For awhile now I’ve worked with and “mentored” various students doing their thesis and doctoral work and I’ve meet some of these students in the past but none quite like what took place at the SAP TechEd Vienna event. This was the first time I had meet a student that I had spent time over the past years working with at one of our own events.

It was kind of nerve racking as this particular student is doing a critical study of external facing communities and we are one of those “targets” so for a whole week I felt as though I was put on the spot to make sure what we “say” is what we are really doing and that we can stand up to the scrutiny of an academic doing their doctoral work.

OK, I was not so much worried that we were not living up to what we are telling the world it was more that they would discover some flaw, hole or otherwise negative aspect I myself missed and was not prepared to discuss or even defend – silly of course since no one can be prepared to be the ultimate defender of their community one has to sit back and have faith in what you have helped build and that it is strong.

So during the week, I got to know Georgia Demetriou better and we spoke in great detail about community, human interaction, social interaction I also introduced her to several community members of the SAP communities as well as many of the blogger present and we asked her to share her thoughts with during a live broadcasted interview.

View the interview here.

What I found surprised many people was during our conversations and the interview we discussed other communities and who she should talk to as well. Personally I felt folks like Jake and Justin with Oralce would be perfect people for her to talk to as well as Lauren with Microsoft in addition to those two of course would be other strong external facing communities like Intel, AMD, IBM, etc. I mean there are not many of us in this enterprise level world with external facing communities so I’ve also considered it to be prudent to know the other folks one might or could classify as my counterparts and that we should attempt to keep some open lines of communications.

On many levels there are certain best practices that do not necessarily relate to our companies but to us an individuals in roles that are still relatively new to the world (e.g. Community Evangelists) and therefore I was more than happy to provide those names and emails that I had readily available.

So personally and professionally I want to wish Georgia all the best with her work and I’m very eager on both levels to read her findings when she is done!!

Video says it all or?

Today’s show was the first for the past 4 weeks but finally we’re back on the air! My focus today was around “OMG” as in SMS/Chat Lingo – Mobile – Enterprise and the future.

Talking Points

• Shout Outs
  • Anne and her visa issues
  • Abesh and his new job
  • Martin Lang and meeting people going to the bathroom
  • Marilyn and her presentations in Switzerland
  • Bangalore SAP TechEd
  • Duane Nickull
    • Duane’s World
• Twitter Lists
• Google Wave
• Demo Jam
  • Highlights
• OMG
  • Mobile
• Photo Contest

Video Replay

Many have probably noticed that the last few Friday’s have resulted in me being a no show, I’ve not forgotten everyone I’ve just been a tad bit overwhelmed with a rather busy travel schedule and of course a few conferences thrown in for good measure.

• SAP TechEd Phoenix
  • Demo Jam
  • Interviewing Denis Brown from SAP
  • Interviewing Thomas Jung from SAP
  • Interviewing Claus von Reigen from SAP
  • Interviewing Marco ten Vaanholt from SAP
  • Interviewing Sebastian Steinhauer and Tobias Queck winners of the Demo Jammers
• SAP TechEd Vienna
  • Demo Jam
  • Hacker Night
  • Interviewing Erwin Tenhumberg from SAP
  • Interviewing Georgia Demetriou from Manchester Business School
  • Interviewing Alexis Nabio from SAP and Demo Jam Winner

Not to mention that I’ve a trip to Walldorf here soon for an Internal Open Source summit and then off to Bangalore for the final SAP TechEd event of the year (as well as another trip to Walldorf before that for some other meetings).

I joined “forces” with Lee Provoost a few weeks ago around a shared interest and thought thread that spawned in Twitter. The following is a result of that collaboration…

Web 2.0 is a fad, make room for Web C3

Each day one wakes thinking they have a handle on what is happening, not thinking that they are about to realize that what they knew is in reality not really what it is all about. The other day was just one of those days – two people separated by the interwebs decided to interrupt each other’s day by having a quick conversation in Twitter…

@leeprovoost: “1.0 companies seem to struggle a lot in this crisis, while 2.0 companies are thriving. I call it a new world order.” (http://twitter.com/leeprovoost/status/4013135714)

@infosourcer: “@leeprovoost And Web 3.0 is an even shinier New World Order. Check out videos/tutorials on Web 3.0:http://j.mp/1ZkJ9x” (http://twitter.com/Infosourcer/status/4013509300)

@leeprovoost: “We really need to come up with a new name after 2.0. And It ain’t 3.0.” (http://twitter.com/leeprovoost/status/4013825370)

@ccmehil: “@leeprovoost isn’t it all “Collaborative Community Communication” be it 1 2 or 3.0?” (http://twitter.com/ccmehil/status/4013898120)

And that’s how a typical conversation starts on Twitter. There is open collaboration: messages are available for everyone, there is a thriving community with like-minded souls (i.e. people open to share and communicate) and there is real-time collaboration going on where one person builds on the other one. None of it is orchestrated, no one is controlling. In fact it operates on the premise that one must “jump” into the middle of a thought stream when they feel it’s appropriate and the other person must decide to respond and begin conversing or ignore and continue on without acknowledging the input. One can’t say it’s unrequested because the nature of the medium is “open” it is “inviting” yet it’s passive; you engage when you choose to do so.

But to come back to the discussion: what’s with the whole 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 naming thing? Isn’t it “just the web”? According to the purist the fundamental difference between 1.0 and 2.0 is that in a Web 2.0 world, the Internet is seen as a platform and there is a significant social aspect involved. It’s not static information pages that create the web, but people and the way they are interacting with each other. The dust around the definition of Web 3.0 hasn’t settled yet, but one aspect that many people see is the semantic web as an extra layer. Meaning that data will start to have a meaning. Data about data so to say Others suggest that a virtual or 3 dimensional representation of the web is what Web 3.0 will entail – data visualization?

Does it actually matter? What defines now Web 3.0? or 4.0? or 5.0? When you look at the evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web, you see that communication has been a corner stone: in the beginning static pages and leaflets, over to dynamically generated data, contributed by users or mashed up from different sources. Let’s not forget that communication (e-mail) has also been one of the killer apps of the internet, many people started to get Internet connection at home to check their Hotmail or AOL mail. Some of the hard core adopters even before with Prodigy and CompuServe, and before that Telnet and ported Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) such as Wildcat and Telgard.

Another corner stone are communities. Even before the W3 as we know, you had bulletin boards and chat rooms where people flocked together to discuss topics. During the 80s phone companies rejoiced as more and more discovered what their 300, 1200 and 2400 Baud modems were capable of. The worlds these devices began to connect. With the onslaught of 14,400, 28,800 and higher modems and FrontEnd Mailers connected the otherwise disconnected BBS systems to each other with message forum exchanges. Certainly the World Wide Web, the Web or the Net began to change the game and many BBS systems began the process to port their systems to enable Telnet access however the barrier to entry was still relatively high – few still exist today and even fewer public ones. Years later with Web 2.0 those entry points were becoming so low that the norm was to connect and for many users to contribute through their AOL and other centralized accounts later advancing and emerging into the open web starting with blogging platforms, then with apps like Twitter, Google Sites, Tumblr, Posterous, etc.

