Dealer.com COO to Speak at Champlain

Dealer.com COO Michael Lane is speaking tomorrow night at Champlain College, as part of their BYOBiz Speaking From Experience lecture series. From the Champlain website:

Lane will talk about his innovative Burlington-based company that has experienced amazing growth since its creation in 1998. Dealer.com creates web-based marketing campaigns and supports thousands of online marketing solutions across North America for the automotive industry. The company is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 (growth) award and was listed in the 2007 Inc. 5000's "Fastest Growing Private Companies of America."

Hear him speak at 7:30 p.m. in Champlain's Alumni Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.

MicroStrain, Inc. Expands

Got a press release last week from MicroStrain, one of the companies that exhibited at the Vermont 3.0 Creative/Technology Career Jam in October. Looks like they're expanding their Williston HQ:

The new 19,000 square foot facility, formerly occupied by Qimonda, is roughly double the size of [MicroStrain's] previous location. “Our new, expanded engineering & production facilities are needed to support our rapid growth, which we expect to continue at approximately 40% per year,” said Steve Arms, President of MicroStrain. The new office space has advanced networked, high-speed workstations and provides a bright, open, high-tech working environment for its engineering, computer science, sales and technical employees. The new facility enables MicroStrain to significantly increase the production area, with additional space dedicated to increased capacity for its state of the art robotic calibration systems — which automate the process of embedding intelligence into its inertial, wireless, & micro-displacement sensing systems.

What's so great about those robotic calibration systems? Writer Kirk Kardashian penned a profile of MicroStrain back in January that explains what they do in layman's terms. From Kirk's story:

Founded 21 years ago by Burlington native Steve Arms, the company designs high-tech strain gauges that measure the stress loads on all kinds of objects, from knee joints and helicopters to bridges and Caterpillar Earthmovers.  

The gauges, many of which are housed in compact black boxes the size of a pack of Post-it Notes, allow engineers to determine the structural health of metals and plastics, and thereby avert failures. They can also help avoid premature replacement of expensive, taxpayer-funded toys such as F-18 fighter jets. In addition, MicroStrain makes $1500 orientation sensors that can navigate unmanned vehicles in any imaginable application, such as oil exploration, underwater research and landmine detection.
 

I'm sensing an increase in demand for their services...

You Know You're a Programmer in Vermont When...

Cows invade your office.

Panel Discussion Air Dates on Channel 16

Burlington's Channel 16 (RETN) filmed all 13 of the panel discussions at the Vermont 3.0 Creative/Technology Career Jam on October 25th.

Did you miss the discussions? Check them out on Channel 16. Here are the upcoming air dates:

Monday  11.17
8pm  —  Be the CTO
9pm  —  Green Up Our Energy Future

Sunday  11.23
8pm  -  Write for the Web
9pm  -  Get Into Games

Monday  11.24
8pm  -  Solve Cyber Crimes
9pm  -  Work in Biotech

Sunday  11.30
8pm  -  Build Websites
9pm  -  Be an Internet Marketer

Monday  12.01
8pm  -  Develop Software
9pm  -  Build Robots

Sunday  12.07
8pm  -  Make Music Online
9pm  -  Shoot Video and Get Paid for It

Monday  12.08
8pm  -  Be Your Own Boss

The videos may also be available on their website, www.retn.org.

Social Media and the Presidency: Has Social Media Changed Our Voting Engagement?

This is a re-post from my blog: http://champlainprofessor.blogspot.com

Social Media and the Presidency: Has social media changed our voting engagement?

As our country celebrates it's democracy today — where we can vote without fear of taking our lives into our hands — I thought it would be appropriate to consider how social media may be changing our voting engagement.

Not only have the politicians jumped on the social media bandwagon with social networking and twitters and blogs and community sites, but we've seen the conventions and the candidate debates turn into social media events through sites like Twitter and the mash-up of Twitter and CurrentTV.

Today, I Twittered while waiting in line to vote. I included #vtelxn so that my tweets would go into a "local" twitter meme for all Vermont voters.

Today, I'm seeing my Facebook friends "donate their status" to remind people to vote.

Throughout the day I'll probably watch http://election.twitter.com/ to get a flavor of what is happening around the country through people's tweets.

I'll check in at #votereport to see information about polling places — is anyone having issues? What are the lines like?

Tonight, will I watch TV? Maybe. More likely I'll be online checking the different sites and streaming live commentary from various places.

There are a growing number of ways in which I can feel more plugged in to the election process. It's not about being fed information from the candidates, but rather seeing what others in my social media sphere are doing and thinking has allowed me to feel even more connected.

So as the media talks about unprecedented voter turnout, as we all get engaged this year because of so many issues, I'm left wondering if the social media so many are using is having an impact on the voter turnout. As you see your friends writing about voting and you follow others who write about the lines and what they are doing as they wait to vote, does that pressure you into going to vote? Does it make you feel like part of a bigger movement knowing that you also voted and you can actually see others engaged the way you are? Others all over the country?

It's a known fact in marketing that word of mouth and viral marketing has more power then direct messages from a brand. Social media is the biggest WoM out there right now and part of the voter turnout may, indeed, be because of this phenomenon.

So, get engaged and plug in. Be in the know. And above all exercise your right to Vote.