She is a digital native. Digital immigrants use different language: “I have established a login with that Facebook.com web site everyone is talking about.” Or, “I have set up an on-line account with the Facebook application that all the kids are using to stay in touch.”  Sounds like they are going to the bank, opening a new savings account. Digital immigrants. They are on the outside, looking in at the latest circus freak.

Digital immigrants have too much context. They remember life before “the hot new thing.” They do not show comfort and familiarity with the new toys. They use comfortable metaphors from their world: bulletin boards, desktops, trash cans, accounts, passwords (”Welcome to the secret club, Bob!”), folders, documents, etc. They attempt to manifest the real in the virtual. They have TOO much context. They can always remember “the before.” They remember too much of the “old country.” They are immigrants. It’s what they do best.

Digital natives are not that much smarter than all the rest of us. In fact, they have less knowledge. They have less context. They don’t know anything about “the old country.” To them, there is only one way to do things: the new way. “Get a Facebook.” It’s that simple. Keep that perspective in context. And you Digital Natives: Your “day of context” is coming. One day, your kids will laugh at your archaic ways from 2009. “Dad used to type and ‘text’ all the time. Can you believe that?” That is so lame… they didn’t even have LifeStreamingME back then! LOL!

Oh…on that “LOL” part… I doubt that will be used much in 2025, but I’m just a poor immigrant. I don’t know any better yet.

Here’s what I said. in that first post.. WHAT I SAID

How have I done?

Who really knows…

I do know that I have become a newspaper humor columnist during that time, redirecting much of my giggly stuff to the unprepared members of my local community. I do know that I have a lot of readers here and lots at home. I do know that more of you read than comment. I do know I have had fun. I believe many of you have had fun too. So, that is success.

Blogging is a strange blend of narcissism and vainglory on one hand, excitement and enthusiasm on the other. I have tried to balance these two extremes, even to the point of refocusing my blog to “only that stuff that relates directly to IT,” redirecting my posts on Pu Erh tea, drywall repair, and old car mythology to my non-Gartner channels. This has not been easy. I hate building walls. But, life is a collection of walls. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. At least I make my walls clear and give you URLs to the other parts of my output.

I hope you like this stuff… this ephemera.

I hope I do too…

Another year lies before us…

Thanks for your readership!

David McCoy

Most of our paper books exhibit “structural fidelity” – we can read them, and they do not fall apart in our hands – but they are hardly keeping up on “intellectual fidelity.” Some of my grammar and linguistic books from 1978 are appalling to read now. One reeks of “stick it to the man” kinds of language, reminding me that 1970 took a leave of absence from clear speech.

There are books that maintain adequate structural and full intellectual fidelity. My collections of short stories: Pushcart Prize, O’Henry Prize, Best American Short Stories. My favorite authors: Salinger, Capote, etc. These are still vibrant, but even there, they are getting worn. Structural fidelity does not last forever, even if intellectual fidelity does.

But my technical books… so very sad there. I have a 1942 book on radio electronics. I have it for nostalgia and some basic electronics/tube theory that is still exciting to boutique guitar amp manufacturers but not to the mass of humanity (even though the theories underpin our daily experiences). My Qualitz et.al. book on finite state automata is a classic that I keep because of the beautiful red cover. Turing’s and Church’s theorems are still accurately described in the book, but there have been so many better renditions since… this book is outdated, yet it looks perfect. There is incredible structural integrity, yet the intellectual integrity – still there – is less relevant in 2009.

So, e-readers will have to deal with structural fidelity and intellectual fidelity.  Does this ‘book’ fall apart after so many years of use. Will it deteriorate just as my college dictionary has? If so, will I be forced to buy a new one… but that seems odd… buying new copies of the same bits. It also seems unfair. But, aren’t we about to see the entire Beatles catalog re-released? If I have perfectly workable vinyl, why do I want it in MP3 (or MP4) format? Hmmm. So, there is a reason that we will buy anew that which we already have in an ‘inferior format.’ Inferior? Hmmm… “less popular.”

For those e-books that can maintain structural fidelity (migration paths, upgrade paths, escrow, etc.) then we still have the issue of intellectual fidelity. Will a book on “Secrets of the Backstreet Boys” be of interest in 30 years? Ignore the occasional pop culture historian or the insane masters degree thesis topic. What about the mass market? So, even if I have an e-reader that certifies readability in 30 years, it may be a moot point if the e-book is a load of dated crap.

I say that all the DRM, storage, cultural, and technical challenges to e-books are simply bumps along the road. Once we can conceive of a world where mass readership is via e-ink or other new digital means, well… I don’t see the “ink on dead trees” model as a long term win. My death notice, hopefully no earlier than 2050, will be printed on paper… I will require that in my will. But, I fully expect that most of my remaining friends will get my obituary delivered wirelessly to their portable readers. I fully expect that they will open the message, gasp (or smile), mutter a prayer for my family, and then return to reading the latest weight loss book or political novel or programming text they were reading before the interruption – content beamed from whatever constitutes ‘the bookstore’ in that distant future.

Bring it on. I will be moving a lot over the next 20 years… try being married to a new Methodist preacher and not moving from church to church. I have a vested interest in e-books. Have you ever tried to pack up an entire house full of books? How about doing it every three years? It’s much easier to carry a 1TB external drive, or two… or three.

