VeriSign

VeriSign is a fairly successful company that manages the DNS servers for .com and .net, as well as providing communications and security solutions. They are based in Mountain View, CA but we saw their office in Dulles, VA. I think they weren't really sure what to do with us, so they showed some promotional tapes and took as around their facilities. I was amused when they said they wanted to be "the GE of the 21st century", since I am going to be working for the GE this summer. They work out of a couple office buildings called Lakeside, named for an artificial lake that they all share. Apparently the lake is only for decoration, as there were plenty of warnings of what you could not do in it. Their offices seemed fitting of a dot-com type company, with lots of cubicles and most employees still strolling in around 10am. They also appear to have a cult-like admiration of their CEO Stratton Sclavos, who has an awesome name. They also has a TGI Fridays and Olive Garden right next door – reminding me of Office Space. Frankly, I was half asleep by the time we got to VeriSign so I can't remember much else than that.

Computer Science Corporation

Computer Science Corporation (CSC) is a company with such an unassuming name, I didn't really recognize. I remember now that my cousin actually has done some internships with them in the past. Anyway, they are apparently a large global consulting/outsourcing firm that does a bunch of giant contracts for the US Government. They also treated us great and gave some great presentations.

They started by explaining how relevant our IST curriculum was to their work (a change from the usual talks where we are sucking up to them). Then Lem Lasher, VP of Innovation, teleconferenced in from Paris to talk to us. I thought it would be a sort of novelty hello and welcome, but he actually gave a 15-minute presentation (Powerpoint and all!) about the changing nature of innovation. He noted up till the 19th century innovation was a personal achievement, in the 20th century it became a group/corporate one, and today we were seeing innovation becoming a global phenomenon that everyone contributes to and benefits from. Pretty neat stuff.

Next they had a marketing director talk about branding, which seemed like an odd choice for technology students. Basically he took us through how they construct their brand, how it changes, and what all is involved. It was actually very interesting and got me thinking about how I could use it in my projects. Then they had managers and recent Penn State grads talk about their work. Basically all these projects involved millions or billions of dollars and many times the new hires played important roles in these projects.

They ended by taking us up to their executive dining room for a lunch. Our table became a students only table by accident, including myself, Rob, and Cat. An amusing part of the trip were the bathroom breaks. Everywhere we went we were being fed and given stuff to drink, so bathroom usage got to be pretty heavy. The demographics of the trip were heavily male (only 4 female students by my count, which is a shame) there were actually lines for the men's room. Not an everyday phenomena. Anyway the lunch was nice and CSC sent us on our way with a free "Team CSC" backpack. Apparently their racing team is #1 in the world and they're expecting their guy to win the Tour de France with Lance retired.

Washington Mall

We drove all this way to be in DC and we only got 45-minutes to walk the mall, a major downside in my book. Our gang ended up going to the Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial. There are picture available on Flickr. We were amused with ourselves since we were the only tourists wearing business professional. Apparently it was the first time my Collegian cohort Chris Bajgier had ever been in DC and seen the sights. It was nice while it lasted, but I wish we could have seen more.

Blackboard

Blackboard has appeared a number times IST's career fairs, which I always thought was odd because Penn State does not use their academic suite of e-learning software. I only recently realized that Blackboard is also responsible for the card readers and cash registers which are used extensively around our campus. Anyway, they were really nice and talked to us about different parts of their business. Their customer support manager explained how he built their service from the ground up after the company experienced rapid growth. They also showed off their e-learning software, which looked similar to ANGEL but nicer. 

Then they had recent college grads show us around their offices and talk about their jobs. Apparently a lot of the new hires do consulting work, traveling to campuses and doing custom installations of the Blackboard software for their clients. Their offices are in downtown DC, which I thought was pretty cool. The offices themselves were pretty nice and you could tell it was a growing company with a unique, college-like culture. I could have seen myself working there.

So that was the Washington trip in a nutshell. The trip could have been better, but I think it was worthwhile. I'm really behind in sleep now though – perhaps late night blogging isn't the best solution. Tomorrow I'll talk about today's event – a leadership event hosted by GE. Good night. 

I still believe that technology can empower people, but only when used properly.
It needs to be a means to an end and not just a means. I have seen the failures of technology determinism firsthand with my work at the Collegian this year. After studying the issues facing the paper, we decided to push forward with development of a dynamic content management system. Their systems had not been updated much in the last 7 years, so an upgrade made sense. By making it easier to update the website, we assumed that the rest would follow. A year later, though, we still are not finished and we have realized we still have a lot more issues to address. For example, if we build it who will come and who will use it?

