The NeceMoon Album | Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation
Author: Necemon Yai
Date: 2018-04-23T23:00:00+00:00
Description: The NeceMoon Album Technologies and Strategies to Keep Moving Forward By Necemon Yai Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation Featuring Antoine Mian, Cyriac Gbogou, Edith Brou, Israel Yoroba, Jean Luc Houedanou, Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Nanda Seye, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
Publisher: Evasium

The NeceMoon Album

Technologies and Strategies to Keep Moving Forward

By Necemon Yai

First edition

Published by Evasium ®

April 2018

London, UK

TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com

The contents of this file are protected under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

License
This file is free to distribute and give away to as many people as you would like.
I only ask that you do not sell it or publish the content onto any website.
If you use any quotes from this document, give me credit and link to the original file.
If you write a book and I quote you, I will give you credit and links too.

© Necemon Yai
necemon@gmail.com
www.necemonyai.com

All Rights Reserved.

Version 1.0.7.235

To the ones I lost, to the ones I got back

For each one that gets lost, ten get laid back

Table of Contents

Introduction      5

For All Practical Purposes      8

Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation      9

A Quick Guide For New Bloggers      10

What (un)motivates us When We Run a Blog (by Jean-Patrick Ehouman)      12

10 Marketing Tips For Promoting Your Next Blog Post (by Vanessa Lecosson)      13

Facebook Profile vs Facebook Page: What To Choose? (by Israel Yoroba)      16

It's All About The Selfie (by Nanda Seye)      18

Confidential: Social Networks And Me (by Yehni Djidji)      22

You Have The Right To Publish Whatever You Want Online (by Jean Luc Houedanou)      24

Caution! Cultivate Your Digital Identity Now! (by Edith Brou)      26

Job On The Web : How Not To Get Hired (by Israel Yoroba)      28

[Interview] In The Bubble Of Israel Yoroba: "I am president, elite serial entrepreneur, veteran blog trotter, catalyst for change in our generation"      30

Did You Just Say Crowdfunding? (by Nanda Seye)      33

[Interview] In The Bubble Of Nanda Seye: "it was essential to be very strategic and organised in order to reach the defined objectives"      35

Exploring Some Advanced Visualisation Techniques      38

Data Visualisation : Thematic Maps VS Bubble Charts      47

A Practical Guide On Open Data From The World Bank (by Cyriac Gbogou)      50

Educational Uses Of Internet Content Curation (by Antoine Mian)      52

Marketing For Programmers (or what I learned from my marketing classes)      53

Web Citizen And Media Coverage: Yes, But... (by Cyriac Gbogou)      60

Final Reminder      62

Conclusion      63

Share The Album with Your Mates      64

Introduction

About The NeceMoon Album: what is this all about?

The NeceMoon™ is a Blog about Technology and Strategy. The Album is The Best-Of, a compilation of the most popular articles on The NeceMoon™.

The main objective of The NeceMoon™ is to share tips and insights on a sensible range of topics, in order to let others learn from my mistakes and successes, and hopefully to make things easier for the next person.
The main objective of The Album is to promote an optimal access to that content. The Blog format does not always do justice to techno-strategic content. Originally, Blogs were designed in a journalistic spirit and are more suitable to chronological events and (more or less trivial) discussions around daily news. Even if the usefulness and the importance of an analysis persist in time, it becomes almost impossible to find and difficult to consult, as more articles keep stacking.
That is why the best articles have been cherry-picked, reviewed and arranged in a logical order that better matches the layout of a book. The Album is free of charge.

The NeceMoon™ can be accessed from NeceMoon.com (or necemonyai.com/blog)
The NeceMoon™ Album can be downloaded in various file formats, in full from TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com (or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/The-Album.aspx). The available formats are PDF, EPUB, MOBI/AZW3/KF8 (Amazon Kindle) and MP3. Furthermore, the various chapters and volumes can be downloaded independently/separately, according to your interests.

About the Author: who is Necemon Yai?