Last but not least: collaboration. There is a reason why they call e-mail the largest social network. Even in a 1.0 era, websites were used to share information between research groups or developers (perhaps less interactive though), IRC rooms and email lists and later NNTP (newsgroups) were used as a kind of support groups for software and in particular development. In a 2.0 era with Twitter and Google Wave, nothing has fundamentally changed. People fundamentally “want” to work together and they “want” to share their knowledge; it’s this natural desire that enables collaboration regardless of what platform or method of communication might exist. Through the “invention” of the World Wide Web, the onslaught of multiples types of platforms for communicating from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 the basis concepts and principles of communicating and collaborating have not changed in fact it’s been in the recent years that the third aspect of the the C3 concept, community, has really begun to make things interesting – yet unchanged, or?

Will Web 3.0 change anything? I guess not. Perhaps the fact that we can work smarter with data, will influence the way we are collaboration, communicating and build communities. Even more, where web 2.0 was a very social with with human interaction, Web 3.0 will allow applications/software to take part in the the three C’s, because we finally will have the technology where they will understand us.

So if that’s ok with you, we’ll just rewrite history and do a “search all + replace” on the internet and start using the name Web C3. Collaborative. Community. Communication.

I was joined on today’s show by Christine Godek (@cgodek) to talk about all the cool things coming up at the first SAP TechEd 2009 event taking place in Phoenix this year, in a about a week actually. We were also joined later by Chip Rodgers (@chiprodgers).

Some of the cool things that came out of the show today were the news about all the Twitter and social integrations taking place as well as the “Live from SAP TechEd”, Demo Jam and of course the special $100 voucher for Phoenix and 100€ voucher for Vienna available for the FMR audience! Use the voucher code “TE2009″

Talking Points

• Intro
• Technical difficulties
• Christine
• Convince your boss
• Virtual aspects
• Events
• Voucher

Video Replay

It’s been awhile since I blogged about CCD and bees but I’ve not stopped paying attention. Yesterday in Twitter James (@monkchips) posted a link I wanted to share with everyone.

“We want to give them support right now, as you probably know they are having a bit of trouble; worryingly they are dying out at an alarming rate.  So help us to give them a helping hand and support our eco-friendly beehives. “

(Via Bees (The Golden Company).)

Remember it’s thanks to bees that we have most of the fruits we enjoy eating so much! So do your part!

Years ago it was all about how much, how big and how bright your “thing” was and money was flowing out of every IT shop in the world – it was also during this time that I was constantly looking at Open Source and any and every solution I could find to do my job that had a zero price tag on it. I was not always the most loved amongst my peer developers for that very reason – they wanted more, more and then some more. Upgrades, new licenses the newest tools.

Imagine what you can do though with so little?

“Three enterprising MIT students have successfully launched and retrieved a digital camera in order to snap photos of the earth from the upper atmosphere — and they did it all for under $150.”

(Via MIT students snap space photos of the earth with $40 Canon A470 | Digital Cameras & Camcorders | ZDNet.com.)

Or how about?

“There is, it turns out, a whole community of very smart folks out there on the internet perfecting the art of building DIY multi-touch surfaces. The process isn’t exactly simple, but the results we saw were stunning: multitouch surfaces with responsiveness rivaling Microsoft’s $12,000 offering, built in a garage on a shoestring budget. ‘Future UI article be damned,’ we thought, ‘we’ve gotta build one of these for ourselves.’”

(Via Build Your Own Multitouch Surface Computer – Page 1 | Maximum PC.)

I’m a huge fan of multi-touch surfaces and if I ever manage to find the time I’m going to try my hand at building one.

However back to my original point, creativity and freedom to be creative are the keys – enable that in your folks and there’s nothing they can’t accomplish – stifle and you stifle innovation.

I clearly remember years ago, one of my first big assignments in a company I just joined was to help the manufacturing department. They needed a database. They had no budget for it and they were not sure what exactly they needed but they needed “something” – I looked at my boss, he smiled and walked away. The other senior developers looked at me and said “welcome aboard”.

Being someone who decided that I’d rather “teach a person to fish” I thought of this brilliant scheme, err I mean plan to enable them to do their own application.

“Before I get ahead of myself let´s go back and look at each question individually. So onto the first question. ‘What is a user changeable application?’; in short this is a program that has it´s displays and functions controlled by the users who use the application. OK, before you ask is it smart to leave this in the hands of a user, let´s move on to the next two questions. ‘Why would a person want one?’; this is also answered very simply. A user wants one because they don´t have the time or money to keep a developer busy with this one application. Perhaps they need the developer to create several applications and their budget only allows them a short period for each application. All in all, everything sounds logical so far, right? Our third question, ‘Why would a developer make one?’, quite simply put, he has no choice, he is hired to do an application and therefore he has to make it. As a developer we all hate to work like that because we feel as though our experience is being pushed aside for the sake of a few dollars.”

(Via Friday Morning Report » Blog Archive » User Changeable Applications, Problems & Solutions.)

Companies like Zoho do this much better now but back then there was nothing other than Microsoft’s Access application and that didn’t work very well for them.

Had my boss never let me “go for it” I’d probably never have come up with the idea or given it a go so the next time you are thinking about something consider all your options and not just the one with the nice price tag (sometimes the one without a price tag is even nicer!)

Warning: Audio download may not be complete, video replay is complete!

Today’s show was about writing books, books written, pressure, stress and of course the upcoming SAP TechEd 2009 events!

Talking Points

• Happy Birthday Mom
• Homecamp site relaunch
• AccMan woes
• RIA Hacker Night
• Books
  • Existing Books
  • New Book

Video Replay

Warning: Audio download may not be complete, video replay is complete!

In today’s show we talk to James Governor from RedMonk about his thoughts on UI and UX in the Enterprise space. We go into several thoughts around how SAP is moving as well as Adobe, IBM and Microsoft. Today’s show was spawned from the following 3 posts:

• Front Ends & Portal Plasticity: glue to putty, SAP to Adobe
• The best UI is no UI
• The state of Enterprise UIs : “It’s a design thinking problem”

Disclaimer: James and Vinnie are both fellow Irregulars, Mrinal is a fellow SAP mentor and all 3 are good friends. I also work for SAP.

