Gordon Wiebe illustrated for a recent publication from a Mexico-based non-profit organization. The book, written by Sergio Ball�n Zamora, deals with sustainable housing and urban development.
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I thought that I might expose where I have got to progressively and invite you to comment as the thinking emerges and I refine its presentation.
Here is the first part (bibliography�to follow).
A large part of the public relations industry is now actively involved in some form of, or the management of, what is described as social media (Curtis et al 2009).
In addition, a significant proportion of academic papers and not a small part of student and practitioner education is devoted to internet mediated communications studies. ?On the skills side,? noted long time academian Kevin Maloney, ?the rise of new media is the revolutionary change.? (Maloney 2010).
Perhaps here is the rub. ?On the skill side? is a telling comment. It would suggest that the legitimacy of these new media or the internet?s societal significance is not as pivotal or central to public relations theoretical development as its recent practitioner popularity would suggest (Fortune Magazine 2010). The involvement of the communications industries in the recent European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies ?Envisioning Digital Europe 2030? (Misuraca et al 2010) at a ?skill set revolution? or any other level was not supported by public relations industry or with PR academic or industry supported involvement.
With so many organisation?s constituents affected by the communications industries? digital activities both current and in the future, there is a case for examining the fundamental significance of the internet to public relations. The fact that so much of this future gazing has resonance with the objectives of so many of PR?s client base and the The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, Stockholm Accords is significant.
The considerations are underpinned by the CROSSROAD Project, specifically on a research area taxonomy that classifies research in ICT for governance and policy modelling into 5 catagories:
1. Open government information and intelligence for transparency;
2. Social computing, citizen engagement and inclusion;
3. Policy making;
4. Identity management and trust in governance; and
5. Future internet for collaborative governance, (CROSSROAD, 2010a).
This paper explores the legitimacy of the public relations? sectoral internet mediated interaction beyond the mere ?skill set revolution? and examines its significance at the heart of any future evolution of PR practice.
It explores the fundamentals from a human evolutionary perspective, showing the inevitability of human adoption of the internet and internet mediated social interaction. It then offers reasons to believe that all public relations theory has inter alia internet driven challenges in the near and near distant future as part of fundamental changes facing communications and behaviour change related social and commercial industries.It is not that there is a dearth of evidence as to the influences of the internet and its societal, economic or even social media effects in either attitude or behavioural change.
The use of social media enabling users to interact, create value and influence commercial and public institutions has been well documented (Huijboom et al. 2009). Social media facilitate creation of social identities (Castells 2001), creates a process sometimes called social contagion or viral activity (Lewis et al. 2008) and comparison (Grevet and Mankoff 2009) by allowing people to share and amortise personal effort in the process of delivering behavioural change (Garrett 2006). Indeed the empirical evidence of behavioural change wrought through the use of social media is also documented (Cugelman et al 2009) with some considered views on influence (Cugelman et al 2009 /2) and the impact of initiatives driven by the internet including social media as a disruptive force that may affect the power balance between markets, governments, consumers / citizens and NGOs (Langley et al 2010). Other evidence from health (Richardson 2010) and business (Gillin 2010) shows how behaviourally affective internet mediated communication can be and cannot be (Christakis 2010).
From the abundance of reported evidence it would appear that internet mediated communication can and does act in changed attitudes and behaviours.
There is anecdotal evidence of under reporting of these effects (Phillips 2011).
In this respect Internet mediated PR confirms a place in communication considerations of public relations theory.
In its 2008 White Paper, the Authentic Enterprise, the Author Page Society (Iwata, J 2008) noted that, at the same time that, as the multinational organisation and its management systems ?were taking ever clearer and more defined shape, three countervailing trends were arising that have revolutionized the environment in which businesses operate: the digital network revolution, global integration and stakeholder empowerment. Together, they call into question many basic assumptions of the 20th century corporate model.?
There is considerable literature to support evidence for such trends.
The nature of such corporate change provoked by the network effects of internet communication is empirically validated in PR literature by Amaral and Phillips (Amaral and Phillips 2009). Global integration is reported as a corporate pinch point at the start of 2011 according to a Forbes report (Forbes 2011), In addition in PR literature Van Dyke and Vercic, (Van Dyke and Vercic, 2009) offer a well argued case. Evidence offered by Patrizia Nanz Jens Steffe as far back as 2003 argued the extent to which democratisation of global governance will ultimately depend upon the creation of an internet mediated transnational public sphere and is well documented in the PR literature from Dahlgran (2005) to Jackson (2010).
The forgoing is not offered as empirical evidence to demonstrate why the internet is important to PR and PR theory. It merely demonstrates that, without much by way of the PR industry?s actual engagement, the effects of these technologies have begun to changed the practice of managing reputation, constituent engagement, development of trust and organisation?s licence to operate.