I am a Software Development Engineer extensively involved in Microsoft .NET technologies. Full time developer. Part time digital artist, strategist, essayist and entreprenerd. I majored in computer science from NIIT, Christ University and Swansea University (Master of Engineering, Computing).
At the time of publishing this, I have worked for a Europe leading E-Commerce company, a major UK financial group, the General Electric global corporation and a few tech start-ups that you probably never heard of.
Over the past decade or so, I have been running The NeceMoon blog, where I describe my experiences, my observations and my reflexions. I mostly talk about Technology and Strategy. Here I share my most popular articles.

About the Contributors: who is in your War Council?

I invited the best writers in my network to include some contributions in this book, especially some of their most relevant insights in terms of Technology and Strategy. These top authors are, Ahou The African Chick, Antoine Mian, Cyriac Gbogou, Darren Mart, Edith Brou, Holty Sow, Israel Yoroba, Jean Luc Houedanou, Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Karen Kakou, Monty Oum, Nanda Seye, Nnenna Nwakanma, Olivier Madiba, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji.
Along with their respective writings, you can find links to their own web pages. In addition, most of these contributors introduce themselves and provide you with some tactics in our exclusive interviews that you will also find in this book.

About You, Dear Reader: who is this book for? What’s in for you?

In The Album, there are 9 chapters organised in 2 volumes. Each chapter deals with a specific topic. You don’t have to read everything. If you are interested (to one extend or another) in one or more of these topics, you would possibly appreciate the related chapter(s):

Volume 1: Moon Light (softcore)
Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics
Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation
Chapter 3: Corporate Worlds and Emerging Markets
Chapter 4: Quick Wins, Tricks and Tips
Chapter 5: Transition - Extra Thoughts and Sharp Fantasy

Volume 2: Full Moon (hardcore)
Chapter 6: Software Development and Engineering
Chapter 7: C# .NET Programming
Chapter 8: Epic Prototypes, Classic Projects, Historic Genre
Chapter 9: Research and Case Studies

If you want to, you can download and read only the chapter(s) and volume(s) that you are interested in. Several file formats are available on TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/blog/page/The-Album.aspx)
All the Web links in this document are working, feel very welcome to click on them.

For All Practical Purposes

The NeceMoon Album, Chapter 2

This document contains the Chapter 2 of The Album: “Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation”. If you care, 8 other chapters are also available. Depending on your interests, you may download, (re-)read or share any of the various chapters and volumes independently/separately. The PDF, EPUB, MOBI/AZW3/KF8 (Amazon Kindle) and MP3 formats are available.

To get them, just click on any of the links you like below or go to TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/The-Album.aspx)

The NeceMoon Album (complete)

Volume 1: Moon Light (softcore)

Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics

Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation

Chapter 3: Corporate Worlds and Emerging Markets

Chapter 4: Quick Wins, Tricks and Tips

Chapter 5: Transition - Extra Thoughts and Sharp Fantasy

Volume 2: Full Moon (hardcore)

Chapter 6: Software Development and Engineering

Chapter 7: C# .NET Programming

Chapter 8: Epic Prototypes, Classic Projects, Historic Genre

Chapter 9: Research and Case Studies

The Album is available in French as well at Album.NeceMoon.com (or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/L-Album.aspx)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Digital Marketing
and Web Visualisation

Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation

Featuring Antoine Mian, Cyriac Gbogou, Edith Brou,
Israel Yoroba, Jean Luc Houedanou, Jean-Patrick Ehouman,
Nanda Seye, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji

A Quick Guide For New Bloggers

By Necemon

A new online "friend" was recently asking me: "What should be done to get a more lively blog or social media page? I mean, more visits, more likes; how to have some attractive blog and online profiles."

That question comes back from times to times. I don't particularly see myself as an expert in blogging or in social media marketing, but if I were to briefly sum up my humble opinion on the matter, that would be in 3 words: education, production and promotion.

1. Education
I couldn't detail everything you actually needs to know within 5 minutes, because there are lots and lots of elements that come into play. You must therefore continually be learning, checking out the best blogs that discuss blogging, social media, copy writing, online marketing. Subscribe to them, read them as much as you can. Also reach out to those who are doing well in those areas, ask questions. They may not be able to teach you everything in a minute, so you could keep in touch and keep learning, observe their methods, take their feedback on what you're doing.