Video Replay

Talking Points

• Brief thought and moment for September 11, 2001
• James Governor
  • UI
  • UX
  • Enterprise

Chat History

12:43 ccmehil: 30 mins until UI, API and Enterprise
13:16 GretchenL0703: Hello all
13:17 dgraversen: not much chat activity in the chat.
13:17 jonerp: yes, a day to reflect…and move ahead
13:18 jonerp: heya Gretchen
13:18 dgraversen: We cannot here james
13:18 GretchenL0703: My sister who works at the Pentagon just sent me a letter re Patriot Day she got from Secretary of the Army, Chief of Staff of the Army and Command Sergeant Major of the Army
13:18 jonerp: can James turn his audio up
13:19 GretchenL0703: hey there @jonerp
13:20 monkchips: nothing new
13:20 jonerp: can James turn his AUDIO UP
13:21 jonerp: there ya go
13:21 jonerp: thanks
13:23 jonerp: But James, users love the SAP GUI…oh, I mean….let me clarify…
13:24 yellowpark: trying to tune in. think new firefox update has borked my flash
13:24 jonerp: I loved what SAP’s Sikka said about this: that we need to develop apps/UIs that connect emotionallly with users
13:25 jonerp: yeah, sex appeal of UIs can be overrated – you want to have a UI that allows you to get done what you need to do in a fast way
13:26 jonerp: and speed of response is a big issue – sometimes fancy UIs have a crappy response/load time
13:26 GretchenL0703: Counting the minutes until I can hear Sikka’s remarks. Anything remotely social is blocked here. How do I get into FMR? Good question.
13:27 ewH: nice, just woke up, logged on, and first thing I hear is @monkchips dropping F bombs…Its gonna be a great day!
13:27 GretchenL0703: right, the web site said it would be posted on 9/14. It was blocked here
13:27 jonerp: @eWH always good to wake up to some monkschips F bombs
13:29 GretchenL0703: I was told that SAP live video feed page was blocked cuz it had a Twitter logon. Big no no.
13:31 Itsinsider: Grrr finally here but on iPhone at a coffee shop.
13:32 jonerp: run SAP on a Mac?
13:33 snapsht: Potty mouth must be part of his user experience
13:33 maggiefox: I have come to heckle
13:33 jonerp: Hey Susan…!
13:34 jonerp: I guess I should return the NetWeaver Business Client I purchased for @monkchips as a surprise
13:36 maggiefox: does James have a nose trick?
13:36 njames: enjoying this one
13:37 njames: simplify and speed
13:37 jonerp: @njames +1 simplify and speed
13:37 jonerp: bloatware must perish
13:40 ewH: I’ve actually been very impressed with SAPs changed attitude toward UI and User Experience since the acquisition/integration of Business Objects
13:42 se38_uwe: User Expirience Optimization (UXO) ie. via mouse tracking: http://www.m-pathy.com/
13:42 Oliver: James is a PC!
13:43 jonerp: @ewH agreed – SAP BO has turned out to be a huge assest in terms of cultural/different ways of addressing enteprise UI/data/dashboards etc
13:49 njames: SAP is a client of Redmonk ?
13:49 Itsinsider: Listening now. On the treadmill.
13:49 ewH: Question for Monkchips re: the Vishal/Kurzweil talk: Singularity, UI, & Enterprise…thoughts?
13:53 ewH: James, coming to Phoenix for TechEd?
13:54 njames: fwiw I worked on the Southwark CRM system
13:54 Oliver: James in Vienna is nice
13:55 njames: clients: Adobe, Day Software, IBM, Mindtouch, SAP
13:55 Itsinsider: Wow I have Craig on my 24″ iMac full screen. Turn the volume back up.
13:55 njames: at the bottom of the post in queston
13:56 njames: currently working on a UI job
13:56 jonerp: Craig, do you know when the DemoJam decisions are coming out?
13:56 dgraversen: @itsinder scarry view
13:56 njames: so this was very useful thanks Craig
13:56 Itsinsider: Craig. When is SAP going to announce social collaborative software?
13:57 dgraversen: when is the RIA hacker night in teched phoenix
13:57 se38_uwe: reminder: VCD #6
13:58 ewH: w00t!
13:58 njames: geeklet?
13:58 ewH: we love our enterprise geek chicks too ya know
13:59 njames: RIA night … cool
14:00 dgraversen: Have a gr8 weekend all
14:00 jonerp: thanks Craig
14:00 GretchenL0703: Bye all!
14:00 Itsinsider: Bye Craig!
14:00 jonerp: have great weekends!
14:00 ewH: peace
14:00 sig: *waving*
14:02 ccmehil: Thanks Everyone!

Today’s show is about Micro Finance, defined in Wikipedia as…

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steadyemployment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit. Microcredit is a part ofmicrofinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor. Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan, a world-renowned social scientist from Pakistan, initiated the Comilla cooperative program, and proved to the world that it was indeed possible to provide credit to the poor – with great success no less – Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan – The Pioneer of Microcredit

Microcredit is a financial innovation that is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.^[1] In that country, it has successfully enabled extremely impoverished people to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an income and, in many cases, begin to build wealth and exit poverty. Due to the success of microcredit, many in the traditional banking industry have begun to realize that these microcredit borrowers should more correctly be categorized as pre-bankable; thus, microcredit is increasingly gaining credibility in the mainstream finance industry, and many traditional large finance organizations are contemplating microcredit projects as a source of future growth, even though almost everyone in larger development organizations discounted the likelihood of success of microcredit when it was begun. The United Nations declared 2005 the International Year of Microcredit.

Talking Points

• Shout Out: Jen Robinson (you know why)
• Shout Out: Susan Scrupski
• 2.0 Adoption Council
• Snow Leopard
• Micro Finance
  • Kiva

