work With Brands, Thes...Partnered
From http://news.partnered.com - the company-to-company innovation & bizdev, network, 21 of the most important investors, brand managers, agencies and more in the world where brands meet startups. Startups are transforming how brands advertise and market.
But what does it take to compete in this landscape? For new entrepreneurs trying to build companies, there are key players in the ecosystem - from investors to brand managers to agencies to media partners - who are breaking new ground and who can open vital doors.
World Startup Report is a social mission to document and connect the global startup community. Starting on 1/1/2013 - 9/30/2013, the World Startup Report will be traveling to 29 countries and 36 cities. Take a look at our mission & itinerary. Let us know if you are interested in meeting us!
This document provides an introduction to the New York startup community. It discusses notable NYC startups, what defines a startup ecosystem, common misconceptions about entrepreneurship, common roles at startups, and first steps for getting involved including attending events, building skills, and finding a job or starting a company. Recommendations are made for blogs, newsletters, organizations, coworking spaces, and accelerators.
Notation Capital is a NYC-based pre-seed venture capital fund that seeks to partner with highly technical founders building scalable internet companies. They believe that operational and capital efficiency have increased dramatically, allowing companies to gain many users with little funding. As successful NYC startups mature, technical talent is leaving to start new companies, presenting opportunities. Notation is well positioned as experienced technologists and investors to help the next wave of founders with guidance and small amounts of early funding.
1. Introduction to the Startup Ecosystem
2. Startups in Hong Kong
3. Community builders
4. Government support & Universities
5. Incubator and Accelerator Programs
6. Competitions, events
7. Talent's corner
8. Co-working spaces
9. Venture Capital
10. Resources
11. References
By Board of Innovation (www.boardofinnovation.com)
Full program & tools available. A step by step approach to create an innovation platform in your company.
The Guide to the New York Startup Scene is a resource for startups, investors, entrepreneurs or anyone interested in seeing what the Big Apple has to offer the growing tech scene.
The document summarizes a study on New York City's growing tech/information sector. Key points:
- The sector has grown rapidly since the recession, adding over 26,000 jobs and $5.8 billion in wages from 2007-2012. This accounted for about one-third of total private sector job growth and two-thirds of wage growth in NYC.
- The sector now employs 262,000 workers contributing $29.9 billion annually in wages, making it the second largest sector in NYC after financial services.
- Brooklyn's tech sector growth has outpaced other large counties, except for San Francisco. NYC's policies like tech incubators and broadband expansion helped accelerate growth.
- The sector combines tech
BUILDING A DIGITAL CITY: THE GROWTH AND IMPACT OF NEW YORK CITY’S TECH/INFORM...Ahmad Musdikar
The document summarizes a study on New York City's growing tech/information sector. Key points:
- The sector has grown rapidly since the recession, adding over 26,000 jobs and $5.8 billion in wages from 2007-2012. This accounted for about one-third of total private sector job growth and two-thirds of wage growth in NYC.
- The sector now employs 262,000 workers contributing $29.9 billion annually in wages, making it the second largest sector in NYC after financial services.
- Brooklyn's tech sector growth has outpaced other large counties, except for San Francisco. NYC's policies like tech incubators and broadband expansion helped accelerate growth.
- The sector combines tech
Carmarley Dennis is the 28-year-old founder of Hubbly Bubbly, a premium vaping company. He studied law at King's College London, graduating in 2013. He launched Hubbly Bubbly at age 26. Early challenges included funding, but he secured angel investment. More recently, distribution and cash flow have been issues but he has focused on strong revenue sources. He advises starting a venture as a side project in university to gain early customers and confidence. Over the next 12 months, Hubbly Bubbly's products will be listed in more retailers.
The Digital Transformation Playbook_ Rethink Your Business for the Digital Ag...DarkoGolec
The document discusses the digital transformation of Encyclopædia Britannica from a print publisher to an online business. Britannica faced challenges from new digital competitors like Microsoft Encarta and Wikipedia but was able to adapt by shifting to online delivery of its encyclopedia, experimenting with pricing, and maintaining a focus on editorial quality and education. Rather than defending its old print model, Britannica transformed its business to meet changing customer needs and behaviors in the digital age.
