Recommended reports
Digital Agency Rate Card Survey 2011
This is THE digital marketing industry report for those who want to benchmark daily rates for UK digital agencies. It covers more than 50 individual job roles and breaks down rates by agency size. Useful for agencies and client-side.
Alternatively, see our Global Mobile Statistics or Future Trends Innovation Briefing .
Creative Director at Agenda Solutions
06 February 2001 17:17pm
From The Sunday Times (http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/04/stinwenws01005.htmlwrites:)
"GROWING numbers of people in their twenties and thirties are suffering from severe memory loss because of increasing reliance on computer technology, according to new research. "
(link courtesy of signal vs. noise http://www.37signals.com/svn/)
The future is metadata - with so much, so accessible, the successful will not be those who know but those who know where. I have seen the future and their parents are librarians.
Creative Director at Agenda Solutions
06 February 2001 17:22pm
Irony - lost data.
Apologies, the URL shoud have been:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/04/stinwenws01005.html
On 17:17:14 6 February 2001 paul wrote:
>From The Sunday Times (http://www.sunday-
>times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/04/stinwenws01005.htmlw-
>rites:)
>
>"GROWING numbers of people in their twenties and
>thirties are suffering from severe memory loss because of
>increasing reliance on computer technology, according to
>new research. "
>(link courtesy of signal vs. noise
>http://www.37signals.com/svn/)
>
>The future is metadata - with so much, so accessible, the
>successful will not be those who know but those who know
>where. I have seen the future and their parents are
>librarians.
CEO at Econsultancy
07 February 2001 13:56pm
I entirely agree - metadata is where the real value lies.
A fundamental hallmark of the Knowledge / Information / Digital Economy is that there is greater value in information and knowledge than in actual material products. Insight and knowledge about information (metadata) is even more valuable.
Consider this: information about how the price of a barrel of oil will change is infinitely more valuable than the oil itself.
(small caveat to much of this: we're assuming a relatively stable economy... in an economic meltdown where stock markets crash you'd be better of with your oil or gold)
Consider also how commoditised many things have become: books are books are books, CDs are CDs are CDs. The value lies in the services and intangible propositions that are wrapped around a customer's entire experience of a product, not in the product itself. Knowledge about the customer's experience and how to improve it ('metadata' of sorts) is increasingly the cornerstone of many industries. In the digital industry we're seeing it come through in eCRM, usability etc.
With increasing skills in the internet market (through job cuts + re-training + new college courses etc.) and tougher competition much of the production elements of creating web sites (design, programming, project management) are themselves becoming commoditised. The companies that will survive will be those that can 'add value' in other ways - horrible phrase but true.
What is a search engine other than meta data?
What is targeted, personalised marketing other than an application of meta data?
What is this site's white papers database other than meta data?
And I would argue that this kind of meta data is ultimately more valuable than the component, underlying parts.