Phew...long day.

Well, I'm back to the blog. Sometimes it just does a soul good to write down a few things--even if it's just tapping my fingers instead of actually putting the pen on the paper.

It's been a while since I've blogged. Haven't had much reason to lately, although I think I may take another stab at maintaining this thing. I've been busy this past summer and a lot of things have been happening.

I spent the last summer here in Minneapolis. I'm not sure if there are anything better than Minnesota summers--although this past one was a little on the chilly side. I was working across the river in St. Paul for the State of Minnesota. It was an experience that was valuable in many ways and I left the organization I worked for having learned many professional skills and even a few life lessons. One interesting thing that I was able to do there was perform budget projections. I know, I know...many of you look at this and wonder how in the world anyone could find budget projections interesting, but just think. These budget projections were used in legislative negotiation processes and in a small way, influenced how the State of Minnesota decided to quantify its priorities in budget form.

Anyways, enough about that. Since the earlier post three, almost four, months have gone by. June, July, August, and now September. Summer has come and gone and now school is back in session, and boy is it! The semester is heating up and is full of time consuming projects.

So, I think I might keep this blog in an effort to have a little fun and stay sane and maybe share some fun ramblings every now and then.

If you visit, please leave a note and let me know!

James

Whoa, it's been a while

Well, I got inspired to blog tonight. It's been a while since I've updated this thing, so I just thought I would say hello to anyone that follows this thing anymore.

I've been down in Texas for the past few days and it's been great to be home. I flew down from Minneapolis last Wednesday just in time for my brother's graduation the next day. It was great to touch down in Houston and know that I was home and about to see my family and friends that I haven't seen in a while.

So, Wednesday night my mom picked me up from IAH and we went directly up to College Station, TX for Charles' graduation; he received his doctor or veterinary medicine degree--no small accomplishment! It was great to see all of my family, visit with my grandparents, and catch up with a few friends before heading to San Marcos on Friday.

Charles (my brother) and Kim (his wife) were nice enough to let me borrow the car to take to San Marcos to attend my bff Tony's graduation. Rolling into San Marcos felt so good! I love seeing the Texas State campus perched on the hill as you drive into town. I pulled into the parking garage at the LBJ Student Center and really enjoyed my walk across campus to the coliseum for the graduation ceremony. Along the way I stopped in at the Honors Building to see if Diann McCabe and Heather Galloway were there--lucky Diann is in Ireland but thankfully Heather was there. It was nice to see a happy face and catch up with her. The next stop along the way was at JCK where I popped in and spotted Terri Tresner! Terri gave me the biggest hug and kiss on the cheek! It felt so good to catch up with her and see everyone.

Next stop was the new addition at Strahan where Jessica Henry works. I surprised her by popping into her office unannounced. We then went together to the graduation ceremony where we sat in the worst seats in the whole place. All the way in the nose bleed section where I could barely see Tony--but I'm sure he heard us cheer when he walked across the stage.

Denise Trauth, the president of TxState, was sporting her classic twist hairstyle...it's good to know some things never change : )

But anyways, I'll finish this later. I'm gonna head into the other room and see what Charles is up to.

Bye :)

Increasing homestead exemptions for local property taxes?

There is a Texas House Joint Resolution bill pending in the Texas House Ways and Means Committee and poses a change to how local taxing authorities who impose property taxes use exemptions and value property. Texas HJR 21 (Callegari, Fletcher, Zerwas, Harper-Brown, and Pickett) and SJR 13 (Patrick) propose that a constitutional amendement be added to the ballot that Texans see next time they enter the voting booth.

There are a few different proposals, but in sum, the spirit of the whole is to consitutionally limit the assessed property value as well as increase the amount exemptions available for individuals.

My worry, however, is that this will create a funding gap that will pose substantial problems for these taxing authorities. Many local taxing authorities are already limited in either the sheer amount they can tax or in the amount they can increase taxes each year (ex. counties can only tax @ 30 cents on the $100 of property value). If enacted, this would change the funding structure of these organizations and create a gap--a gap that in an economic downturn could prove very harmful. Where will these local taxing authorities make up the revenue shortfalls? Included in one proposal is a clause that would force the state governement to step in with the funds that are missed out on under this new propsal. Will this work? Is this going to increase the need for local government aid (LGA) funds that are oftentimes decried as unnecessary spending and subject to being cut in future budgets?

Just a thought. I don't know any answers to these questions but thought I'd pose them.

Anyway, I'm off to bed tonight, I'm tired after my bike ride this afternoon. Just thought I'd share this with whoever is paying attention now that this technology class is over.

We have discussed and debated the importance and influence of blogs on business.

After doing a little bit of research, it looks like people really do care what is posted on a blog. Hmmm...I wonder if I start blogging about Target stores in the Twin Cities, will someone in downtown Minneapolis pick up on it?

Anyways, through my research I found out that Dell's public relations nightmare regarding its sub par customer service was the result of a blogger. The blogger Jeff Jarvis started blogging about Dell.