DISCLAIMER: My comments here are not as an analyst covering this technology. I once was the lead analyst on document imaging and document futures, but that was a long time ago. These are my personal comments as a reader and a writer, and a former connoisseur of fine, hand-crafted bookcases.

I see a LOT of the use of this cute emoticon

XD

Sideways, it looks a lot like my old favorite

:>

However, the “eyes and mouths” are different. In the new XD, one can see Anime eyes, those squints that peer from page after page of Manga.

X

XD - I see Link or Ash. I see them laughing from the screens of Zelda or the pages of Pokemon.

When I see this :> I see “old school.”

“Oh! Yeah! That’s like how my Dad like signs his emails like when he like wants to be funny? Gag!” Isn’t it sad that I have to resort to Valley Girl talk from 1980 to create a dramatic tension? The more accurate diss would be a text:

Dad U R so goofy! ROFL XD

And the mouths are different. Here is smiling Ash:

D

Here is Dad:

>

Are we so steeped in web culture that we are now seeing emoticon dialects emerging?

Yeah. We are! Expect a new caste system of emoticons. Expect to see emoticon gutter slang and “formal” emoticons.  Expect it. This is a new language. Get used to it. It’s our new language. And once a language starts, it never stops to become a closed canon. Not until the last speaker has turned off her cell phone text service.

XD

I know it’s the height of foolishness to wish away a portion of your life.

However…

I think we will be forgiven for this one.

Why couldn’t the Grinch “find some way to stop” 2009 “from coming”?

I don’t want to say any more. Just look at this one and ask yourself how you would examine it from each perspective below:

1. Business Process Management
2. Governance, Risk and Compliance
3. Business Rule Management
4. Intelligence Quotient
5. Free Will and Self-Determinism
6. American Pioneering Spirit
7. Hawk
8. Dove
9. Civil Liberties
10. SOA

I threw that last one in there just to be funny. I think.

Scenario 2: At the doc’s.  You know the drill.  Fill out the paperwork and swear that you have read the copy of the HIPPA rules they gave you.  Only, they didn’t give you any.  So, you ask for the rules and get a strange look like you are from Mars.  Who asks for HIPPA rules?  What was I thinking?

Analysis:  Stop lying with processes, ok?  If you create a process to protect children, the process has to be followed from end to end. It’s no good to do the front-end “aren’t we the careful company” stuff and then skip the part that really matters.  And if you mention a process step in your documentation – “I certify I have read the provided forms” – then don’t freak out when someone actually asks you to provide the forms… the ones you said you already provided.

It’s things like this that could drive me to drink.  Only, I would probably drink too much and then have to go to the doctor’s and have to pretend to read some regulation they didn’t give me.  That would add insult to injury.  Instead, I think I’ll just go grab a pizza, get a UV stamp, and run in and out the exit door, just for fun.  No one will notice.  That’s because some people build processes without any regard for whether they actually work.

Stay tuned and I will confirm the opening and link to the particulars.

If you know European BPM gurus – the very best – I would like to hear from you.  You can send me a heads-up using the following:

——————————————————————————————–

TO: david.mccoy at sign gartner.com (you know how to insert “@” and so do the bots, but we pretend)

SUBJECT: Research Director for BPM (European position)

——————————————————————————————–

Caveats:  The position is based in Europe and there is no relo package.  This is not intended to be a direct solicitation, just a heads-up to a network of really smart people who have really good connections.  This entire notice is subject to change.

There. 

Of course that’s not how cults get new recruits.  They operate at the base of human psychology. Cults separate you from the norm.  They indoctrinate you into their ways through repetition and acculturation.  Cults hold physical and mental retreats to get you away from your traditions, values and beliefs.  The last thing a cult is going to do is trust some stupid hunk of Lucite and a catchy motto to do the job.

Now, think about how you approach change management.  Do you do it with gusto as a cult would?  Or, are you a fan of the cute plastic desk fodder?  Do all of your change management efforts degenerate into a series of vacuous emails and cheap mottos emblazoned in the lunch room?  Is change management a “check list” item?  Send two emails, mail the paper weight, emboss the motto on every new business card order? Presto!  Change management is complete.

Learn from the cults.  Learn that humans resist change until you break that resistance.  The cults know it.  The victims know it.  The good change management experts know it.  Until you take your change management efforts to the next level, you’re not going to get any new recruits for your process changes, new business strategies and transformational ideas.  You can learn from the cults without becoming one, but if learning from cults is too unorthodox, then just learn from social clubs, fraternities, sororities, country clubs, fanboy gatherings and other similar bodies of like believers.  They all know how to build shared interest in new ideas.  Just don’t make up any songs.  That’s taking it way too far.  No one needs to sing “Kumbaya” during a BPMS platform rollout.

I will talk more about this, but here is a link to the program.  Also, I believe this will be webcast a bit later.

http://www.computing-margins.org/

Feeling altruistic?  Good.  And by the way.  This conference spawned from work going on in a hot bed of computer scientists.  Remember them?  They once did compiler design, fractals and artificial intelligence.  They still do, but their mandate has taken on a much wider meaning over the past years.  Just like most everything else, they have seen a shift from theoretical to applied research.  Just keep the proper balance, as they do.

Disclaimer: I am on the board of advisors for this particular college of computing.  My pride is not without vested interest.