The evidence suggests that the PR industry has some way to go.
In the UK, consumers used the Internet extensively to buy things in December 2010.
Graham Charlon at eConsultancy in a report ?Christmas e-commerce stats round up? (Charlton 2011) revealed that consumers had continued to engage with ecommerce at a very considerable rate.
44% of Britain's online adult population upped their online spending this Christmas compared to 2009, pushing the total amount spent online to �2.8bn.
45% of those who shopped online encountered website problems while doing their Christmas shopping, and 32% abandoned purchases as a result.
86% of UK consumers logged onto the internet over Christmas Day and Boxing Day this year, an increase of over 10% when compared with figures from 2009.
22% of online users accessed the internet on their phones, confirming the importance of mobile commerce for retailers.
30% of online consumers used the internet to shop online on Boxing Day, while 62% of online consumers shopped for sale items and discounted products across the two days.
Online sales at John Lewis reached �500m this year, and sales in the five weeks to January 1 were up 42% on the same period last year.
On Boxing Day, eBay and Amazon were the most visited e-commerce sites, with 9.96% and 7.02% of visits respectively.
These data would suggest that social media among many other things had some considerable effect (Gillin 2010) which would lead the observer to imagine that advisors to companies would be making the case for significant activity.
The evidence suggests otherwise.
The 2010 Econsultancy's Social Media and Online PR Report (eConsultancy 2010) revealed that:? Some 40% of companies say they have ?experimented with social media but have not done much?, while just over a third say they have done an ?average amount?.
? Around a quarter of company respondents (26%) said their most senior managers were ?very interested indeed? in social media, compared to 19% who said there was ?very little interest?.
? Social network profile creation and management is still the most widely used social media tactic, although the proportion of companies who do this has decreased from 65% last year to 56% this year.
? Direct traffic (72%) is still regarded as the most important metric for assessing social media activity. Almost three-quarters of respondents say this is one of the three most important metrics they use.
? 45% of responding companies don?t have any policies or guidelines for the use of social media.
The PR industry has been, it might be said, dragged along by a force it does not comprehend very well.Maloney suggested that ?On the skills side the rise of new media is the revolutionary change.?
In many ways PR is overwhelmed by the pace, extent and implications of this change and has to develop skills in response to its evolution.
Perhaps, given the evidence we can also challenge the assumption that ?new media is the revolutionary change.?
Is it that the rise in use and application of ?new media? is a revolution? Indeed, is that the internet and its technologies are revolutionary or, in human evolutionary terms, a human an inevitability?
To be able to argue that the $ multi-billion PR industry needs to take a more fundamental look at the significance of the internet we need to address some of the assumptions. There has to be some consideration as to why the internet evolved and the nature of its evolution in human as well as technical terms to be able to identify if new media is the extent of the revolution........
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Sure, hooking up with a new IT service provider is all cigars and handshakes at first. Promises are made and stars glimmer in your eyes as you sign the contract. The future looks bright.
Then things start to go south. Carefully negotiated deadlines are ignored. Expensive custom apps you paid dearly to be developed suddenly don't work, and your cloud vendor comes down with a case of the vapors. The thrill is gone and it ain't coming back.
[ Also on InfoWorld.com: Learn how to avoid IT's biggest money wasters -- and how to assemble your crackerjack A-Team for IT special ops. | Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld's Advice Line newsletter. ]
"It was worse than a soap opera and very tragic for the client," says Patty Laushman, CEO of the Uptime Group, an IT shop asked to perform computer forensics to prove that the firm's IT vendor was behind the scheme. "Had we known how unhappy they were with their current vendor, we would have coached them on how to safely make the switch."
Of course, not all jilted vendors turn into Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction." Most vendors who feel wronged just sue you. But with easy access to your confidential information and core business systems, the risks from a bad breakup with IT service providers are especially high. As more services move into the cloud, relationships become increasingly short term and impersonal -- which can lead to problems when critical systems and data are no longer under your roof and the vendor isn't returning your calls.
The industry is rife with horror stories of companies that terminated relationships only to find themselves locked out of their own networks or their ERP systems suddenly stopped working. Some even discover that they don't actually own the code they use to run their business and have to go crawling back to the developer to get it.
Fortunately, you don't have to suffer through an ugly divorce -- provided you go about it the right way. Here's some sage advice from people who've been there.
IT divorce tip No. 1: Cooler heads prevail
If you decide to separate from a vendor, avoid doing it in the heat of anger, says Jeff Huckaby, CEO of RackAid, a provider of server management services. If your service provider has just made a major mistake, wait to see how it responds before you get medieval on them. Whether the provider sincerely tries to fix the problem or merely placates you may play a major part in deciding whether to pull the plug. Even then, the decision should be well planned and deliberate.
