Since this is the 500th posting on this blog, it seemed like a good time to address the question raised above.
This blog has been an experiment in using this technology to compile information on important issues related to planned change and change management. It also is intended to be a promotional tool for Fairweather Consulting. What have we learned over the last 499 posts?
It is a reasonably good promotional tool, only because it is so cheap. Visits to the site run between 10 and 40 per day, with most of the traffic coming via search engines (and much of that originating from college students looking for an easy way to finish a term paper). But it has helped introduce us to new potential clients, and--as mentioned earlier--is so inexpensive that it is probably worth it on that count.
Second issue: blogs as devices for compiling information on important topics like innovation and change. The results are much more mixed. This site has become an important "scrap book" for our work. We can keep track of and retrieve past articles, report or posts from other blogs easily and effectively. That part is great.
The downside: information is continually atomized and wrenched out of context. If you believe that an important part of any human endeavor is continuity and the creation of new ideas from a reflective analysis of past practices, this medium is not for you. The fast pace of the blogosphere obliterates the possibility of reflection and makes it seem like a weakness. There are days where I am convinced that gathering and deploying information in this way turns us all into the equivalent of hyperactive five-year-olds with attention deficit disorder. As this style of communication becomes more ubiquitous, will it leave us unable to think or feel deeply?
This blog has been an experiment in using this technology to compile information on important issues related to planned change and change management. It also is intended to be a promotional tool for Fairweather Consulting. What have we learned over the last 499 posts?
It is a reasonably good promotional tool, only because it is so cheap. Visits to the site run between 10 and 40 per day, with most of the traffic coming via search engines (and much of that originating from college students looking for an easy way to finish a term paper). But it has helped introduce us to new potential clients, and--as mentioned earlier--is so inexpensive that it is probably worth it on that count.
Second issue: blogs as devices for compiling information on important topics like innovation and change. The results are much more mixed. This site has become an important "scrap book" for our work. We can keep track of and retrieve past articles, report or posts from other blogs easily and effectively. That part is great.
The downside: information is continually atomized and wrenched out of context. If you believe that an important part of any human endeavor is continuity and the creation of new ideas from a reflective analysis of past practices, this medium is not for you. The fast pace of the blogosphere obliterates the possibility of reflection and makes it seem like a weakness. There are days where I am convinced that gathering and deploying information in this way turns us all into the equivalent of hyperactive five-year-olds with attention deficit disorder. As this style of communication becomes more ubiquitous, will it leave us unable to think or feel deeply?
We will be going on a bit of a hiatus to consider this.
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