Recession: Or Why It's a Great Time to be a Small Fry

As you may have heard, Wall Street has been officially hit by a comet, and the old dinosaurs are dying out. Actually, the comet struck years ago... it just takes a while for the food supply to drain.

Is it spooky? Yes. Has the condition the middle class person really changed over the the last thirty years? Sort of. We have more credit and cheaper technology. But we're just as vulnerable, if not more so. Ask anybody that lost their home. Times are tough, but aren't they always in some degree? Just remember, the dinosaurs died of and the small fuzzy mammals thrived. In an economic sense, that's about to happen.

You can see it in society. People are getting nice prices at Walmart, but missing the human interaction and service. After all, that greeter only goes so far. People are looking for that local shop again. Of course, it's the future so you'll have to be smarter about the whole ordeal... but for small businesses, your time is now. Why? Here's a short list of reasons.

1. You can make decisions on your feet, and not have to go through a committee. (Believe me, that's a big advantage over the corporate dinosaurs.)
2. Technology and the internet has now officially leveled the playing field on all fronts. You can get the information you need to survive.
3. There's enough small local businesses like you that could use another small local business to help support them in some form or another.

And finally, let's say you've been laid off by a large giant corporate dinosaur going under. Do you think you could actually trust another one to provide for you and your family? Studies show less and less feel that way, and would rather take the risk of starting their own company than being let go. At least fate in in your hands.

This is 19th century economics with a 21st century spin. Chris Anderson of Wired said so. My old art teacher Steve Sherell said so, too. Actually, most people in the know say it. The 20th century was a necessary fluke to the economic climate of today. And the news reports that small businesses will triple in the next three years.

So, from one small business person to another, let me know when you're ready to draw up some great advertising. Let's embrace the new economy together.

The Book Club

As you may have noticed, I've got a new widget on my blog courtesy of Shelfari. Here's where I put books I've read or own on the shelf, along with reviews so you can get my humble opinion on certain reads related to the arts, business and so on. If you're an avid book lover I'd highly suggest jumping in on this social site with brains to match.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

I received an article from a friend about the concept of removing author credits from news stories and editorials all together. Although one can understand the perspective and reasoning as to why author credits are not needed in a wonderful world of Wiki, I'm thinking that in certain cases not only will credits become more prominent, but will also be essential as background information on the source of the information, especially with the rise of tabloid journalism.

Over the next five to ten years professionally published articles will become more like community property. More specifically, someone edits a previously written article to their liking, then would post the revised article with their name listed as an editor (or additional content provided by themselves) next to the original writer. It will work similar to Wikipedia. You'll be able to click on the author (and then the additional author's) complete set of vital statistics, and thus reveal one's political affiliations, perspectives, that sort of thing. This will certainly come more into play as Web 3.0 comes into focus, when... in theory the web will visually become more multidimensional. We might physically be able to see two sides of an argument. This would future illustrate how points and counterpoints are, in many ways, reliant on the other's existence.

This is the future of web content, the ability to see information from multiple perspectives, and choose what information you want to allow in your life according to preference. Removing an author's name is the wrong direction. People will want to know the sources of the information, and consider that aspect just as important as the information itself. With technology, the idea of just presenting related stories will be old hat. We'll be able to show opposing stories, semi-related stories, and have visual scales showing just how much one perspective deviates from the other. Features like this will become more necessary as the internet grows in size, and will be made possible when the web's next iteration includes new artificial intelligence capabilities, which can already be hinted at when amazon.com tells you what you may like to purchase based on your previous searches.

Information management and process will not only be the future of commercial web, but it will also be a major them in 21st century art. More on that later...