- Social networks are crucially important to Silicon Valley's success but have been little studied. The analysis of social networks was mainly the province of sociologists but they recently became interested in industrial organization and methods for network study are new.
- This document outlines a project to systematically map and analyze the evolution of Silicon Valley's networks over time, including networks between different institutional sectors like education, venture capital, law, etc. It will examine how these sectors are linked and influence each other.
- It introduces concepts of social networks and their importance in economies and industries, providing examples of their roles in labor markets, power/influence, and innovation in Silicon Valley.
CASE 1Pre-Internet Development and Web 1.0Assignment OverviewA.docxPazSilviapm
CASE 1
Pre-Internet Development and Web 1.0
Assignment Overview
As we said earlier, the development of the Internet involved a considerable period of more-or-less parallel evolution of a number of technologies and organizations. But like any process of social evolution, some events were more important than others in terms of influencing where we are today. Your task in this project is to identify some of those key turning points.
There are a lot of tools to help you. One of the most useful is “Hobbes’ Internet Timeline” found at
http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
, a compilation of key events in Internet evolution dating back to the 1950s. You should also be prepared to consult some of the readings and other resources suggested in the Background page as useful sources of information. Your aim is to get a picture clear in your mind about how the different threads of the Internet got woven together.
Case Assignment
For this assignment, write a 3- to 4-page paper that addresses the following question:
Identify what you consider to be the five most important and/or significant events contributing to the evolution of the modern Internet that occurred in the period 1800–1991.
Provide a few paragraphs explaining why you consider each event to be one of the most important Internet-related milestones. Be sure to cite any resources that you used. The fifth and last event in your catalog should be the following, from Hobbes’ 1991 listing:
World-Wide Web (WWW) released by
CERN
; Tim Berners-Lee developer (:pb1:). First Web server is nxoc01.cern.ch, launched in Nov 1990 and later renamed info.cern.ch.
Many of the events you choose will be listed in the Hobbes timeline, but it is not the only source you will want to draw on. Be sure to include examples of 1) technological developments and 2) social/organizational events in your listing.
Assignment Expectations
Your paper should be 3–4 pages in length and reflect your personal experiences with the timeline.
The
important part of the project assignments is to carefully assess your own experiences with the topic, and then reflect critically on what you might have learned
about yourself and about situations through this assessment process.
The more you can use the exercise to develop personal implications for your growth as a potential businessperson as well as an Internet-savvy individual, the more value you will get out of the exercise.
SLP 1
Pre-Internet Development and Web 1.0
Your SLP assignment is to consider the great dot-com boom and bust and to understand its influence on the Internet of today. The dot-com bubble was the major watershed in the brief history of the Internet.
There is certainly no shortage of material describing this significant set of events. Probably the best place to begin for an overview is the following video:
CWnEconomy. (2012, February 24). Dot-com bubble documentary. [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2FybpdrlYM
Here are two other good.
New York City has positioned itself as a major tech hub through initiatives like Cornell Tech and incentives for startups. Its industries attract innovative minds and financial backing, while hubs like Cornell Tech provide education and networking opportunities. Venture capital in NYC is growing much faster than in Silicon Valley, demonstrating the city's rise as a center for tech startups. Increased competition for funding will drive startups to sharpen their ideas and attract investors.
ebusiness Strategy in Entrepreneurship 2: Pedro Eloy at SMECC - 20130903smecchk
This document provides an overview of strategies for developing a successful e-business through entrepreneurship. It discusses understanding the evolving digital landscape and key rules, identifying opportunity areas, and the skills, activities, and steps needed. Examples are given of famous companies that started in garages. The importance of creativity, engagement, social media, video, lean methodology, usability, and being findable, cross-platform, and using business frameworks are covered. The impact of technology on reducing gaps and connecting people is addressed.