Video Replay

Chat History

13:13 ccmehil: Today in 2mins Micro Finance
13:13 jspath55: Hi all – can only join for a short time – meeting deadline looming
13:14 GretchenL0703: Hello all- Happy Friday!
13:14 jspath55: No pose: http://chinposin.com/i/8341
13:14 corycc: tgif
13:15 cminion: ive not got any sound
13:15 jspath55: Craig’s lips are moving – no sound here yet.
13:15 GretchenL0703: me neither
13:15 Karin: I can’t hear either
13:16 dgraversen: Then it is not my sound card with problems.
13:16 jspath55: “Can you here me now?”
13:16 dgraversen: much better
13:16 corycc: there you are
13:16 Karin: yes, I can hear you now
13:16 jspath55: Step closer to the mic?
13:16 GretchenL0703: Yes, now
13:19 se38_uwe: >> pump up the volume <<
13:19 marilynpratt: Please give us more of your voice
13:19 marilynpratt: perfect
13:19 corycc: better!
13:19 jspath55: Betta!
13:19 GretchenL0703: MUCH!
13:19 se38_uwe: much better, thx
13:19 Mrinal: aaaaa
13:19 cminion: can hear now
13:20 Karin: ouch – had to turn my volume way down
13:20 marilynpratt: heard people complaining
13:20 sig: I did!
13:21 dahowlett: weird – can’t see chat on other page
13:21 jspath55: No Mac. NetBSD.
13:22 dahowlett: ah-ha – this works…
13:23 marilynpratt: cool
13:23 Karin: impersonating “The Thinker”
13:23 dahowlett: Early adopter dopeyness?
13:24 dahowlett: @marilynpratt: check out my DN site re: IFRS stuff (sorry @craig – MP has been asking me and she’s here so…stealing your chat)
13:24 dahowlett: ZDN…
13:24 marilynpratt: back to Micro Finance : https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/pub/wlg/14684
13:25 jspath55: See – http://us.planetfinancegroup.org/index.php
13:25 corycc: has everyone read Banker to the Poor?
13:25 marilynpratt: @dahowlett and thanks dh
13:25 GretchenL0703: Dennis- I have to have 2 windows open, too
13:25 jspath55: … for those in the US, eh?
13:25 dahowlett: Kiva.org rox
13:25 jspath55: and: http://twitter.com/PlanetFinance
13:25 Karin: @ccmehil sure has gone to a lot of conferences
13:25 monkchips: musnt hang out for long busy busy busy
13:25 monkchips: but hello all
13:26 RichHeilman: what up…
13:26 marilynpratt: MicroFinance and SAP Community https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/bpx/microfinance
13:27 GretchenL0703: Usury laws?
13:27 jspath55: High risk zones/
13:27 dahowlett: Failure rates on many are very low so why high rates?
13:28 cminion: modern day exploitation? it helps people out but primarily for profit
13:28 GretchenL0703: @dahowlett +1
13:28 jspath55: Always keep a sharp eye out for “charities” that are just skimmers though.
13:28 monkchips: fwiw dennis howlett did a really nice video with me, mark charmer and yellowpark. microfinance is a biggie
13:28 sig: Low volume = high OH
13:29 cminion: If it is a buisness it possibly will have more drive because it has to produce cash to keep the public happy
13:29 marilynpratt: Ginger Gatling got me working with Kiva few years back
13:29 sig: Apply old-school banking methodology = huge OH per loan / lent euro
13:29 dahowlett: Kiva is revolving
13:29 monkchips: have you read grameen?
13:29 monkchips: that is – classical models said women were a bad credit risk
13:30 monkchips: turns out they are not. women invest in their familiers
13:30 dahowlett: @monkchiips – but women are a better bet as far as I can tell
13:30 monkchips: men on the other hand, take money and **** off to the pub…
13:30 GretchenL0703: Gee I wonder who came up with the “classical models”
13:30 monkchips: very important economic insights… definitely read grameen
13:30 corycc: Banker to the Poor by M. Yunus
13:31 monkchips: as corycc says http://www.muhammadyunus.org/
13:31 monkchips: is THE MAN
13:31 marilynpratt: got a report from PlanetFinance called: The New Moneylenders: Are the Poor Being Exploited by High Microcredit Interest Rates?
13:32 ccmehil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_finance
13:32 sig: The system SAP build (that you mentioned), is that “using good old banking methods” business process wise?
13:32 marilynpratt: I’ll upload to MicroFinance site on BPX
13:33 jspath55: http://www.planetrating.com/ – “is a specialized microfinance rating agency”
13:33 monkchips: ahem- marilyn isn’t that copyrighted?
13:33 monkchips: hmmm i think i’ll steal me some SCN content…
13:33 sig: and some “banker” set the requirements?
13:34 monkchips: i gotta finish a post. i really can’t be engaged today
13:34 sig: c’mon dennis
13:34 jspath55: I donated to PlaNet Finance. Gotta go to next meeting. C ya.
13:35 dahowlett: Economists are men who couldn’t get a job – and when they do they mess it up – eg Greenspan
13:35 dahowlett: Economics is horseshit
13:35 sig: hear hear dennis
13:36 marilynpratt: quote from report: Because most microfinance markets are so young and because most are not yet competitive, it would be unrealistic to expect MFIs in those markets to be opera