My realization comes on the heels of a series of meetings with the editors and advisers about the status of our project. A new editor was elected this month and she wanted to share her ideas for the web with us. This was not surprising. What was surprising was that when we got down to it, we could do a number of the things she was proposing right now without a major systems change. We’ve been waiting for the technology to improve the content, when in fact we need new content if we want a better website. We need to help guide the content creators, the editors and writers, towards using the web as a medium for journalism. That is more than just sticking print stories on a web page. And the truth is a database will make little difference there.

So this post is my Jerry Maguire moment of clarity. Technology alone does not solve problems and expecting it to do so is unfair. The laptop program won’t be successful unless its backers can find a way to integrate them into these societies and their educational systems. And business productivity will come as a result of people using the technology better, not just having faster technology. So by the end of this semester we will have a road map for upgrading the website by the fall and the database will likely not be part of the initial release. We will be delivering news to the Penn State community in a whole new way though and at the end of the day that is all that matters.

The event got me thinking back to my own experience as a writer with the Collegian. I started as a sports writer, focusing on women’s tennis for a semester. I think I enjoyed the work environment of the Collegian a lot, but I didn’t like being a reporter as much. I probably blamed the subject matter a lot, but truth be told I was a bad reporter. Hindsight is 20/20 and I can see a lot of the mistakes I made back then. I ended up quitting before the start of the following fall, only to come back later that year to start the web project.

The surprising theme of the night was that a lot of the staffers all had similar feelings when they’re started. Sure its tough being new in any organization, but I think being a reporter takes extra getting used to. It seems kind of unnatural to walk up to strangers and ask lots of questions, but that’s what needs to be done. It’s also difficult to take an event a part and tell it as an interesting story while being accurate. I ended up advising those who struggled with reporting to consider trying other things such as copy editing, design, or even web.

The other thing I noticed was how much of an impact being there really is in an organization. Chris and I did a lot of development outside of the Collegian’s offices last semester and struggled, but this semester we stayed on site and got a lot more done. There were other factors, but I think being there and having people to talk to helped keep us motivated. Interestingly, they mentioned that the photo staff was cut off from the rest of news up until this year. The reason was the photo people had their own corner and stayed away from the newsroom. This year they started bringing photographers into staff meetings and suddenly everyone started working better together.

Anyway, I find the night to be much more worthwhile than I thought it would. Hearing people talk about their experiences also reminded me that there’s still I would like to do with our project and that time is running out. So that will keep me motivated towards getting something done sooner.

John Lasseter will take control of all of Disney animation and likely help direct it to new heights. I imagine Pixar will become Disney’s computer animation division and Lasseter will reorganize the existing unit to start producing traditionally animated movies again. There were rumors that Pixar may start a traditional unit themselves, that won’t be necessary now. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Brad Bird (director of The Incredibles and The Iron Giant) takes over the traditional unit. Lasseter can guide both units to success with his focus on original storytelling, something that was lost at Disney for the last few years. If they can maintain both units and produce enough hits, maybe Disney can scale back the direct-to-video business since they have twice as many feature films to put out.

Steve Jobs will become the largest shareholder in Disney after this deal, giving him a lot of leverage in the post-Pixar Disney. If they screw things up, he will likely give them hell. It will also be interesting to see what Jobs does with his role in Disney. He could use his influence to help direct the company through the transition to digital media. I know people worry that Pixar’s culture will die when they join Disney, but I don’t think that will happen. Many people at Pixar once worked for Disney and many Disney people are Pixar fans. I think Pixar is more likely to change the culture at Disney than the other way I around.

I can’t guarantee all that will happen, but I do think the new arrangement will be successful. Now many seem upset that Pixar didn’t go it alone, but I don’t think they realize what they’re talking about. Pixar gained a lot from its existing relationship with Disney, using the companies marketing muscle to sell their great movies. If Pixar was forced to go somewhere else, they would probably end up with Warner Bros. – which would be disaster. Warner Bros. took Bird’s marvelous Iron Giant and turned it into a box office failure. That would have been a dark road for Pixar. Disney has experience selling animated movies (and all the spin-off merchandising that helped make Pixar rich). This is going to be an interesting partnership and I think it will also be a fruitful one.

I am curious about life after Google for a lot of these employees. In my Information and Organizations class this semester, we did a project about a hypothetical dot-com that had culture issues. During conversation with the professor later, we found out it was based on a series of similar companies that she profiled during the dot-com boom and bust.

These companies were looking for zero-drag employees, people without family or social life that would distract them. Then they created a fun atmosphere that made employees excited to come to work. For most, co-workers were the only real friends they had. After the bust, many felt dissatisfied in their lives, whether they went back to school or went to a more traditional IT company. Most felt none of these experiences matched the importance of their work with the failed dot-com.

I asked the professor what she thought of Google’s culture. She said that she would have had us do the project on Google if she thought we could pull it off. Google has done many of the same things as these dot-coms, the biggest difference is that Google is a lot more successful. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Google in the future as it grows and faces more competition.