50 First Blogs (Or, What Writers Want)50 First Blogs (Or, What Writers Want)

As I "pen" my 51st blog for IntelligentEnterprise.com, I'd like to take a different slant on the usual blog: What I, as a writer, expect from you, our reader. The continuing, unprecedented economic turbulence that is roiling us all provides a relevant backdrop to this note...

As a biz-tech writer with an established biz-tech publication, I am constantly striving to determine where lies that intersecting subset of what interests me, what interests you, and what passes by our beloved editor. Data structures and distributed operating systems? Interesting stuff for me, but likely much too theoretical for you. Social Web sites used for social purposes? Might be an essential part of your day, but leave me largely disinterested or wary even. Humor from the inimitable P. G. Wodehouse? Could have us both in tears of mirth (unless, of course, skewed - and skewered - stories of Edwardian England bore you), but will surely have Doug Henschen reaching for his editor's scissors.This intersecting subset of mutual interests is a moving target, but that's not a problem. What I (and others like me) write is by definition shaped by what is new and newsworthy (example), what is worth following up on (example), and what is worth investigating for a bit of extra insight (example).

The problem, I think, is that the incessant, massive blast of information you receive on a daily basis leaves you with little time and even lesser inclination to share with us your own thoughts and insightful analysis. Yet, reader page views go only so far in truly telling the picture - your feedback is essential to ensuring that I and other writers continue to provide you with value for your valuable time.

Which brings us to the highly unstable and unsettling times of today. There are three primary challenges that all of us face, even in normal times:

• Ensuring that we continue to provide value to our customers and employers- in other words, ensuring our own survival.

• Ensuring that we help our customers and employers make the most of the investment they make in technology - in other words, ensuring their survival.

• As a concomitant of the above two, ensuring that we stay on top of technology trends and developments related to our work.

In times like this, accomplishing these goals becomes extraordinarily important and challenging. How do we ensure survival when tens of thousands of careers around us are getting truncated? How do we help our customers and employers stay afloat in these sinking economic sands?

Web sites like IntelligentEnterprise.com provide a small (in the grand scheme of things) but crucial pillar on which to raise your value and profile before your customers and employer. And hence it is not just your privilege but your responsibility to make sure that you provide us the feedback necessary for us to continually tune and tweak the information and insight we present to you. Like something you read here? Let us know. Would like more insight on a topic? Let us know. Disagree with something we wrote? Let us know. Have a story of your own? Let us know. You get the point.

It took nearly 17 months for me to write 50 blogs: a rate of about three per month. Hardly prodigious, yet, from my perspective, satisfactory, given that I write only incidentally, taking time off from my primary job: assisting and advising clients in areas of IT and data management. Mere quantity of information produced doesn't drive me, and it doesn't drive IntelligentEnterprise.com... and is the last thing you want. Focus and quality will remain the top drivers for you and for us, and your feedback is the fuel. Keep it coming.As I "pen" my 51st blog for Intelligent Enterprise, I'd like to take a different slant on the usual blog: What I, as a writer, expect from you, our reader. The continuing, unprecedented economic turbulence that is roiling us all provides a relevant backdrop to this note... How do we help our customers and employers stay afloat in these sinking economic sands?