Posts Tagged ‘iowa’

The Second Age of SMEs

Posted by tom.altman on March 3rd, 2009
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Think small. Think efficient. Share the returns. via Vesess » The Second Age of SMEs.

This article talks directly to what is going on at my employer, the Cedar Rapids Gazette.  We’ve had to cut some people – but my biggest fear is in what they stated in the post:

Think small. Think efficient. Share the returns.

I know we are all thinking small and a ton of time has been given to running efficiently.  But the big one The Gazette missed is “Share the returns”.

I’m worried the execs feel that people are all about “taking it for the team” and I think that is a very good short term solution.  But, what about the people who do well…are we all going to get kudos?  Maybe double kudos?

Seriously – it just doesn’t seem like a fair trade?  Let’s see what the share looks like?

I would rather see a 5% pay vut – and then  that money used for spot bonus for good ideas.  Oh well – I guess I’m “just a web developer”!  :)

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Going Camping' – BarCamp NewsInnovation and WordCamp Iowa

Posted by tom.altman on December 4th, 2008

BarCamp NewsInnovation

A large family tent for car-camping, with a gazebo

My buddy Jason has “roped” me into BarCamp NewsInnovation.  OK, I’m not kicking or screaming – I work with him at an old media/newspaper outlet and we can only complain and moan so much before we have to act, and I guess this is the act.

It is actually really cool, it kind of steamed off a Live Blog (here is the replay) our CEO Chucky P (is my nickname for Chuck Peters) did from an API Summit.  Jason launched a BarCamp wiki and it grew from there

I will be updating the main BarCamp NewsInnovation wiki page to reflect this very soon. I am happy to add more locations as needed. People can either comment on this entry contact me via email (Jason).

WordCamp Iowa

I’ve been getting more and more interested in WordPress.  It is just such a versitle application.  I’ve been preaching the WP open source for a while at the same old media/newspaper and I think it is starting to catch on.

I’ve renctly created my first plugin, it’s for a sidebar widget for adding an issuu to your side bar.  (Check it out here.) In learning more and more, checking out a WordPress podcast along the way – I’ve just really feeling the WordPress groove.

So – I want to jump in with both feet and committ to a WordCamp in Iowa (more than likely Eastern Iowa) sometime Spring ‘09.  Please contact me if you are interested.  I’ll need all the help I can get.

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Iowa’s Budding Political Blogosphere

Posted by tom.altman on January 4th, 2008

A post over at Social Media Today talking about Iowa’s budding political blogs.

During the ‘06 election cycle, I was baffled about why more candidates weren’t running ads on local political sites, since they’re usually quite cheap, often on the order of $25 or $50 per week, and they’re reaching a very tightly targeted audience.

It seems like we just need ot find the right audience for our sites – then find the advertiser which fits.

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