Peter Thiel announced the inaugural class of 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellows. The 24 fellows, ages 16-20, were selected from over 400 applicants to receive $100,000 each over 2 years to pursue innovative scientific and technical projects instead of college. The fellows' projects cover areas like biotech, education, energy, robotics and more. The goal of the program is to advance new technologies and encourage technical innovation from outstanding young minds.
A paradigm shift in Education by Web2.0 technologiesLukas Ritzel
a webcast presentation done by lukas ritzel during World conference of AIAER on
Higher education: Need for priAm variate reforms, August 03-05, 2009 Organized by
Lovely School of Education, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab and supported by IMI University Centre, Luzern, Switzerland
Write an Essay Online - Online Custom Essay Writing Service 24/7. How to Write a Great Essay Quickly! – ESL Buzz. How To: Essay Types | Essay writing skills, Essay writing, Essay .... 24 Greatest College Essay Examples – RedlineSP.
This document discusses trends affecting the future of work, including technological advances, globalization, the network economy, the knowledge society, and demographics. It focuses on millennials and generation Z, describing their characteristics and how they are reshaping the workplace. Companies like IBM, Unilever, and Microsoft are highlighted as innovating to attract and engage millennial talent through initiatives like digital hiring processes, reverse mentoring programs, and internal communities focused on the millennial experience.
We are pleased to give to you the 2015 Innovation Forecast Report. We used the principle of the triple helix while inviting influencers to co-author this edition. Thus, in the report you can find publications of entrepreneurs, scientists and government representatives. Such a combination allows to show different perspectives of thinking and bringing innovation into life.
Among the invited authors are:
Paweł Adamowicz - The Mayor of the City of Gdańsk
Sebastian Grabowski - Director of the Research and Development Centre, Orange Poland
Paweł Tkaczyk - guru of branding and allfather of Midea
Izabela Disterheft - Director of Gdansk Science and Technology Park
Sebastian Brzuzek - Head of Innovation in Meritum Bank ICB
Krzysztof Kanawka - scientist and Leader in Blue Dot Solutions
Agata Kukwa - CEO, dlaodmiany.pl
Bartosz Rychlicki – CEO, Quantum Lab
Wojciech Drewczyński – Product Owner, Gamereer
and
Marcin Kowalik – Managing Partner, Black Pearls VC
All of the authors pointed out an important trend that is worth following. Using help of Jamel interactive agency and their solution called Social Board we gathered references to these trends published by internet users worldwide. With simple click on a hashtag under each forecast you will see how the trend is growing around the world and how ideas that are connected to that topic are developing.
http://innovation.socialboard.pl/
Open source refers not just to software but a larger movement of cooperation enabled by open networks. Professor Yochai Benkler argues this represents a shift from considering humans as purely self-interested, to recognizing motivations like cooperation and working for the common good. New technologies have facilitated open dialogues that allow ideas and knowledge to spread in new ways, like the Arab Spring protests which leveraged social networks. Benkler believes we are moving to a system of more cooperative production, innovation and problem solving. Open source communities exemplify this as ideas and code build democratically on each other through open sharing.
The document provides a digital strategy report for the SSE Arena Belfast. It discusses the changing digital landscape and the rise of digital disruption. It outlines advantages and challenges of operating digitally, including higher customer expectations, the need for digitally skilled staff, and managing big data. Industries that have been disrupted by digital technologies like Airbnb and Blockbuster are examined. A SWOT analysis of the SSE Arena identifies strengths like its large capacity and location, as well as weaknesses like its small marketing team. Digital tools used for customer acquisition at the SSE Arena include a downloadable app and social media presence. Competitors like the 3Arena in Dublin are analyzed for their strong social media engagement and digital offerings.
The role of international entrepreneurial networks in cyberspace.