13:36 marilynpratt: operating at the most efficient levels possible. Immature industries always have some level of correctable inefficiency.
13:37 monkchips: but look who got the good ratings?
13:37 DickHirsch: Hi FMR viewers
13:37 monkchips: the ratings agencies are RETARDED
13:37 monkchips: we all got ****** by those guys
13:37 marilynpratt: just sent you a report that shows indexes of rates to various programs
13:38 monkchips: seriously. they gave banks with CDOs tripe A ratings
13:38 dahowlett: Moodys are pants
13:38 marilynpratt: we like Kiva because it is community driven and we “meet” our borrowers
13:38 monkchips: craig hasn’t even noticed the SAP microfinance partnership, what its doin in ghana and so on
13:39 corycc: I saw Jessica Jackley of Kiva speak – very compelling
13:39 marilynpratt: @monkchips and look at who sponsors the reports
13:39 monkchips: aha -
13:39 monkchips: missed that
13:39 monkchips: looks like a nice iced coffee
13:39 monkchips: a loan tracking program
13:40 monkchips: there is already is an open source one
13:40 monkchips: called really simple reporting
13:40 DickHirsch: look he has a milk foam mustache
13:40 monkchips: see @bjelkeman
13:40 dahowlett: @monkchaips – Mark Charmer explains that concept very well
13:40 DickHirsch: sap is too short
13:40 Karin: is it like a TPS report?
13:41 dahowlett: @craig – you’ve got a milky under moustache
13:41 marilynpratt: microfinance without education /support / local understanding = fail
13:41 dahowlett: me on Kiva
13:41 marilynpratt: prattmarilyn@gmail.com
13:41 marilynpratt: marilynpratt on Kiva
13:43 dahowlett: lob in $25
13:43 marilynpratt: as your borrower gives back your loan you get update notifications
13:43 dahowlett: Noticing that Ustream isn’t irritating the **** out of me today with its dopey ads
13:44 marilynpratt: after you lob $25 it tracks the return and you can run with multiple loans
13:44 dgraversen: @dahowlett yes they are really target.
13:44 dahowlett: @marilyn – Kiva has a smart way of drawing you into lending more as it only works on $25 increments but pays back in tiny pieces
13:45 monkchips: the risk to you is quite low, craig
13:45 dahowlett: @craig – use it as a way of learning about agriculture
13:45 marilynpratt: affinity with a country.its population
13:45 monkchips: my dad always said: never loan anyone money that you expect to get backj
13:45 marilynpratt: I felt strongly about Cambodia after being there and it is my small continous connection
13:46 GretchenL0703: What do traditional bankers know about most of the borrowers’ enterprises? Not much. Speaking as a former banker. They see a balance sheeet.
13:46 marilynpratt: I want to support women and groups of women so I have a gender bias there
13:46 marilynpratt: Gretchen +++1
13:46 monkchips: do it craig
13:47 monkchips: you nkow you wanna!
13:47 monkchips: friday morning report now has a kiva project
13:47 marilynpratt: yeah craig and track it
13:47 DickHirsch: do it
13:47 dahowlett: stop yapping and just get on with it
13:48 dahowlett: @craig – DON’T GO THERE – I get into trouble for saying that sort of thing
13:48 monkchips: come on folks- shouldnt everyone on the show today make a 25 donation? and we can “compete” to see who gets paid first
13:49 dahowlett: $50…FTW
13:49 GretchenL0703: Marily what is your email address again pls?
13:49 monkchips: i will find a project to fund. will you? craig- build a tracker app?
13:49 dahowlett: @gretchen: it’s marilynp@totallyawesome.com
13:49 marilynpratt: marilynpratt@verizon.net or prattmarilyn@gmail.com
13:49 monkchips: and on that note i gotta work tjay post. have a great weekend one and all
13:50 marilynpratt: @dahowlett blushing
13:50 dahowlett: @monkchips – tootlepip
13:51 GretchenL0703: @marilynpratt Thanks!
13:51 marilynpratt: women
13:52 marilynpratt: check out lending organization’s crediblity
13:53 dahowlett: +1
13:53 marilynpratt: good
13:54 marilynpratt: lending field partner important parameter
13:54 dgraversen: I’m using myc4.com, a project that I’m helping has a transaction cost of 29%. How is Kiva
13:54 dahowlett: GFI
13:55 corycc: Kiva accepts donations for operating costs
13:55 marilynpratt: yep
13:56 marilynpratt: Important – Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize
13:56 corycc: way to go Craig!
13:56 marilynpratt: go Craig
13:57 Karin: it is very cool!
13:57 GretchenL0703: Way cool!
13:58 dahowlett: My head’s str8 – but maybe not later on after I’ve had a few sherberts
13:58 corycc: great discussion Craig – thanks!
13:58 marilynpratt: great topic Craig thanks
13:58 Karin: thanks ccmehil
13:59 Karin: have a great weekend everyone!
13:59 GretchenL0703: Thanks Craig! Have a great weekend everyone!
13:59 cminion: and you man
13:59 dahowlett: CYA
13:59 corycc: bye all!
13:59 dahowlett: Not going to Phenix after all ;(
14:00 sig: ciaaoo!
14:00 cminion: bye
14:03 ccmehil: Thanks Everyone!

