Plain Words eLetter
2004 issue 4
Content Management Is King
Extra
Plain Words at Government Computing 2004 Expo
E-Business news
Content is King – For Real This Time
Law Firms and Knowledge Management
Technology news
Electromagnetic Research Worth £8bn
Gates Makes PC Part of the Furniture
Off-beat news
Lead stories
Content Management is King
June 1st, 2004, Plain Words editorial
Managing content effectively is a big deal for firms these days, particularly in the light of the upcoming Freedom of Information Act – which, from January 2005, will give public sector bodies twenty working days to respond to requests for information from the public.
More: Content management >
Write & Grow Rich
Great business writing gets more sales, keeps customers loyal, and saves money. Bad writing can be disastrous.
Three-quarters of respondents to a recent consumer survey, for example, said they would be more interested in saving if they understood what financial services companies were trying to tell them. The moral: clear, concise writing sells...Write & Grow Rich >
Extra
Plain Words Exhibiting at Government Computing Exhibition
Earls Court, London, June 22/23, 2004
Plain Words will be exhibiting at the Government Computing Exhibition GC2004expo on 22nd and 23rd June 2004 on stand number 442. This highlights the best ICT solutions to public sector buyers. It’s a “must attend” event for anyone in, or supplying, the public sector ICT market. For further information visit: http://www.gcexpo.com/
Why not drop in and say hello? Janet Basdell and Peter Meherne, directors of Plain Words, will be there – along with sales and marketing consultant Sandie Farr. They'll be glad to talk to you about the technical writing and professional recruitment services offered by the firm.
To find out more about the exhibition and Plain Words services call 01635 202013 or send an e-mail to
E-Business news
IT Budgets Set to Increase
Growing confidence among enterprises, along with a general improvement in the economy, will see UK IT budgets increase this year, according to market researchers. A study from IDC revealed that more than two in five UK firms expect their IT budgets to increase during 2004. The extra money is expected to be spent on product renewals and upgrades, which are seen as priorities.
“Attitudes remain cautiously optimistic, but IDC has noted the return of key drivers such as technology improvements and innovation,” said Elsa Opitz, research analyst at IDC's European IT markets service. More: http://nl2.vnunet.com/News/1154928
Content is King – For Real This Time
Online content became a $1.56bn market in the US last year, up nearly 19 percent on the previous year, according to research done by the Online Publishers Association and comScore Networks. The top selling category – personals/dating – grew to $449.5m from $302.1m in 2002. While business/investment spending grew to $334m in 2003 from $292m the previous year.
The fastest-growing categories were personal growth, which more than doubled to $91.1m, and sports, which nearly doubled to $38.2m. Subscriptions accounted for 89 percent of spending in 2003, when monthly subscriptions surpassed annual subscriptions as the main money spinner for providers of online content.
Nothing is ever certain. But content looks set to become ‘king’ this time round – possibly because people have wised up to the fact that material offered for free on the Internet is usually low quality (except for this e-letter, of course!). Now they are willing to pay for it, just like they pay for books in bookshops, magazines on newsstands, and movies on cable or satellite. More: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/ecommerce/0,39020372,39154263,00.htm
XML Takes to the Air – And Saves Continental Airlines $800,000 Yearly
Aerospace insiders often quip that the paperwork for a commercial airliner weighs more than the aircraft. There is some truth in the joke: Aircraft are complex systems and need a massive amount of technical manuals. What’s more, regulations on both sides of the Atlantic require that technical documents be comprehensive and up to date – a costly and time-consuming process when done manually (as is still the case with many airlines).
Houston-based Continental Airlines, however, have overcome this by setting up an electronic publishing and distribution system based around XML. Working with Xerox Global Services, the airline can now route electronic documents through five to six approval points automatically, and then distribute them to each maintenance facility.
Larry Strykowski, director of technical operations for Continental, says the electronic distribution alone has yielded substantial savings, eliminating many shipping charges. But the real savings have come from maintenance crews being able to view the documents anywhere, eliminating much travel time. “Saving 4,000 employees 15 minutes per day adds up,” he comments.
Continental estimates the XML-based system will save it $700,000 to $800,000 annually in direct costs, and even more by keeping the company in compliance with Federal regulations and its aircraft flying safely. More: http://www.transformmag.com/compliance/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=19200206
Texts to Breathe New Life into Landlines
Being able to send text messages from fixed-line phones will help traditional telecommunications firms win back business, says consultancy Frost & Sullivan. The firm’s analysts don't expect it to take off in a big way like it did with mobile phones. But, in their opinion, providing the extra functionality marks a “positive fight back by fixed line operators.” The consultancy estimates fixed-line SMS traffic will grow between 15 and 20 percent per month, with a similar increase in subscriber numbers. But Nathan Budd, associate ICT consultant for Frost & Sullivan, says widespread global adoption of the technology will rely heavily on smart marketing techniques – in other words, it will have to be made to look attractive. “The realisation of attractive revenues for [these] services relies on the fixed (and indeed mobile) operators’ ability to define a set of unique service offerings and value propositions for the most appropriate target segments,” he said. More: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/networks/0,39020345,39153961,00.htm
U.S. Air Force Base Mechanics Don Wearable Computers
Maintenance Group workers at Robins Air Force base, Georgia, USA, are introducing new wearable computers, which can be used across the spectrum of maintenance tasks. The small personal computers can be worn either on the chest or hip and are being tested as a possible replacement for the printed manuals currently used.
