A couple of things cropped up over the last day including a New U.S. Federal Policy on Web Measurement and Customization that I heard about from the Web Analytics Message Board on Yahoo!.
Yesterday, OMB announced new U.S. Government policies on “Web Measurement and Customization”, rescinding the long-standing prohibition on persistent cookies on Federal web sites.
That change should go a long way to help get actionable data from site analytics monitoring government websites. The permission to go forward and retain cookie data is being balanced by privacy concerns
…. At the same time, OMB is acutely aware of, and sensitive to, the unique privacy questions raised by government uses of such technologies. Any such uses must not compromise or invade personal privacy. It is important to provide clear, firm, and unambiguous protection against any uses that would compromise or invade personal privacy.
Of course, that warning had to be in the letter.
Also, is anyone aware of what “Geo Fencing” is? It turns out to be one of the “new things” that are cropping up quickly… according to Read Write Web in a post on Is Geofencing the Next Evolution for Location Apps? Location Labs Thinks So -
… To get an idea of how geofencing technology could improve on existing location-based applications, just look at the current popular apps. Apps like Foursquare and Gowalla could implement this infrastructure to allow users to automatically check-in when entering the geofence of a particular location.
I can’t even count the times I’ve been out and forgotten to check-in at various locations, robbing myself of precious Foursquare points. With geofencing, I could have been automatically checking in as I went from place-to-place, or perhaps a push notification would have reminded me after I was within the perimeter of the geofence for a certain amount of time.
Additionally, geofences could allow for a feature of location apps that Robert Scoble advocated for earlier this month. As Scoble points out, it is helpful to location app users if they can tell if their friends are still at a location, and determining how long users spend in businesses can have a significant impact of location-based marketing..
Also, here’s a study by Edison Research on who uses Social Networks – the result below is not surprising-
Also, what’s this about Woman dropping out of IT?
A study by the National Center for Women and Information Technology, based in Boulder, Colorado, also finds that women are leaving computer careers in staggering numbers.
“Fifty-six percent of women in technology companies leave their organizations at the mid-level point, 10-20 years in their careers,” said Catherine Ashcraft, the senior research scientist who authored the report.
In 2008, women held only 25 percent of all professional IT-related jobs, down from 36 percent in 1991, according to the group’s report, “Women in IT: The Facts.”
The report shows about half the women who leave science, engineering and tech jobs continue to use their technology skills, either starting their own companies or finding positions in government or nonprofits. The others, however, say goodbye to their extensive training, taking non-tech jobs or leaving the work force completely.
Ashcraft said women are discouraged and leave for a wide range of blatant and subtle reasons.
In one case given in the article – moving to a new place changed everything (it got worse); I have heard of that before.
To end this post – Marketing Pilgrim talks about Cup of Joe: Those Who Can’t Blog, Make Infographics such a
- How Much are My Organs Worth?
- Pornography Facts: What’s the big deal?
- Amazing Computer Sales Statistics
- A History BitTorrent
- Timeline of Marketing Channels
- The Story of Beer
- Flickr User Model
- Web Trend Map 4
- Timeline for Planet of the Apes
- Are We Addicted to the Internet?
- WTF is HTML5 and Why Should We Care?
- The Evolution of the Television
- How a Stun Gun Works
- Coffee Drinks Illustrated
- How To Get Rid Of a Tatoo