Today’s show covers the topic of “stolen content”, namely blogs from the SAP Community Network as discovered by the users themselves (see here and here)

Talking Points

• Shout Out: Abesh and the internal PlanetFinance project
• Shout Out: James Governor and his Twitter search
• Chinposin Friday
• Main Topic: Stolen Content
  • Dial In: Jim Spath
  • Dial In: Thorsten Franz
  • Dial In: James Governor

Video Replay

Chat History

12:45 ccmehil: 30 mins to http://live.fridaymorningreport.tv “Stolen Content”
13:14 skeohan: trying a new machine – hopefully I can see/hear the FMR!
13:15 ewH: check 1, 2, 3..check
13:15 corycc: good day all
13:16 thorstenster: Hello all!
13:16 tonkapome: evening all
13:16 qmacro: almost foiled by the bozo filter: typo on URL for this show
13:16 qmacro: hello all
13:16 jspath55: G’day
13:17 ewH: Lets get this show on the road Cmehil…I got work to do
13:18 ewH: ads? What a sellout! jk
13:20 njames: hi everyone … last day at work
13:21 jspath55: @njames are you retiring? lol
13:21 jspath55: #blogtheft is the hashtag
13:22 tonkapome: Who elses blog has been stolen?
13:22 thorstenster: Can you see anything? I’ve got a black screen.
13:22 jspath55: I see Craig. I do not see the spoon.
13:22 ewH: @thorstenster yeah, no issues here
13:22 ewH: What spoon?
13:22 qmacro: thorstenster: I can see Craig; perhaps a black screen would be better
13:23 ewH: @qmacro LOL
13:23 skeohan: Rats. hating firewall. Will have to replay later.
13:23 tonkapome: Thor all good u oz too
13:23 jspath55: traceroute worked for me.
13:24 ewH: wow, 1200 visitors per month? Thats like a nickel per month from Google ads!!!
13:24 thorstenster: Now I can see & hear him in Firefox (after changing IE proxy settings )
13:25 ewH: are we watching FMR live or did Craig just accidentally turn on his camera while he was thinking out loud?
13:25 jspath55: nslookup 69.163.145.192
13:25 tonkapome: thieving SOBs
13:25 thorstenster: It’s somebody in China apparently.
13:25 jspath55: Except author’s names!!!!
13:26 ewH: speaking of things from China, someone sent me a message from there yesterday to let me know I won a 750 million pound reward!
13:26 thorstenster: And what’s as bad: No comments and discussions
13:26 ewH: so like nigel, this is my last day at work too!
13:26 thorstenster: Part of the reason for blogging is getting good comments and discussions going
13:27 thorstenster: They’re taking that value away from the ppl who use their site.
13:27 tonkapome: British
13:27 ewH: haha, good question
13:27 tonkapome: pounds?
13:27 jspath55: I emailed an abuse report to the ISP host.
13:27 thorstenster: @ewH And you didn’t quit your job immediately?
13:27 sappro: Everytime we update our sendmail server we get hacked within 5 minutes from Chinese IPs, just funny
13:27 thorstenster: @ewH Oh, I see you did!
13:28 ewH: @thor well, I wanted to hang out for FMR first…but after this, Im outta here
13:28 jspath55: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jspath55/3858166955/
13:28 thorstenster: @ewH I see, you’ve got free internet at work. Need to use that as long as possible.
13:29 sappro: There is a tool out there that checks to make sure your content is not copied, I have a lot of my blog posts copied with little bit of content changed slightly
13:29 thorstenster: I didn’t say that, at least not seriously. Theft is just theft, no flattery.
13:29 thorstenster: Did anyone see my comment re: comments and discussions?
13:30 luislanz: hey.. hello !!
13:30 jspath55: Hi Luis!
13:30 jspath55: We are just lurkers…
13:30 ccmehil: +19044251262
13:30 thorstenster: What’s the question again?
13:30 ccmehil: Skype: CraigCmehil
13:31 monkchips: wasssuppppppp
13:31 ccmehil: or DM ccmehil
13:31 tonkapome: please stop shacking your spoon, my son is getting scared that he is in for a whooping
13:31 ewH: @monkchips whatttt upppp!!!
13:32 qmacro: get SAP hosting to send alternative “STOLEN!” images to rogue referrer – Google “image theft apache” for examples
13:33 monkchips: waddupppp brar. how you doin ewh?
13:33 ewH: @monkchips will you be coming to teched Phoenix / Vienna?
13:34 sappro: This really is not new just more drastic but if you look for microsoft KB articles it’s amazing how many sites copy them
13:35 jenrobinson: hi guys. good morning.
13:35 jspath55: Hi Jen!
13:35 sappro: I think using watermarks is one way to take care of the images, or don’t upload them link them to your own site so you can control them
13:35 jspath55: #BITIpeeps
13:36 thorstenster: Hi Craig, please call me – sent you my number through DM
13:40 monkchips: declarative living
13:41 monkchips: talking of diversity the news from altimeter group this week is just awesome (off topic)
13:42 jenrobinson: james, why do you think the altimeter news is awesome? (the jowyang move, right?) it doens’t seem like a big deal to me.
13:43 jspath55: heading to meeting – thx all!
13:43 jenrobinson: not to derail the session… maybe we can talk later
13:43 monkchips: can we look at this another way?
13:43 monkchips: when i want to watch sports that are only on sky
13:44 ewH: gotta run…have a great weekend all!
13:44 monkchips: i go to Chinese sites to get em. i don’t really feel guilty about it.
13:44 jenrobinson: later, ed
13:44 monkchips: jenrobinson – altimeter is cool. but how many asian businesses are there in the analyst biz. a nice angle on that story
13:45 thorstenster: My 15 minutes of fame!
13:45 monkchips: two different topics
13:45 monkchips: sure
13:46 Tom Raftery: Hey all – joining late
13:47 thorstenster: I can’t understand a word
13:48 Tom Raftery: Phew! Thought my hearing was going
13:49 tonkapome: stil bad quality. He sounds like a Daelek
13:50 abesh: late but here…. howdy peeps
13:50 thorstenster: Maybe the replay on www.sap-abap4.com will have better sound quality
13:50 jenrobinson: way better now
13:50 Tom Raftery: Comprehensible audio?
13:51 Tom Raftery: What’s with that
13:51 tonkapome: thorstenster LMAO
13:51 abesh: audio is fine
13:51 jenrobinson: hi abesh!
13:52 tonkapome: Stop swearing, you are giving us Brits a bad name
13:53 abesh: Hey jen
13:54 tonkapome: obviously ******* not )
13:55 tonkapome: I think one of the main gripes is that the author is not represented
13:55 monkchips: tonkapome – absolutely
13:56 monkchips: but good contributors will be found
13:56 monkchips: the internet of whuffie is stronger than the evil crap
13:57 tonkapome: monkchips true.
13:57 Tom Raftery: You sure it wasn’t EvilCraig
13:58 thorstenster: @Tom Raftery LOL
13:58 abesh: audio screwed !
13:58 monkchips: i have a TON of figs
13:58 Tom Raftery: I used to eat figs from fig trees growing in Cork all the time when I was young
13:58 thorstenster: Blackout periods are getting longer
13:59 monkchips: also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figgy_pudding
13:59 Tom Raftery: Absolutely – loved them
13:59 monkchips: i mean if english christmas pudding is figgy pudding
13:59 monkchips: where the heck were they getting them from?
14:00 Tom Raftery: I used to pick them off the tree
14:00 monkchips: right on!
14:00 tonkapome: monkchips another proud British dish
14:00 monkchips: you too craig
14:00 tonkapome: lets hope it’s clean
14:00 abesh: et tu craig
14:01 monkchips: have a v important sales call to make. later!
14:01 tonkapome: Enjoy
14:01 Tom Raftery: No Irish whiskey?
14:01 thorstenster: Man, you really need to taste some first class whisky
14:01 Tom Raftery: disappointed
14:01 abesh: dude that just increased your show’s rating to mature !!!
14:01 tonkapome: Bushmills
14:01 se38_uwe: bye and thx
14:02 Tom Raftery: Bye all
14:02 thorstenster: Maybe at TechEd Vienna I’ll evangelize with some good single malt
14:02 thorstenster: Bye all
14:02 tonkapome: Ciao
14:02 thorstenster: Through the nose!
14:03 ccmehil: thanks everyone!