School of Business Administration
International Business Department
MIB - International Entrepreneurship
Prof. Sascha Fürst
presented by
Sonia Patricia Osorio Giraldo
Sandra Ospina D´Alleman
Juan David Duque Arredondo
Alexander Zehnder
The document discusses how major players in the technology and communications industry are positioning themselves to capitalize on new business opportunities created by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Network equipment vendors are using VoIP to build more multipurpose infrastructure for carriers. The document also briefly mentions how VoIP has the potential to become one of the largest applications on the internet.
The document summarizes key takeaways from the re:publica 2009 conference. It discusses how collaborative innovation is becoming a useful tool for companies to leverage collective intelligence. Social networks are mainly used for communication and fun. Borders between online and offline worlds are blurring. Bloggers now have significant influence over elections and corporations. Open source principles are becoming standard. Learning 2.0 is already integrated into education. Copyright regulations will fade as more access the internet through mobile versus desktop. Germany lags behind in adopting new technologies.
1. WESLEYAN.EDU ISSUE I 2012 41
BYLAURENWEBER’94
Betaworks co-founder John Borthwick ’87 (top right) and colleagues: (left to right) Ben
Rowland ’08, Jamie Weitzen ’11, and Jake Levine ’08 in the company’s New York studio.
Timothy Devane ’09 is pictured on the facing page, center right.
DIGITAL
WESLEYAN’S
NEW YORK
NETWORK
The kind of thinking WESLEYAN nurtures
is well suited to the culture of innovation in
NEW YORK’S SILICON ALLEY.
2. 42 ISSUE I 2012 WESLEYAN.EDU WESLEYAN.EDU ISSUE I 2012 43
Business partners Strauss Zelnick ’79 and Jim Friedlich ’79
on the rooftop terrace of ZelnickMedia, which has hosted
gatherings of Wesleyan’s alumni in digital media.
In the spring of 1994, during my senior
year at Wesleyan, I stopped by the com-
puter labs at the Science Center once or
twice a day, sat down at a station, and
faced a monitor blinking with DOS com-
mands. I’d peck a few characters on the key-
board and onto the screen would pop a list
of messages from friends on campus and
off. It was all black and white, no graphics,
no colors, as basic as could be. And yet this
was something thrilling and new: e-mail.
Fast-forward 18 years, and we’re living in
a world where communication is dominat-
ed not only by e-mail, but by mobile phones,
text messages, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr,
and a steady swell of ever-newer social-me-
dia tools. It’s a world that Wesleyan gradu-
ates are increasingly shaping, both behind
the scenes as key investors and out front as
entrepreneurs and managers at companies
that are transforming communication, me-
dia, entertainment, and commerce.
This was apparent last summer when
more than 100 alumni packed the pent-
house offices of ZelnickMedia, a media
and technology investment firm whose
partners include Strauss Zelnick ’79 and
Jim Friedlich ’79, for an event sponsored
by Digital Wesleyan, a New York network-
ing group launched in 2010. On a rooftop
crowned with resplendent views of mid-
town Manhattan, old friends greeted one
another, young grads sought advice from
veteran financiers, and everyone marveled
at the sudden ubiquity of Wesleyan alums
across New York’s tech landscape.
The university’s presence in digital media
might at first seem surprising. Wesleyan is
a proudly geek-friendly school, but it’s not
known as a destination for computer sci-
ence prodigies. And, its creative, counter-
cultural temperament seems more suited to
producing indie rock bands than technology
entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
But the kind of thinking Wesleyan nur-
tures, it turns out, is quite compatible with
the philosophies and goals that underpin
the rise of digital media. New-media tools
enable individuals to communicate more
quickly and directly with one another, al-
lowing them both greater control and great-
er influence over the information they and
their peers consume. The words that pop
up at digital media events these days—em-
powerment, democratization, bottom-up
versus top-down—are the same ones heard
in Wesleyan classrooms and late-night
dorm discussions.
