I have seen this MACPA video 100 times but I never dreamed I could house it on my own blog. It is such a perfect distillation of the Maryland CPA, all in an incisive 7 minutes. It has become a staple of our presentations to everyone from high school students to members at town meetings and it never fails to inform and impress. So glad to have it here.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Desultory thoughts about technology
I love technology, in this case computers and the Internet, as much as anyone. As an erstwhile scholar, I revel in the immediate gratification of finding bits of information so quickly. Email is a godsend. Shopping online is invaluable. I can even catch up on tv shows I have missed. I spend the better part of the day and some of the night online. My work is more gratifying than ever and there opportunities to expand what I do for the company and our members. For my son, who is autistic, the computer has provided a lease on life and potentially a career. Heck, I even met my wife online.
Nevertheless, there are a few things that do frustrate me about the technology.
1. You become completely dependent on it.
2. The latest program becomes obsolete in a trice.
3. It replaces, but cannot replace, direct human contact.
4. Laptops will never be inexpensive enough.
5. Technical problems arise and I never know how to resolve them; it I do find an expert, it take them a long time and the expense can be enormous.
I see countless opportunities in Web 2.0; by now I am conditioned to believe that the newest craze will be tomorrow's necessity. Yet I wonder if, by choice or catastrophe, I suddenly turned my back on computers and returned to the ante-bellum world of reading and phone calls (but never handwritten letters!).
But why would I want to?
Nevertheless, there are a few things that do frustrate me about the technology.
1. You become completely dependent on it.
2. The latest program becomes obsolete in a trice.
3. It replaces, but cannot replace, direct human contact.
4. Laptops will never be inexpensive enough.
5. Technical problems arise and I never know how to resolve them; it I do find an expert, it take them a long time and the expense can be enormous.
I see countless opportunities in Web 2.0; by now I am conditioned to believe that the newest craze will be tomorrow's necessity. Yet I wonder if, by choice or catastrophe, I suddenly turned my back on computers and returned to the ante-bellum world of reading and phone calls (but never handwritten letters!).
But why would I want to?
Not much ado about Rollyo
Perhumps I didn't use it properly, but I found little enchantment in Rollyo. I selected jazz as my topic and copied down sites from my favorites. Many sites had URLs longer than one line, so I was prohibited from entering them--the 25 character limit is stifling. I don't really see the point of this program, when just visiting my favorites will give me pretty much the same result. The related searches seem to be about what you would see on Google. This is the first Web 2.0 application that I found rather redundant, but again, I may not have used it properly.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Generating a monumental image
Hey, you can be a rocket scientist too! Just go to http://www.hetemeel.com/einsteinform.php and let Einstein scrawl one of your profundities.
My wife is always asking me how much I love her, but she is never convinced of the magnitude of my affection. So I figured I would post it in Einsteinian terms.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Web 2.0 and CPAs
Of all the listed articles, I found the BBJ piece, A new way to network: MySpace, Facebook aren't just for teens anymore, the most comprehensive and useful. That's because it highlighted a variety of businesspeople who have found uses for Web 2.0 features.
The article spells out one overriding rationale for businesses to adopt social networking applications: everyone else is doing it. As it became de rigeur for a company to establish a Web site, however lean, in the 1990s, so it will be essential to have some kind of presence, or at least capability in the Web 2.0 universe in the coming years.
CPAs, like any other kind of professional services business, is predicated on interpersonal contacts and networking sites expand the scope and opportunities considerably. I am not familiar with LinkedIn, but according to the article the application seems more focused on business culture and could provide a means for both obtaining referrals and client contact.
The essence of the new services is "they offer an evolved form of marketing compared with the one-way communication of traditional advertising, marketing executives said. The collaboration among the online communities enables customers to talk back to companies, giving a better idea of what they want and what they like. " Given the crush of client work and the need for CPAs to be both accessible and manage their time more than ever before, this communications short-cut could be a lifesaver.
I think for most firms networking sites will fit their business model; possibly less so for business and industry CPAs. Certainly for larger firms the sites can help manage a large and diverse population; while for smaller firms it enables them to provide the personalized service that is their forte.
The article did not address another significant benefit of networking sites: improved personal and informational access within an organization. For meetings, committees, brainstorming and even research, these sites can enhance collaborative efforts throughout an organization.
The article spells out one overriding rationale for businesses to adopt social networking applications: everyone else is doing it. As it became de rigeur for a company to establish a Web site, however lean, in the 1990s, so it will be essential to have some kind of presence, or at least capability in the Web 2.0 universe in the coming years.
CPAs, like any other kind of professional services business, is predicated on interpersonal contacts and networking sites expand the scope and opportunities considerably. I am not familiar with LinkedIn, but according to the article the application seems more focused on business culture and could provide a means for both obtaining referrals and client contact.
