Editorial
By Matt Cooney,
I liked the quip of an enthusiastic shopper, weighed down with his winnings, interviewed on the telly during the Boxing Day sales: “I am not participating in this recession.”
If only it were so simple. If your customers feel differently, you’ll find yourself participating in the recession soon enough. Even the most optimistic among us hears the talk of just how bad “it” can be. In one week recently I heard of a landscape gardener forced to find a new line of work as his custom dried up; and of an architect who, as his practice rapidly declined, found another job—as a landscape gardener. Go figure.
At Idealog, we don’t recommend you carry on blissfully power-lunching while your customers review their contracts, but we do think it’s a great time to re-evaluate what’s important. For us, that means we’ll be spending more time on parts of the business that don’t necessarily justify the effort today, but that we’re confident will pay back in the future. The aim isn’t just to get through the downturn, but to be prepared for when the economy recovers, too.
So we’re making a few changes. In March, we’ll start publishing some features online before they appear in print. We want to give interested readers an opportunity to look at our work and help us improve it before it’s printed. First up: a look at the opportunities of cloud computing, and an essay on the emerging smartocracy.
We have some new interactive features under development on our website, too; keep in the loop by subscribing to our RSS feed or sign up for the Idealog Weekly email newsletter.
And we’ll continue expanding our web-only offerings. We’ll be recording video interviews and blogging at the wonderful Webstock conference as this issue arrives on newsstands: check it out. We plan to be at more events in 2009, including our own (and not just because of the free food).
So what are we not doing? Er, there’s nothing we’re not doing—it’s business as usual in print, our own events, sister publications and websites. Idealog is as fat and well-read as ever. I guess we’ll just be working harder and smarter. But that’s always better than the alternative.
Comments
jason brown
…
kia ora all,
This is refreshing stuff.
Idealog stands out in a country over whelmed by right wing idealogues, not because it's left wing but just because it's, well … FRESH.
Yeah, deep, I know, but it's only 7.20am.
Instead of analysis a wee spot of constructive criticism: your headline here points to the “participation economy” and that's what drew me in, but the actual editorial does not feature the phrase, or spell out the connection.
As I am doing a presentation on building a participatory economy I want to read more, more MORE !
kia toa, kia kaka,
jas
. . .
Matt Cooney
Thanks Jason. The headline was just a reference to the quote in the first sentence, really, not intended to indicate the subject matter. I'm interested in your presentation though … let us know where your research takes you.
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