“The democratization of media is some-
thing that resonates with a lot of Wesleyan
grads,” said John Borthwick ’87, co-founder
of Betaworks, a business incubator and
technology investment firm in New York
City. “It’s about breaking up the top-down
3. 44 ISSUE I 2012 WESLEYAN.EDU WESLEYAN.EDU ISSUE I 2012 45
Wesleyan’s prominence in the field is un-
common, said Dina Kaplan ’93, a founder of
blip.tv and a star in New York’s new-media
ecosystem. “Among entrepreneurs, it’s no-
table that there are so many founders from
Wesleyan in New York. Not every school has
that. Harvard Business School is the only
other school I can think of that’s so active in
digital media.”
And the funders are among the biggest
names in tech investing. Union Square
Ventures made its name as an early investor
in Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Zynga.
RRE Ventures, co-founded by Stuart Ellman
’88, is one of Silicon Alley’s largest VC firms,
with more than $1 billion under manage-
ment and investments in more than 50
companies in New York, including Business
Insider, Bit.ly, and Recyclebank (RRE is also
a key funder of Betaworks). ZelnickMedia
focuses on later-stage investing, and its port-
folio includes companies like video-game
maker Take-Two Interactive and media
sales firm ITN Networks; also, Friedlich is
a personal investor in BusinessInsider, and
Zelnick is a backer of Betaworks.
Ideally, Friedlich says, this will become a
network that pays dividends long into the
future. “You have seasoned people spot-
ting talent, mentoring it for future success
and then the process repeats itself. There’s
a virtuous cycle between seasoned digital
media executives and emerging entrepre-
neurs. That’s why we put together Digital
Wesleyan.”
The investors who attended the rooftop
party understand this cycle from personal
experience. Ellman started his first pri-
vate equity fund with one of his Harvard
Business School professors right after fin-
ishing his MBA. “It was risky as all hell but
I caught the entrepreneur bug,” he said.
And Brad Burnham, before founding
Union Square Ventures in 2003 with Fred
Wilson P’13, P’15, began his career at tele-
com behemoth AT&T but then spun off a
business called Echo Logic. It was one of
the first companies launched out of AT&T.
“Making sure everyone got paid at the end
of the week was a very clarifying experience
for me after working in a big bureaucracy,”
Burnham said. It provided him with an
appreciation for the entrepreneur’s chief-
bottlewasher duties, with ultimate responsi-
bility for everything from developing good
products to keeping the lights on.
Organizational and
management skills,
of course, are criti-
cal to success in any
business field. But Digital Wes members
say that the school’s graduates are particu-
larly well-suited to the new-media industry.
Sure, they may not be fluent in 12 differ-
ent programming languages, but they are
trained to solve problems in creative and
dynamic ways. “The best ideas are unex-
pected and involve knowledge and expertise
in a lot of different disciplines, and that’s
something Wesleyan fosters,” Jonathan
Dube, former senior vice president and
general manager of AOL News, said at the
ZelnickMedia party.
Or, as President Michael Roth ’78 said
that same evening, “Wesleyan has always
been about informed risk-taking. Wesleyan
graduates shape the culture of the future.
They don’t want to be shaped by it.”
“Wesleyan instills a lot of confidence in
its students to be individuals,” said Kaplan,
of blip.tv. “And it ingrains in you the value
of critical thinking. There’s a lot of thinking
about what could be better than the status
quo. How can I create something that’s new
and different? It’s the same thinking that in-
spires great start-ups.”
A confluence of structural factors has also
made this Wesleyan upswell possible. A sig-
nificant element: the technology infrastruc-
ture that has been built over the last two
decades means that much of the hard-core
engineering work is done. In the 1990s, for
example, Burnham was investing in switch-
es and routers, back-end technology that
moved data faster or better. But in recent
years “the market has shifted to the appli-
cations layer,” said Burnham. “Now it’s not
about electrical engineering and more about
social engineering. We’re engaged with cre-
ating networks of people. That’s very differ-
ent than thinking about how to get a byte
through a router.”
