Tracking e-business trends

SEVEN TRACKING E - BUSINESS TRENDS 209 SEVEN Tracking e-business trends For readers wanting to keep up to date with e-business developments, this chapter recommends publications and websites that are worth dipping into from time to time: BBC news online Good coverage of mainstream technology-related issues www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/default.stm CIO Magazine: The E-Business Research Center Examines the current state and future directions of conducting commerce on the internet through articles, events, discussion groups and informational links. www.cio.com eCommerce Web Center Good all round US e-commerce site full of good marketing tips plus some worthwhile links. www.ecominfocenter.com Economist The best single source of information about what is happening in the world. A mainstream publication but one that will take on some big topics from time to time, and one whose take on the e-business is variably insightful and clear-eyed. www.economist.com GURUS ON E - BUSINESS 210 Fast Company A US-published monthly magazine that has been an essential read since it started up in 1996. Of late, though, the content – while still excellent – has been swamped by increasing volumes of advertising. The companion website is just about the best free site around on e- business and the future world of work (it also carries material not found in the magazine). www.fastcompany.com/home.html Financial Times Of all the UK dailies, The Financial Times provides the best in-depth coverage of IT and work-related issues. Well worth keeping an eye out for their occasional information technology surveys. www.ft.com Fucked Company An irreverent spoof of Fast Company that, like the very best Dilbert- cartoons, uses humor as a vehicle for revealing some painful truths about working in the e-business. www.fuckedcompany.com Gilder Technology Report Anybody interested in the present and future impact of technology on the US and world economy will find Gilder’s articles an intrigu- ing set of appetizers from this seminal thinker and iconoclast. Not always easy to understand but worth making the effort. www.gildertech.com/index.asp Harvard Business Review Still the most authoritative business bi-monthly on the block. It has tended in the past to be more mainstream than truly groundbreak- ing in its coverage of business issues. That said, HBR has responded SEVEN TRACKING E - BUSINESS TRENDS 211 well to the challenge to traditional business thinking posed by the e- business, and recent issues have generally contained two or three relevant articles. Also, if you are interested in getting the lowdown on forthcoming books from Harvard’s publishing wing several months before publication, the magazine consistently trails major books with articles from the authors in question. The website provides an overview of the contents of the magazine – very limited free content these days but the executive summaries are there and they are often all you neew of the contents of the magazine – very limited free content these days but the executive summaries are there and they are often all you neegazine – very limited free content these days but the executive summaries are there and they are often all you need. www.hbsp.harvard.edu/home.html (The) Information Economy This website is overseen by economist Hal Varian, co-author of Infor- mation Rules, and lists hundreds of papers, works in progress and links to other information economy websites. An almost over- whelming resource but one that hasn’t been bettered for thoroughness. www.sims.berkeley.edu/resources/infoecon/ New Media Knowledge A publicly funded body based at the University of Westminster which analyzes and facilitates the growth of the UK’s digital media industries. www.nmk.co.uk/ New Scientist Important science and technology stories will often appear here first. New Scientist also gives good coverage to emerging thinking in the scientific community. www.newscientist.com New Thinking New Thinking is a weekly, approximately 500-word exploration of the digital age, produced by Gerry McGovern, former CEO of Nua and author of The Caring Economy. Taking a broad, philosophical view of things, it is written in clear, concise language and delivers some GURUS ON E - BUSINESS 212 useful comments and ideas. It is available by email and is free. To subscribe, go to McGovern’s website. www.gerrymcgovern.com New York Times Good source of articles on the latest e-business developments in the US. Worth subscribing to their daily news e-mail. Full articles can be accessed at no cost for a day or two; once ‘archived’, there’s a charge. www.nytimes.com Sloan Management Review The management journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy (MIT). Published quarterly, it features articles by some of the world’s leading strategic thinkers, and has a genuinely global range. www.sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/ Time Weekly news magazine that gives good, positive coverage to e-busi- ness issues and people. That said, Time is a mainstream publication and so is unlikely to be absolutely at the forefront of e-business think- ing. Nonetheless, in recent months it has carried special features on e-commerce, the future of work, and so on. www.time.com/europe The Utne Reader A digest, whose editors scan thousands of small and alternative maga- zines. Not that well focused perhaps, but worth visiting for occasional gems. www.utne.com Wired Monthly American magazine that is good at picking up e-business trends about six months before they become trends. www.wired.com/wired/ SEVEN TRACKING E - BUSINESS TRENDS 213 World Future Society Not-for-profit educational and scientific organization that explores how social and technological developments are shaping the future. www.wfs.org Blank . SEVEN TRACKING E - BUSINESS TRENDS 209 SEVEN Tracking e-business trends For readers wanting to keep up to date with e-business developments,. good at picking up e-business trends about six months before they become trends. www.wired.com/wired/ SEVEN TRACKING E - BUSINESS TRENDS 213 World Future