Today’s show inspired through the events of this post featured a guest host Maggie Fox (Twitter: @maggiefox) and a conversation about diversity and making change happen for the better.

Talking Points

• Shout Out Adobe and the RIA Hacker Night
• Shout Out RedMonk and the RIA Hacker Night
• Shout Out SAP PRESS and the RIA Hacker Night
• Shout Out Etay Gafni and his new startup Moodspin
• Main Topic: Women Speakers with Maggie Fox

Video Replay

Chat History
13:04 maggiefox: hey – looking forward to the show today! Info | Delete | Ban
13:09 skeohan: I may actually be able to see FMR today – working from home 8/21
13:10 ccmehil: 5 mins to go, @maggiefox is online and ready to go as well
13:12 jspath55: patching video and audio for @karin_tillotson please stand by!
13:13 GretchenL0703: Hello all! Really looking forward to this week’s topic!
13:14 Graham Robbo: Hi all
13:14 corycc: g’morning all – looking forward to FMR today
13:15 oliver: hey
13:15 jspath55: Everyone text Hi to Karin.
13:16 skeohan: Hi Car-in
13:16 corycc: hi karin
13:16 thorstenster: Hi all!
13:16 Graham Robbo: Hi K
13:17 GretchenL0703: Hi Karin!
13:17 jspath55: #BITIpeeps
13:17 jspath55: we c u
13:17 ewH: Maggie AND Cmehil in one place? How lucky can we be?
13:18 RichHeilman: morning all
13:18 maggiefox: @ewH – hi, eddy!
13:18 se38_uwe: 24 viewers, record this year?
13:18 mcrapo: Good morning.
13:19 RichHeilman: @maggiefox draws a crowd.
13:19 citoki: hello
13:20 jspath55: Hi Sue, Gretchen, Graham, Cory
13:20 skeohan: follow Maggie @maggiefox on Twitter
13:21 dahowlett: morning/afternoon/campers
13:21 maggiefox: @dahowlett – hey there!
13:22 jspath55: Hi Dennis
13:22 skeohan: http://technicallywomen.com/
13:22 jenrobinson: hey y’all. happy friday!
13:23 jspath55: Hi Jen. – did you get a new job or did I misread your tweet?
13:23 yojibee: Hi jen
13:24 jspath55: @yojibee
13:24 Michael Koch: Hi
13:24 jenrobinson: @jspath55 new job?? nope, still at SAP. i moved to the New York office in May, though.
13:24 ewH: Rich, Sue, Dennis, Jim, Jen, Anne, Michael, Karin — Good Morning!
13:24 maggiefox: @yojibee – hi!
13:24 maggiefox: @jenrobinson – hey, jen!
13:25 mcrapo: Should I be seeing – hearing something?
13:25 jspath55: I thwack bots one at a time. Poof you’re a ghost.
13:25 RichHeilman: yea, keep getting a maggiefox imposter following me on twitter. very annoying
13:25 RichHeilman: @ewh morning dude. how’s MS
13:26 skeohan: In discussion w/colleagues yesterday, they said that Twitter users were ‘losers’ – then I told them I tweeted
13:26 oliver: Just had a hundret new porn followers in the last couple of days. Twitters user number are exaggerated!
13:26 maggiefox: @richheilmann – lol
13:26 skeohan: Heh heh heh
13:26 yojibee: @maggiefox Hi!
13:26 GretchenL0703: Some of us would speak more often if the organizations we work for were more supportive. Many layers of approvals, hurdles to jump, due to instituional fearfulness.
13:26 jspath55: @Sue LOL!!! (or, ji ji ji)
13:27 skeohan: @jspath55 ’sTruth!
13:27 jspath55: sock puppet?
13:28 thorstenster: There’s @fakesacca – hilarious
13:28 GretchenL0703: I had to explain to the guy in the T-Mobile store yesterday why I am a twitter user. Very skeptical 30ish guy.
13:28 jenrobinson: @maggiefox nice to have you here, maggie
13:28 RichHeilman: you know, I don’t even think the real @maggiefox is following me. LOL
13:28 maggiefox: @jen thanks!
13:29 ewH: just to clarify, who are we talking about when we say “the usual suspects”?
13:31 thorstenster: @skeohan LOL – I would have made it a point to congratulate them on the accuracy and perceptiveness of that statement, then back it up with the fact that I tweet, too.
13:31 monkchips: jenrobinson pulled me in. morning folks. hey maggie. all of you should check out my avatar
13:31 monkchips: do the nose thing!
13:31 monkchips: nose!
13:32 maggiefox: @monkchips maybe later
13:32 maggiefox: @monkchips shut up!
13:32 skeohan: @thorstenster – I tried to enlighten them, as I usually do. I asked if they were so resistant when Television came out
13:32 RichHeilman: @monkchips NoseCrinklin Friday
13:32 monkchips: you’re a man, what’s in it for you?
13:32 oliver: Oh dear James
13:33 monkchips: a: its hard to get laid without diversity…
13:33 dahowlett: I needto see Maggie’s nose trick – again
13:33 monkchips: nose, nose, nose
13:33 jspath55: tweeting and driving? Oh Noes!
13:34 jenrobinson: @monkchips hey james, long time no see.
13:34 skeohan: Hi Maggie, I am Sue
13:35 monkchips: yay!!!
13:35 monkchips: tipjar!
13:35 jspath55: #MSF gets my spare change.
13:35 skeohan: Oh My God
13:35 RichHeilman: WTF?
13:35 monkchips: that is so fing great
13:35 monkchips: sure!!!
13:35 monkchips: hey jenrobinson how you doin?
13:35 jspath55: waves!
13:36 skeohan: Hi Jules
13:36 corycc: Hi buddy!
13:36 Graham Robbo: Hi
13:36 ewH: Jules…cool name!
13:36 corycc: good looking kid!
13:36 ewH: that looked like a mini male version of maggie
13:36 corycc: nose trick was totally worth @monkchips begging
13:36 maggiefox: @corycc thanks – I do make cute kids
13:37 thorstenster: @skeohan: They might still be using the horse + carriage.
13:37 jenrobinson: @monkchips doin well, thx. you? love the avatar.
13:37 skeohan: Shout out to Karin!
13:37 jspath55: an SAP Mentor too.
13:37 thorstenster: I need a female online persona. thorstine? thorstilette?
13:38 monkchips: jenrobinson – yeah, @lskrocki pinged me about chinposin with one of her classic avatars
13:38 jspath55: Karin looked at the entire conference, not just the ILM track.
13:38 Michael Koch: @thorstenster: “Thoretta”
13:38 yojibee: Yes, we definitely should be more women
13:38 Michael Schwandt: It works from within SAP domain
13:39 oliver: I’m also for way more women for sure!
13:39 monkchips: powerful women? do they have budgets/
13:39 maggiefox: @monkchips yes
13:39 jenrobinson: @monkchips i do
13:39 jspath55: I need to check ASUG volunteer ranks – I think it is extremely diverse.
13:40 monkchips: see what i did there? top salesman. now i know where the money is…
13:40 jspath55: And Bhanu is an ASUG volunteer, BTW
13:40 RichHeilman: Yea, people used to say “Thanks man” in her forum posts
13:41 GretchenL0703: At least it makes sense that people assumed that Bhanu was a man. I still get stuff addressed to Mr. Gretchen Lindquist.
13:42 jspath55: @gretchen
13:42 ewH: ok, I think we all agree that diversity is good…so what can we do?
13:42 Graham Robbo: We loose women to our industry in middle school. We need to find a way to retain them so the numbers imbalance is corrected
13:42 monkchips: gender free would SUCK!
13:42 Graham Robbo: Sorry I meant “lose”
13:42 dahowlett: yoohoo
13:42 dahowlett: @monkchips – it would suck mightily
13:43 jspath55: Example ASUG Community Volunteer Leadership Community Facilitator Ina Lerner Dow Corning Corporation Community Facilitator Catherine Barrett Philips Medical Systems – Cardia
13:43 jspath55: …iac Monitoring Systems Community Facilitator JoEllen Fiorvante Bridge Installation
13:45 dahowlett: douchebaggery – yay!
13:45 corycc: DB – lol!
13:45 maggiefox: al hail the douchebags!
13:45 corycc: thanks maggie / craig – great discussion!
13:46 monkchips: thanks crazyfox
13:46 RichHeilman: Thanks Maggie
13:46 ewH: bye Maggie…see you at TechEd?
13:46 jenrobinson: thanks guys
13:46 oliver: I propose @monkchips to become Technical Woman h.c. That should give the movement some traction.
13:46 GretchenL0703: Yes, thank you both!
13:46 jspath55: #BITIpeeps are doing our part
13:46 dahowlett: Maggie can punch people through the internet
13:46 monkchips: holy shit. two nose things in one day. we’re not worthy
13:46 skeohan: Great for underwater swimming
13:47 maggiefox: @dahowlett – LOL
13:47 monkchips: thanks Craig!
13:47 maggiefox: @monkchips don’t get used to it!
13:47 skeohan: http://socialmediagroup.com/2009/08/07/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-top-10-social-media-speaker/
13:47 monkchips: i gotta be a guest on the show again soon. it needs more profanity
13:47 maggiefox: Thanks, everyone!
13:47 dahowlett: tootlepip Maggie
13:47 jenrobinson: ooh, love the backdrop, craig
13:48 dahowlett: cheers
13:48 Graham Robbo: Bye
13:48 jspath55: Thanks from Jim
13:48 jenrobinson: thx, craig
13:48 skeohan: nice Craig, we can still see you
13:48 skeohan: Nope, not leaving
13:48 ewH: this is like watching the rolling credits
13:48 oliver: thx bye
13:48 thorstenster: thanks, bye!
13:48 Graham Robbo: Bed time for me now
13:48 monkchips: dude check out my avatar today
13:48 ewH: just in case theres an extra scene
13:48 monkchips: outtakes!
13:49 se38_uwe: outtakes
13:49 ewH: loved the dance
13:49 RichHeilman: WTF?
13:49 thorstenster: Here they come!!!
13:49 ewH: that alone was worth the price of admission
13:49 skeohan: We’re still watching you
13:50 dhague: hey – I resemble that avatar!
13:50 skeohan: Thanks Craig!
13:52 ccmehil: thank you everyone!