In addition, computer programming
was transformed by the broad and often
free distribution of code, the sequences of
commands that make things happen on
the Internet. “I cannot overestimate the im-
portance of the democratization of code,”
Ellman said. “It’s become plug and play—
you don’t have to write your own code each
time you want to create an application.”
These changes have opened up opportu-
nities for young people who have compelling
ideas but degrees in political science, not
computer science. The current technology
environment is one that rewards the quali-
ties a place like Wesleyan nurtures—creativ-
ity, collaboration, problem-solving—rather
than the purely technical backgrounds of
the MIT and Caltech grads who drove the
first Internet wave.
As a northeastern school, Wesleyan
grads also benefit from the arrival of New
York City as a stand-alone alternative to
California’s Silicon Valley. Just like Willie
Sutton robbed banks because that’s where
the money was, venture capitalists once
made pilgrimages to the Valley because
that’s where the entrepreneurs were. When
Ellman started investing, he was spending
two weeks a month in California. Now, he
doesn’t go once per quarter. More of his
investments are in New York City, fewer
are in Silicon Valley (RRE’s portfolio also
includes companies in other start-up cities
such as Boston and Boulder). While Silicon
Valley remains the top market for tech start-
ups, New York is a “strong number two,”
Ellman said. “Right now there’s magic here
in New York City. It’s a phenomenal place to
be a venture capital investor.”
According to research firm CB Insights,
86 venture-capital deals were consummated
in New York in the third quarter of 2011, up
from 51 a year earlier, and the dollar value of
all New York-based deals jumped from $245
million to $831 million. The vast majority
were Internet-related businesses.
Indeed, New York has spawned such
social-media companies as Tumblr, Etsy,
and FourSquare. These start-ups seem very
much born of New York, harnessing the
city’s artistic spirit and the hyper-social life-
style of many of its denizens.
Plus, New York’s traditional role as the
epicenter of industries like media, entertain-
ment, publishing, advertising, retail, and
finance means that entrepreneurs here are
structures” of traditional media. Where
once The New York Times or Peter Jennings
told their audiences what they believed
people needed to know, social media is bot-
tom-up: I pick and choose what I want to
know, based on what my friends are recom-
mending on Facebook, the link a political
commentator I follow on Twitter has just
posted, or the playlists my favorite singer
has published on his Rhapsody profile.
Those who once scoffed at these tools (in-
cluding me), writing them off as the noisy
and ephemeral domain of teenagers and
time-wasters, were forced to take notice dur-
ing the world-shaping events of the past year,
when social media drove the information
flow about the Arab Spring, the Japanese
earthquake and nuclear crisis, and the
death of Osama bin Laden. People around
the globe tuned into Twitter, Facebook, and
other services to find out what was happen-
ing from on-the-ground sources in real time,
long before the traditional media had time to
write articles or produce television reports.
Twitter is now the first draft of history, not
your morning newspaper.
As an example, Borthwick pulled up on
his laptop a blog post by Gilad Lotan and
Devin Gaffney of SocialFlow, a Betaworks
company. The authors analyzed activity in
the digital universe on May 1, 2011, after
the White House’s evening announcement
of an Obama press conference later that
night. Speculation flew around Twitter and
Facebook. Had Qaddafi surrendered? Was
bin Laden captured? At 10:24 p.m., Keith
Urbahn, Donald Rumsfeld’s chief of staff,
posted a tweet: “So I’m told by a reputable
person they have killed Osama bin Laden.
Hot damn.” Urbahn’s feed had only 1,016
followers, but among them were people
with much larger networks, including New
York Times TV reporter Brian Stelter. Stelter
and others re-posted the tweet on their
own feeds. Within two minutes, more than
300 people had re-posted or responded to
the tweet online. Reporters began confirm-
ing the news with their intelligence sourc-
es. By 10:45, around 45 minutes before
President Obama appeared on television
to confirm bin Laden’s assassination by a
team of U.S. Navy Seals, news of the death
had been reported by most major media
organizations. Subsequent analyses, like
SocialFlow’s, credited Urbahn’s tweet with
breaking the news.