"Trying to switch vendors in the middle of a dispute can make a sometimes difficult process impossible," Huckaby says. "I've had cases where prior hosting infrastructure providers refused to give any assistance or answer even the most basic question due to ill will."
If possible, Huckaby advises giving the vendor plenty of notice, as well as detailed feedback on why you chose to go in another direction. And beware of scorned vendors looking to salve their hurt feelings by holding your data hostage or making unreasonable demands, says Norman Harber, CEO of Leverage Corporation, an IT strategy firm for SMBs.
"Reminding the vendor being replaced that the company can still be a good reference or referral source for them -- or quite the opposite if provoked -- can go a long way to keeping the peace," says Harber. "So can finding ways to withhold exit payments or other amounts owed until the transition is complete, or even offering up a small bonus upon successful (and tantrum-free) completion of the transition."
IT divorce tip No. 2: Play the field before severing ties
In the world of flesh-and-blood relationships, it's generally a bad idea to take up with a new flame without fully disentangling yourself from your old one. Not so in the IT world -- you'll want some overlap to make the transition smoother, says Huckaby.
"Be careful not to schedule transitions in a way that leaves your IT operations unsupported or unfulfilled as you change vendors," he says. "This process needs to be managed carefully to assure your services are continuous and that the two providers do not interfere with each other."
On the other hand, not all services should be redundant during the transition, he adds. "In our IT management services, we do not want to be monitoring and responding to an outage if another group is also doing the same. Too many hands on your operations could lead to more problems."
"In general, we advise not to fire a vendor until a suitable alternative is ready to go," notes Eric Leland, a partner at tech strategy and Web development firm FivePaths. "While this can be costly on the vendor services side, it can save a ton of cost in system downtime, work-arounds, switching systems, and change management."
In fact, your transition will go much smoother if your old and new vendors can speak directly to each other, says Leverage Corporation's Harber.
"Your new flame and your soon-to-be-ex should definitely meet," says Harber, "primarily so the new vendor can get a complete snapshot of the environment and services being replaced. The vendor being replaced will have a much more complete picture than the new vendor will be able to develop initially, and the company will benefit from that information being shared."
And then cut the cord.
"Trying to maintain a residual relationship (the business equivalent of 'just friends') can lead to complications down the road," Harber adds. "When it is time for the relationship to end, it will be easiest if the relationship ends completely."
IT divorce tip No. 3: Don't get lost in the cloud
Just because a vendor is providing service in the cloud doesn't make it any easier to break it off and take up with someone new. In some ways, terminating a cloud provider is more complicated, notes FivePaths' Leland.
"With cloud-based applications, the strategy for firing vendors has changed," he says. "The risk of losing everything -- the service plus all data -- is increased, as many of these service providers manage both. Companies should investigate what critical services the vendor offers and how much of the data is critical for daily operations and customer satisfaction. Would the loss be visible or invisible to customers? What internal operations would be affected, and how critical would this be?"
Leverage Corporation's Harber says you need to treat virtual breakups even more carefully than real-world ones to avoid losing access to critical functionality or important data.
IT divorce tip No. 4: Avoid custody battles
Another big mistake is becoming too dependent on a single provider. Small firms in particular often fail to obtain full-time custody of the apps, content, or systems their now ex-vendor has created. They end up with apps that can't be upgraded, systems no one else can use, or critical data residing on someone else's servers and no way to access it.
"In many cases, companies can get vendors to help them do critical work in preparation for firing them, through existing support agreements," says FivePath's Leland. "For example, vendors can help validate that backups are functional and complete. It's important to review the terms of service and privacy policies to understand what rights you have to your data -- this will help companies prepare for the switch before firing them."
Besides code and content, organizations must own the knowledge of how their IT systems work, Laushman says. The last thing you want is a situation in which your now ex-consultant has total knowledge of a business-critical system, with no paper trail for anyone else to follow.
"One guy had been our client's sole custom developer for 10 years, with zero documentation," Laushman says. "We met with the company and said we need to figure out how to get some documentation without arousing his suspicions. Otherwise it was going to cost them a lot of money while we figured out how everything worked. Most network and system admins hate doing doc work, but you have to insist they provide it along the way. Every piece of documentation will save you money down the line."
IT divorce tip No. 5: Next time, get a "prenup"
Although dumping a troublesome vendor may be necessary and even satisfying, it's better to anticipate breakups and bake provisions into your service contract that protect you before the situation gets ugly. In business arrangements, as in marriage, nothing beats a solid prenup.
In short, you'll want to establish penalties for nonperformance (or incentives for good performance), the conditions under which either party can simply walk away, and anything you'll need the vendor to do to ensure a smooth transition, should the situation arise. That in turn means you must agree on objective ways to measure the provider's performance -- or lack thereof.