“Having these tools at the maintainers’ fingertips is actually a virtual office on the flightline,” said Col. Terry Kinney, 116th MXG commander. “It will have much of the same desktop software that we currently use, like e-mail capabilities and the capabilities to identify, order, ship and pay for parts directly from the flightline.”
The computers will also have an electronic copy of technical orders, which maintainers use to perform their jobs. Not only will maintainers have their TOs at their disposal, but they will also be able to send a video of damages back to the shop and aircraft engineers through a wireless network.
It’s only a matter of time before wearable computers and electronic technical manuals hit the UK in a big way - and it won’t be just the Air Force and military getting in on the act; it will be car and truck firms too. More: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123007534
Law Firms Turn to Knowledge Management
In an increasingly competitive market, law firms must share knowledge more effectively than ever before. Legal documents and papers need to be supplied quickly to both court officials and clients – and be stored effectively, so they can be pulled out as and when needed. That’s why many law firms are turning to Knowledge Management, which is a combination of technology for organising knowledge and techniques for using it better.
The tools of Knowledge Management include databases, document management systems, and indexing tools that organise and cross-reference material by subject, practice area and other criteria to make it easy to find when needed. They also include intranets for making this organised information available to a widely dispersed audience.
To Joel Alleyne, chief knowledge officer and chief information officer at Canadian law firm Borden Ladner, knowledge management partly resembles what happened 50 years ago when a lawyer pulled a typewritten document from a file drawer and adapted it for another client.
“Only now, the document and the file drawer are electronic; the lawyer using the document need not be the same one who created it; and the knowledge shared can include not just legal boilerplate and precedents but any information lawyers can usefully exchange,” he says. More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040412/PFKNOW12/TPBusiness/General
Technology news
Electromagnetic Research Could Bag Britain £8bn
Britain could boost national business revenues by almost £8bn if it makes the most of new electromagnetic technologies, according to a study conducted by the government’s Foresight programme. Some of the promising electromagnetic technologies identified by the project include smart tags and markers for medical imaging, non-intrusive imaging for security applications such as advanced CCTV, and airport scanners that can look for drugs, weapons and plastic explosives from a distance.
Another application is the creation of fast optical switches for high-speed, high-capacity broadband. The government estimates the UK share of the optical switches market could be worth £300m in a decade.
Communications and e-commerce minister Stephen Timms said in a statement: “The UK has an outstanding scientific track record across the electromagnetic spectrum but we need to get better at exploiting this expertise. By bringing the worlds of business and science together, this Foresight project has identified lots of exciting opportunities for the UK to turn ‘invented in Britain’ into ‘made in Britain’.” More: http://nl2.vnunet.com/News/1154931
Gates Makes PC Part of the Furniture
Microsoft and Hewlett Packard revealed their Windows Home Concept system at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle, last month. The device features all the functionality of a PC, plus a digital video recorder. Instead of a monitor, it hooks up to a television set.
Unveiled during the keynote presentation by Bill Gates, the Windows Home Concept fits into Microsoft’s vision of seamless computing - a way of providing users with access to data regardless of the device it resides on.
“Will people think it’s advantageous to organise their music on many devices? Probably not. Bringing worlds together is a real theme for us,” Gates told the Seattle audience.
The Windows Home Concept includes a PC, Tablet PC and remote control (used in place of a keyboard and mouse). The PC looks more like a DVD player or VCR than a computer. By adopting this approach to design, Microsoft hopes to change the commonly held view that PCs are too ugly to be part of the living room furniture. More: http://www.vnunet.com/News/1154921
Off-beat news
Feeling Lucky, Punk?
A Canadian student who ordered an MP3 player over the internet from the US was shocked to receive a licensed handgun instead. Brandon Buchan, 21, an English student at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, bid for the MP3 player on eBay.
But the pawnshop that auctioned the device sent him an unloaded .22-calibre Smith & Wesson gun and a licence by mistake. A Canadian customs official said not all parcels were X-rayed at the border.
“I was really shocked to see it was a gun,” said Buchan. “I’m not a hit man. I was mostly confused about it all. I thought ‘How did this end up here?’, and I figured it must just be a mistake.”
The third-year student called the police, who removed the weapon. He then e-mailed the shop, who promptly sent the MP3 player to him. But Buchan kept a photocopy of the gun licence as a souvenir of the incident. More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3703321.stm
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