Digital Wesleyan was the brainchild of Jake
Levine ’08, who in May 2010 convened the
first event at ZelnickMedia. Now general
manager of News.me, a Betaworks firm,
Levine knows firsthand how valuable these
meetings can be. His current position ma-
terialized out of a conversation started at
the February 2011 Digital Wesleyan event,
“Breaking the News,” a panel that was mod-
erated by Friedlich and featured Borthwick,
Robert Allbritton ’92 of Politico, Jonathan
Dube ’94 of AOL, and Caroline Little ’81,
formerly of Washingtonpost.com and
now president and CEO of the Newspaper
Association of America. Borthwick made
a remark about “history on the real-time
Web” and Levine wanted to know more.
He e-mailed Borthwick and their discus-
sions developed into a position for Levine as
Betaworks’s first entrepreneur-in-residence
and then ultimately his current job.
Now Digital Wesleyan has evolved into a
networking super-organism, with standing-
room-only events and a friendly, mellow
vibe that encourages young entrepreneurs
to reach out to some of Silicon Alley’s most
vaunted investors. At ZelnickMedia last
June, I eavesdropped on Brad Burnham ’77,
co-founder of the influential venture capital
firm Union Square Ventures, discussing the
merits of a consumer-directed network ver-
sus a business-directed network with Bakley
Smith ’00, CEO of Healthcare Check-In, a
New York company that uses a smartphone
app to encourage corporate employees to
participate in wellness programs. “What’s
great about the Web,” Burnham was say-
ing, “is you can go straight to consumers
and you can create fast-growing networks.”
Later, Burnham expounded on the virtues
of providing public, high-speed Internet ac-
cess all over New York City, “making it really
well-lit from a connectivity point of view.”
Jim Friedlich, an early champion of
Digital Wesleyan, said the network serves
a crucial purpose in Silicon Alley, one that
benefits industry veterans and rookies alike.
“Innovation tends to reside in an emerg-
ing young generation. That’s always been
the case. But business contacts, capital, and
acumen often reside in a more established
generation. It’s the marriage of these two
sets of people that we saw on the rooftop” in
June. “After each of these events, there have
been dozens of individual follow-ups as well
as some tangible new investments.”
4. 46 ISSUE I 2012 WESLEYAN.EDU
closer to the companies who become their
customers or partners. Chartbeat, a data
analytics firm incubated at the Betaworks
office, provides Web sites with real-time
information about how visitors are using
the sites. The firm introduced Newsbeat, a
service specifically for publishers, in 2011,
and now counts the New York Times, the
Wall Street Journal, ESPN.com, Forbes.com,
Foxnews.com, Gawker, Time, and Talking
Points Memo among its biggest customers.
All are based in New York City.
Ben Rowland ’08 works in
account management and
sales at Chartbeat and
Newsbeat. He started on
January 27, 2011, and was given responsibil-
ity for the Al Jazeera account, among others.
He’d barely warmed his seat before anti-
Mubarak protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square
took off. Traffic to Aljazeera.com quadru-
pled almost overnight, and Rowland was in
constant communication with his contact at
the site, helping the broadcaster understand
and track the surge of visitors.
“One thing we were able to do was send
an immediate signal to their newsroom that
they were experiencing a huge surge of traf-
fic [on Aljazeera.com] via Twitter,” Rowland
said. “So they doubled down on Twitter and
bought up all the relevant search terms on
Twitter. When a person typed in Bahrain or
Libya, the first thing they’d see was a spon-
sored tweet from Al Jazeera. That was a re-
ally interesting test case for us.”
The Al Jazeera analysis illustrated the the-
sis Borthwick and Andy Weissman ’88 had
in mind when they started Betaworks. “We
posited that social media would be transfor-
mational for the media industry, that unbe-
lievable amounts of value would be created.
We wanted to participate in that,” Borthwick
said when I met him and Weissman last
summer at the company’s airy loft in New
York’s meatpacking district.