Just don't expect to get your vendor to agree without giving up something in return, says Rick Brenner, principal at Chaco Canyon Consulting.
"Some vendors are more accustomed to seeing these terms than are others, and some vendors are accustomed to taking advantage of the absence of these terms," he says. "But keep in mind that since protecting yourself in this way does constrain the vendor, the protection you seek is not free. As long as the vendor's request is remotely near reasonable, it's worth the extra cost. If the request is clearly unreasonable, it could be a signal that the vendor has in mind something other than a fair deal."
IT divorce tip No. 6: Take a long look in the mirror
Before you file the divorce papers, it's a good idea to pull back from the brink and ask whether your own actions have contributed to the problem, and if it's not too late to make things right.
"Usually both parties to a conflict contribute something," says Brenner. "Before taking any action, check that you've done everything you can to straighten things out on your side of the fence."
For example, there may be conflicts between your employees and the vendor staff. You may have done a poor job communicating what you want or have had unrealistic expectations about what the vendor can really deliver. Small vendors or solo practitioners may possess valuable expertise but might just be overloaded from time to time and fail respond in a timely manner.
Brenner says many organizations fail to pay enough attention to "vendor relationship management" (VRM), which can affect all of their relationships with outside firms.
IT divorce tip No. 7: Consider counseling
A better alternative to a sudden split (and the resulting lawsuits) is building a dispute resolution mechanism such as mediation or arbitration into the service agreement, says Ethan Katsh, director of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
With mediation, a neutral third party works with the parties to find a mutually satisfactory outcome. In arbitration, a third party decides who's right, and the disputants are legally bound to honor the decision.
"Mediation has a significant advantage because if any outcome is reached it's because both parties wanted it," Katsh says. "At the end of a successful mediation, both parties walk away happy."
The advantage of arbitration is that you know you'll end up with a resolution, although you may not like the results. Managed well, the dissolution could enable you and your vendor to work together again in the future.
But don't count on it.
Related articles
This story, "How to divorce your tech vendor," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter, and for the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
Read more about adventures in IT in InfoWorld's Adventures in IT Channel.
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At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 will support system-on-a-chip architectures using ARM processors. Unlike the x86 architecture that today's Windows laptops and desktops work with, ARM-based chips tend to run such low-power devices as tablets and smartphones.
In his CES keynote speech, Microsoft CEO Steve Ball�mer said, "This announcement is really all about enabling a new class of hardware, and new silicon partners for Windows, to bring the widest possible range of form factors to the market."
In other words, Windows won't be just for laptops and desktops anymore.
Microsoft's ARM announcement represents the firm's only officially released factual detail about Windows 8. Consistent with it, the company named Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments as silicon partners, so Windows devices built upon their three low-power platforms are likely.
At an architectural summit in London last year, Microsoft en��couraged the idea of virtualizing Windows more heavily, possibly storing apps, data, Windows settings, and parts of the OS itself in the cloud.
No rumor about Windows 8 is more precise than a series of leaked slides that supposedly provide a blueprint for Microsoft's next OS. The slides alone don't indicate final features of Windows 8, but they do show where Microsoft is headed, especially since other reports have corroborated them.
One slide, for example, talks about an OS that follows users wherever they go; instead of being tethered to hardware, users may roam between desktops, laptops, and tablets in whatever way is most convenient.
Another slide speaks of a reset button that preserves apps and settings while wiping out viruses and other hindrances. Some industry watchers suggest that storing apps and data in the cloud could make this feature possible.
How will Microsoft achieve these lightweight versions of its operating system? A ru��mor circulated by Paul Thurrott posits that Windows 8 will introduce a tile-based interface called "Mosh" to serve as an alternative UI for tablets and other low-power touchscreen devices.
We've also heard rumblings about a new application de��velopment framework code-named "Jupiter," whose goal is to help developers create dynamic, visually appealing, and immersive applications for a forthcoming Windows app store. It may also be an attempt by Microsoft to enable developers to create apps that work on both traditional x86-based CPUs and ARM-based processors without extensive recompiling and reprogramming.
If you doubt whether Windows 8 will be a profoundly different operating system from its predecessors, consider this breathless bit of hype that briefly appeared on a Microsoft developer's blog in 2009:
"The minimum that folks can take for granted is that the next version will be something completely different from what folks usually expect of Windows...The themes that have been floated truly reflect what people have been looking [for] for years and it will change the way people think about PCs and the way they use them. It is the future of PCs."
Microsoft quickly removed the blog, as if to erase the evidence. So is the company really trying to shake things up with Windows 8?
A final rumor: Reportedly, Microsoft is targeting a 2012 release for Windows 8. Think the company can get everything figured out by then?
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