Awhile back I wrote a post about someone I admire, it happened to be a woman and for Ada Lovelace day.

That woman, Marilyn, recently has become part of a group called Technically Women, along with several other woman that I know (some more than others). Now it’s quite interesting that very recently as I myself begin ramping up into a frenzy of event planning for the upcoming SAP TechEd events around the world — why is that interesting you might ask? Well it’s interesting because my connection to every single one of the ladies involved in this group is related to past SAP events and because the women in this group have begun as a collective to ask the question, “why are there not more women speakers at events”.

Inside of the Irregulars group the conversation was started there by my friend and someone I respect very, very much asked the question to the group as well. Maggie (find her on Twitter or on her blog) is someone I meet years ago and instantly liked. I mean honest to goodness truly liked which is why I can honestly say – what I think on this issue and know that it will be understood and taken in the proper way.

Of course I’ve probably already got you thinking this is negative however it’s not at least not entirely but as Jeff blogged the other day I think there is a bigger issue here than just whether we need more women speaking or not.

Every once in a while this issue flares up, usually in relation to conferences not having anything other than a bunch of white guys on the speaker agenda, but I think we should stop fooling ourselves about the technology industry valuing diversity and on there being a system of meritocracy for achieving it.
Women, Hispanics, blacks, and people with disabilities are all conspicuously absent at events and on company payrolls. We have deluded ourselves into a false sense of security about the fact that because tech centers like Silicon Valley, Boulder, and Boston are themselves centers for cultural diversity, that our industry is diversified as a result. Not true.

Follow that with a phone call I had this week from someone I work with yet have had no contact with in the past, somehow the conversation moved to the topic of diversity, most likely since I’m a foreigner living here and she was a foreigner living there. She was astounded though when I made the comment that,

“I think it’s about damn time we start looking at this topic more seriously and if that means we need to consider the role women play as executives or speakers at events as a starting point then I’m all for it!”

Her response was, “wait your a man, what do you get out of it?”

At first I was not sure how to answer since it’s not an easy one to answer yet I think Cathy Brooks is on the right track with her post “Kerfuffle over a quandary: My take on the female conference speaker debate”

Where she states

No matter how you slice it this is a complex topic and one with which I have found myself confronted very directly in the last several years in my role helping produce/content curate for a number of major technology gatherings. On more than one occasion I have found myself torn because while I am as big a proponent as any for supporting women in business, the plain fact is that it’s a numbers game. There are just fewer women from whom to choose. I’m not suggesting there aren’t smart, accomplished, capable women available to speak on pretty much any topic, but let’s face it. When you look around any given room at any given conference and do the math – apart from BlogHer or other gatherings by women-inclined organizations – if you find a room where the percentage of female presence is anything more than 5% to 10%, I’ll buy you lunch.

What is true, however, is that it’s time to stop talking about it, and take action. Big time.

Now that is taken out of context but I think it fits perfectly well together and still maintains her primary thought in the post.

Maggie herself stated in her post (which ignited this thought for me) “What Does it Take to be a “Top 10″ Social Media Speaker?”

I think part of the problem is many of us suck at two things: valuing our skills and engaging in healthy self-promotion. There may be a good reason for the latter, which is what I want to focus on: when it comes to social media in particular, self-promotion so frequently trumps actual accomplishments that we have a saucy little word for it – douchebaggery. No one wants to be seen as a douchebag (except for the douchebags, and that’s because they don’t know any better).

So where am I going with all of this? Well the basic statement I have to make is “me too”!

I’m still young, or at least I like to think so despite the gray hair and I’ve been successful in my job however like Maggie who I considered to be far more talented and qualified than myself, well we seem to be in the same boat. It’s fighting the “Good Old Boys” and I’m simply not one of them despite being male, white, educated, etc…

Diversity in our business or any other business I see as a good thing because it gives those new folks an opportunity they currently don’t have. I saw this a lot while working in the automotive sector – the world is extremely small and everyone knew everyone and everyone seemed to bounce from one place to other and always because of the “my buddy John works there now” type of thing. This meant that those new folks – younger folks coming out of school often were shut out simply because they had not yet done the rounds – yet being fully qualified.

The lack of diversity, the lack of looking beyond the “usual suspects” hurts our industry as well as every other one simply because we are not looking at those on the edges – me I speak at events (sort of) I speak at my companies events and that is 3 times a year one right after the other and is certainly not a keynote – I’ve been invited to attend events yet I’ve never (honestly) been asked to speak at event other than 2 times to speak and share my companies success story (not my own thoughts on the market or community in the enterprise) of course I can only blame myself on that because I’ve never actually said “I’m willing to speak if you are looking” that self marketing that Maggie and the others elude to seems to be the essential missing piece for a lot of us in terms of this issue. Couple that with not being a member of the “Good Old Boys” club and I’m completely out of luck it seems.

Wait did that turn from diversity to what about me? I guess it did but isn’t that a big piece to the diversity puzzle? Either sit there an mope about it or get out there and do something about it? Maggie and the others have, and I hope if all goes as planned you can hear from Maggie herself on this topic tomorrow Friday, August 21, 2009 on the next episode of the Friday Morning Report!

As for me I guess until I tell someone where’s my speaking invitation or job offer or something like that I have no one to blame but myself? Despite the fact I’ve said time and time again it’s time to use your voice. Perhaps a lesson for us, Maggie and the others are using their voice and hopefully we’ll get to see people like her on stage soon, I can’t speak for them all but Maggie, Susan, Marilyn and several others I know have fantastic insights that I thoroughly enjoy hearing about more so than many of those “usual suspects”!

For those of who you living in the developer world this post shared to me by Nigel James is a must read on this particular topic!

Right in my little town a new locale is opening up, the space has been empty now for probably a year since the Butcher (yes it was a butcher shop) had to close its doors after something like 30 years. I’ve been over talking to the new owner quite often as I find the similarities between a small imbiss and a technical startup staggering.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks as he’s been preparing, all the small details, the glitches, the things that simply were not thought of – what to do now immediately and what to do later once the thing is up and running.

From the mistakes made by the printer (wrong telephone number) to realizing a few days before the opening that there is actually no gas line in the kitchen for the stove and other appliances (like the Dönner Speiss grill) that require it. To of course the cool things happening and just falling into place like all the permits, permissions, deliveries and personal.

For us as a family it’s been interesting because the kids have gotten to see something change and take shape so quickly and right before their eyes and for us because we’ve gotten to learn a bunch of great new people.

We’ve not sampled anything yet at least nothing on the menu but the grills start tomorrow August 17th, 2009 at 11am right here in Eickelborn – Eickelbornstrasse 48 I believe is the hause number but you can’t miss it if you drive right through Eickelborn from Lippstadt look to the left side after you pass the old public pool (soon to be a Firehouse) and from Soest or Hoverstadt look to the right after the big Clinic.

If you decide to check it out because you read this please comment here and let me know what you think of the place!