Weissman, who recently left Betaworks to
become a partner at Union Square Ventures,
noted that these new business models are
highly disruptive to traditional media com-
panies. Social media relies on person-to-per-
son communication; while big names like
CNN, the Los Angeles Times and even rela-
tive newcomer Huffington Post still produce
much of the popular news content people
are viewing, the audience is not arriving
there by turning on the television to watch
the CNN lineup or typing www.latimes.com
into their browsers. Instead, as in the Al
Jazeera example, they’re following links pro-
vided by friends and contacts through social-
network sites.
Of course, not all the links users are for-
warding connect to high-quality content.
For every link to a thoroughly-researched
story about Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation,
there are probably a dozen links to blogs
posting conspiracy theories, rumors, and
paranoid rantings on the same topic. How is
a person supposed to judge what’s credible
and what’s not when all of it is presented on
the flat surface of the Internet?
There is a lot of misinformation on the
Web, Borthwick said. But by harnessing so
many voices, “social media increases the
likelihood of disclosure about misinforma-
tion.” He added that mainstream media and
governments have not always been the most
credible sources of information. Look no
further than Judith Miller’s flawed report-
ing on Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass
destruction in the New York Times.
“In any immature medium, there are
issues,” Burnham said when I raised the
same concerns with him. “The Internet is
noisy. It’s full of garbage. But the basic mod-
el, enabled by a medium that’s flat and that
everyone has access to, is amazing.”
Still, I confess that social media exhausts
me. I’m overwhelmed by the number of
YouTube videos my Facebook friends are urg-
ing me to check out, the alarming quantity
of articles they’re recommending from news
sources that span the globe and the ideologi-
cal spectrum. I miss the days when a single
newspaper arrived at my door, and I read it
over breakfast with the comforting sense
that I could go out into the world as an in-
formed citizen. Now I feel chronically under
informed because I never clicked through to
that story in the Atlantic Monthly or the Jon
—PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT ADAM MAYER—
Stewart clip from last night’s Daily Show.
Borthwick’s take on this is that the rise of
social media places a great deal of faith in
the individual, who now largely chooses her
sources of information rather than being
fed the nightly news broadcast. Burnham
said much the same thing when he told me,
“The reason I’m okay with these changes
is that I’m fundamentally optimistic about
people.” In this new world we’ve entered, we
all become editors, curating the information
we consume from the enormous selection
laid out before us each day.”
Burnham, himself a fan of newspapers
that can stain your fingers, told me that the
Web’s filters are still developing, and that as
the filters improve, some of the Internet’s
noise will subside. It’s possible to create
these conditions even now, by signing up
for a service like Levine’s News.me or “hid-
ing” those Facebook friends who clutter
your walls with junky links.
Ben Rowland, of Chartbeat, and Tim
Devane ’09, director of sales and business
development at Betaworks start-up bit.ly,
exemplify the optimistic, can-do spirit that
pervades the social-media world these days.
Rather than lament the demise of the gate-
keepers who once filtered information for
us, they celebrate how the Web connects
individuals more directly than ever before.
“You can tap into citizens, people on the
ground, whether it’s a stock market crash or
a music concert, before a secondary source
has time to report on it,” Rowland said.
“It’s amazing to see the engagement,”
Devane added. On the Internet, “you
have the power to put it out there. There
are Shakespeares in some tiny town in
Kansas, and this gives them the opportu-
nity to be heard.”
And if that Shakespeare is out there, and
if he or she is dismissed by old-line pub-
lishers—or bypasses them altogether—but
is embraced by a Web audience on blip.tv
and then develops a massive following over
Twitter, the world will have Wesleyan partly
to thank for it.
(To add your name to the Digital Wesleyan
mailing list, go to www.digitalwesleyan.com.)
Lauren Weber ’94 is a reporter for the Wall
Street Journal.
Do you have an opinion about this topic? Please write us at letters@wesleyan.edu.