Jeff Jarvis wrote the simple entry of:

Dell lies. Dell sucks
I just got a new Dell laptop and paid a fortune for
the four-year, in-home service.
The machine is a lemon and the service is a lie.
I’m having all kinds of trouble with the hardware:
overheats, network doesn’t work, maxes out on
CPU usage. It’s a lemon.
But what really irks me is that they say if they sent
someone to my home -- which I paid for -- he
wouldn’t have the parts, so I might as well just
send the machine in and lose it for 7-10 days -
- plus the time going through this crap. So I have
this new machine and paid for them to FUCKING
FIX IT IN MY HOUSE and they don’t and I lose it
for two weeks.
DELL SUCKS. DELL LIES. Put that in your Google
and smoke it, Dell.


This case has inspired a new study into the influence of blogs, but one thing that researchers have struggled with is how to measure a blog's influence. Since my own personal background is in performance evaluation, research methodology, and survey design, I found it particularly interesting how researchers are starting to measure the influence of bloggers--by using issue influence is measured rather simply by studying two things:
A.) per topic
B.) using keywords

So, I guess that corporations are going to have to monitor what all of us faceless, semi-anonymous creeps out here in cyberspace blogging about our dissatisfying experiences with various organizations.

More to come soon. I have to get myself to class...BUT, will be back with more on this ASAP.


PS. If there are any Target-ers watching. The Target store in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota needs a little love.

Knowledge Management and Knowledge Exchange

Ever since the class period we discussed the differences between knowledge exchange and knowledge management, I can't help but think about better ways to facilitate information exchange within organizations, industries, and societies.

My question that I've been pondering since that discussion is:

How do we leverage technology to act as a substitute to that cup of coffee or a beer at the place on the corner? There's something special about the human connection that facilitates not an information sharing, but an understanding. There's something about looking someone in the eyes and hearing what he or she has to say.

I have to run, but there will be more about this. Does anyone have ideas? Can this take place in Second Life?

State of MN behind on the times...

According to an e-mail I received from Andy Driscoll, a local journalist, the State of Minnesota does not allow online journalists into proceedings as they do other journalists.

What does this mean for the future of the state? What does this mean for online media in Minnesota? I just found this pretty interesting.

James

Here's the text from the e-mail:

The House of Representatives, chaired by DFL Majority Leader Tony Sertich, has been refusing to allow online journalists the same credentials for covering floor sessions and some committee hearings, especially if cameras and microphones are used. Journalists everywhere are rising to appear at a hearing of this committee tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb 24) at 12:00 Noon in the State Office Building to testify in favor of an amendment to the rules to allow online journalists access to the same sessions and places as other news organizations - newspapers, radio, and television outlets.

It's time for the Minnesota House and Senate to enter the 21st Century and recognize the legitimacy of all media - online and otherwise, new and old - and to treat all journalists equally under the law and the rules. These are public institutions and are subject to public scrutiny and accountability by any and all news-gathering and commentary personnel.

For the record, TruthToTell's own correspondent, Marty Owings, also an online radio host and blogger, was yanked out of a public committee hearing today as he tried to monitor and record the public proceedings therein. TruthToTell will discuss the status of Twin Cities and Minnesota journalism, including the new wave role of online journalists on March 4 at 11:00AM.

What have we lost?

At the risk of sounding like a bleeding heart, super touchy-feely hippie, I can't help but wonder what negative externalities or consequences this "Brave New World" or working smarter has in store for us (humanity in general). What do we risk losing as we move forward in our increasingly globally connected world. As we "win" by working more efficiently, using all of these Value 2.0 rules to get closer to customers, tap new markets, and become increasingly competitive, is there anything that we have lost? In this new environment do we run the risk of losing any kind of identity? Do we lose the human connection of business? Do we even know our neighbors anymore?

We say that the markets are supreme and Adam Smith's invisible hand should dictate our actions as well as dole out resources, yet in this era of expansion, are we all winning? Does working "smarter" simply mean cutting costs to gain greater profits? What role do or should ethics play in our decision-making? Whose role it is to enforce certain regulations and how do we effectively monitor this new generation of multinational corporations to ensure proper business practices are being followed?

Perhaps this drive for greater wealth accumulation isn't necessarily good for us as a whole. It wasn't that long ago, in 2005, that (now former) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan is that the income gap between the rich and the rest of the American population has grown so wide and so fast that it "might eventually threated democratic capitalism itself" (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html). As we look at these new ways to conduct business, we forget that much of this new infrastructure is private and contributes to someone's profits. While that is not necessarily bad, these new ways of working smarter, faster, and cleaner need to be publicly examined and perhaps regulated to ensure the protection of the common good.

Also, I ran across an interesting survey that compared business leaders' perceptions of creativity with those of school superintendents. This survey, taken from Daniel Pink's blog, shows how there is a striking difference in how school superintendents view creativity as compared to how business leaders view creativity. This disconnect in how business leaders and educators view creativity presents us with a problem. Are our schools preparing workers who will have the skills business leaders want? If not, how should we go about working across sectors to improve our children's education?

Just a few questions I've been thinking about.