The essence of the new services is "they offer an evolved form of marketing compared with the one-way communication of traditional advertising, marketing executives said. The collaboration among the online communities enables customers to talk back to companies, giving a better idea of what they want and what they like. " Given the crush of client work and the need for CPAs to be both accessible and manage their time more than ever before, this communications short-cut could be a lifesaver.
I think for most firms networking sites will fit their business model; possibly less so for business and industry CPAs. Certainly for larger firms the sites can help manage a large and diverse population; while for smaller firms it enables them to provide the personalized service that is their forte.
The article did not address another significant benefit of networking sites: improved personal and informational access within an organization. For meetings, committees, brainstorming and even research, these sites can enhance collaborative efforts throughout an organization.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Technorati
As with Del.icio.us, I find Technorati useful as a complement to other Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 applications. It is convenient to bookmark blogs, but I am not sure I will find more of them than by searching bloglines. I do think this can be very valuable for someone who is following a particular topic, especially one that is rather obscure; or doing comprehensive research on a topic.
Del.icio.us
Web sites for my favorite composers. Some insights into my favorite writer.
I don't know if Del.icio.us is supposed to just lead you to places of interest, but that is how I used it this first time around. I find it complements a Google search or Bloglines search in doing research. I am not sure how it expands the existing bookmarks practice or Facebook or social networking sites, or whether it contains much of importance that is not available elsewhere. But it is well worth knowing about.
I don't know if Del.icio.us is supposed to just lead you to places of interest, but that is how I used it this first time around. I find it complements a Google search or Bloglines search in doing research. I am not sure how it expands the existing bookmarks practice or Facebook or social networking sites, or whether it contains much of importance that is not available elsewhere. But it is well worth knowing about.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
RSS Feeds the Need
I've enjoyed the fruits of RSS for years, via a My Yahoo page that gives me running updates on business, accounting, sports and entertainment news throughout the day. It is a perfect complement to the general business press, containing news that those media overlook, or freshly updated content. I have most often used the feeds to garner links to articles I can use for student newsletters, or to inform MACPA staff of a relevant news update.
What is not to like?
Well, the only possible downside I can imagine really rests with the invidivual. You can make poor selections and get bombarded by irrelevant material. Or you can overindulge and, like other features of Web 2.0, spend your whole day following the feeds. You do need to be discriminating and also occasionally take time to delete feeds that have grown stale or do not publish frequently.
MACPA is already using RSS feeds for our blogs, podcasts and other publications. I can see where we could use feeds for legislative updates during the General Assembly session, or updates from Town Hall meetings. I can envision feeds complementing, perhaps one day replacing, our e-newsletters and e-nnouncements. Feeds are certainly a non-intrusive way to keep members informed, tailored to their own needs and interests.
I don't know that we need to improve our RSS-related content, other than expanding and further customizing it.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Social networking or Social Security?
I invited some old friends to join me on Facebook. You are too old, they said. It is for millenials only, they said. Fortunately, Google did not discriminate and I find myself in a world only a little less strange than SecondLife, a world of prolix profiles and copious photos, where my 21-year-old daughter seems to swim with dolphins whilst I languish with sea snails. It is fun and potentially addictive and a sure cure for loneliness. Email seems rather quaint when you can communicate with a total person like this.
The applications for business are pretty obvious and some are already in use. You can certainly read a resume, conduct an interview and do all sorts of recruiting, as some CPA firms are already doing. You could probably market to a client prospect as well. Internally, you can build esprit de corps by having employees sign each other up as friends. I see a perfect application for our Tomorrow's CPA program: having members provide links to their profiles and maybe linking up with each. To talk about accounting, of course.
I don't see all that much difference with MySpace, though the atmosphere seems a little less adventurous. I do see some potential problems with both programs--addiction, sharing of too much information, rampant mendacity and social fraud and of course prurience. I don't know that I will make frequent use of social networking in my non working life. But anything can happen once I retire.
The applications for business are pretty obvious and some are already in use. You can certainly read a resume, conduct an interview and do all sorts of recruiting, as some CPA firms are already doing. You could probably market to a client prospect as well. Internally, you can build esprit de corps by having employees sign each other up as friends. I see a perfect application for our Tomorrow's CPA program: having members provide links to their profiles and maybe linking up with each. To talk about accounting, of course.
I don't see all that much difference with MySpace, though the atmosphere seems a little less adventurous. I do see some potential problems with both programs--addiction, sharing of too much information, rampant mendacity and social fraud and of course prurience. I don't know that I will make frequent use of social networking in my non working life. But anything can happen once I retire.
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