My job is not easily defined by a title. Working across multiple disciplines. Working in a diverse set of industries. Working on unrelated product types.

I guess I would probably best describe what I do, title-wise, as individual contributor. Honestly, I don’t even know my current title. While I have led and managed teams and groups in the past, this is not my core competency nor is pure management what I strive to do in my career.

It seems to me that today it is more prevalent for there to be a clear and distinct segregation between operations and engineering. A lot of my experiences span functions covered in both disciplines - a foot in each camp as it were.

Behavioral advertising, personal security, operations support systems, outsourcing, publishing, etc.

It is woefully inadequate to simply state “I write software.” The deficiencies in such a statement are glaringly apparent in the context of a resume. When I begin to elaborate on “I write software” my description of what I do becomes overly verbose in my opinion.

System design and implementation of varying size and complexity, is not easily described when coupled with background information on the industry in which the system functions and the need it fulfills. A succinct statement such as “I designed and implemented systems to support behaviorally targeted advertising” seems rather obtuse. Which “systems”; what did the systems do; what problem did they solve; what needs did they address?

And so the task continues…

1. I have NOT done this in a LONG time.
2. I do not have an up-to-date resume.
3. I do not EVEN have a digital copy of the LAST resume I used.
4. Keeping one’s Linkedin profile, marginally up-to-date is without-a-doubt, most-definitely, well…probably, a Good Thing.

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, it’s off to find details on what I’ve done (for the past ten years) I go…hi, ho, hi, ho…

Adblock Plus: what would Jesus do?‘ —’ I’m deep in a quandary.’ A couple of days ago, after calling Adblock Plus ‘the nuclear plug-in,’ I actually went nuclear.’ I downloaded the sucker and started using it.’ I was seduced by Noam Cohen’s description of the almost Zenlike sense of peace …

Source: ‘ Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog

Author: ‘ Nick

Link: ‘ http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/09…

Techmeme permalink

”

(Via tech.memeorandum.)

Adblock Plus is not evil in any way. If publishers and advertisers would use less invasive advertisements there would be no desire (need) to block ads. Advertising has become progressively more and more invasive to the point that it over powers, in some cases obliterates, the content. Trying to read any type of content - which amounts to a page full of jiggling, blinking, animated graphics with some words (content) mixed in - is less than a pleasant experience.

So, what the publishers seem to be oblivious to is that ultimately customers are just being driven away because the once valuable content has become so lost in the distraction. The content is now devalued to the point that it is perceived to be more troublesome to suffer through the irritation of the advertising to pick out the few salient pieces. When it becomes overly burdensome to find the content amongst the ads a consumer is left with two choices - eliminate the ads or eliminate the publisher.

Where does the money go? It will follow the consumer. The damage has been done, attrition is rampant and the publisher will probably not recover. The root cause occurred far back - when the decision to give the quick, small, right-now, profit a higher priority than the long-term, larger, profit. It has become more important to get a few people to click now, before alienating them, versus a customer retention policy which is perceived to be beneficial by said customer and would, in the long run, garner the publisher more clicks and therefore more income.

The Internet is different from print and broadcast - it empowers the consumer, who is no longer at the mercy of the broadcaster or print publisher to the extent that they must take whatever is provided to them in those mediums. It amazes me that advertising on the Internet has really not progressed past this style of thinking. Tape decks and VCRs made it possible to record programs so one could fast forward through the commercials, the irritating parts, and consume the broadcast at leisure and one’s own time of choosing. Now, the DVR is fast making this manner of consuming broadcast media ubiquitous. CDs and connectors for digital music devices are eliminating the captive audience radio broadcasters once commanded. How successful would print publications be if the articles were laid out like many web pages? Where the text of the articles follows no decipherable pattern of flow making it easy to follow and consume but, rather, is bastardized into a series of ads interspersed with bits of text.

The Internet is such a powerful and enabling mechanism for delivering a message. Sticking to traditional metaphors for advertising placement and delivery will continue to be less and less successful as more and more consumers become aware that they are empowered and the technologies involved reach critical mass. Just because an advertiser wants consumers to see their ad is no longer a guarantee that all - or any - consumer will ever see the ad. Ads on the Internet need to offer value, contribute to and have a symbiotic relationship with the content in which they are presented. At the very least they should not go to such great lengths to compete with the content to such a distracting level.

Think context, think behavior, think attention, think retention - long-term, multi-way relationships providing mutually beneficial gain.

Technorati Tags:
internet, advertising, adblock plus

(Via PhotoshopNews.)

If you do not already have Martin’s excellent book - reading through this kind contribution to the Photoshop community should be all the convincing you need to pick up a copy for yourself. The voluminous information contained within this book is indispensable for photographers using Photoshop to produce their final output. Explained and illustrated in a very knowledgeable and reachable way by a true Photoshop expert.

Technorati Tags:
digital photography, photography, photoshop