2. Production
Write often, regularly write, write on topics that interest your readers and yourself. Writing regularly is a matter of discipline, writing interesting content is more about experience (it may take several tries). There again, you can do some research on what people like to read and get inspired by experts. But be careful not to copy them verbatim, you are trying to come up with something new, rather than publishing again what already exists.

3. Promotion
Keep your social media pages updated, complete and professional, preferably with a graphic identity.
Find some people who are interested in what you have to say or write. Every time you write a new article, let them know through e-mail or their favorite online platform, take their feedback into account, to improve. Also, keep networking with other bloggers and writers in your niche. Establishing some good relationships could help when it comes to sharing content and other exchanges of services.

What (un)motivates us When We Run a Blog

By Jean-Patrick Ehouman

Let's start with the dark part of this post. When you decide to start running a blog, you are likely to fail before the end of the first three months. It is not easy to write, and moreover, to write things that interest others. Professional life and personal constraints (family, schedule, etc.) are often the first causes of slacking. In the same vein, one can also note the useless pressures and deadlines that we impose upon ourselves. For example, some may start by committing to writing at least one article every day at a given time. This is not really necessary because you need a minimum degree of inspiration to write. And when you don't have it, you should have a way to get it.

In 2005, when I was in my last year of study, I had created a personal site (to present what I do) and profile pages on sites dealing with technical topics related to the development of web applications. Since then, I have tried to keep several blogs (often in collaboration with other people). But it's only since starting this latest blog that I've been able to find the rhythm, the motivation, the desire to publish despite the lack of inspiration.

This article you are reading right now derives from the fact that I did not have a specific topic but I wanted to see a new post on this blog. Hence, it's only natural that to start talking about what prevents or motivates us to write. As a result, I find myself looking on the web for elements that can help me fill-up this ticket. That's how I came across a 7-points list written by Jamie Wallace of "Live to Write - Write to Live". This list is intended to help cultivate real habits to keep a blog:

1. Find the time to write, otherwise create this time

2. Have an end goal

3. Avoid saying "I should..."

4. Start small. For example with notes of a few dozen words at a reasonable pace. or big tickets fairly spaced in time

5. Stay consistent

6. Measure progress and welcome it

7. Have fun

If you are lacking inspiration for your next article, you can simply complete the list above with two or three sentences per point. As for me, I would say "talk about what you love" because there are always people who like the same thing and it is therefore a great way to make good contacts.

10 Marketing Tips For Promoting Your Next Blog Post

By Vanessa Lecosson

You have created your blog a few months ago. You regularly produce content to supply the "few readers you have" but that doesn't seem to be enough.

Your numbers are hardly increasing and you don't know how to boost your web traffic. The few Facebook and Twitter ads that you buy to promote your publications don't really help and you do not know what to do.

Today I would like to suggest 10 tips that will help you to better promote your next blog post and develop your audience.

1. Share your article to your contacts via email

This should be one of the essential practices that you must take into consideration right away.

Once your article is ready, do not hesitate to share it with your contacts by email.

The goal is not to annoy them with long boring messages, but to stay brief and close to them. Summarize your article, add a few links towards your blog and the article in question, insert an illustrative image and you're done.

Do not forget also that the goal is to grow your traffic, and it also means proximity to your readers. So make sure you include custom formulas in your email, this could serve you well.

Some tools to help you manage your email addresses and send your different articles:
- MailChimp
- MailJet

2. Share your article on your social networks

Sending emails is good, but your article will have even more visibility if you also share it on your social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

To that end, tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, Tweetdeck can be useful. You just have to schedule the publication of your article on these tools and let them share your content on your social pages.

3. Social bookmaking

Use social bookmaking sites like Digg, Diigo, Reddit, Delicious etc to allow your readers to record and share the link of your article with a more or less wide/relevant audience.

4. Reviewing discussion forums and communities

Do not hesitate to join online discussion groups, including Facebook, Google plus and LinkedIn and share your article. This will allow you to have more readers and to see the traffic of your blog grow as you take part in group activities.

5. Using curation sites

Sites such as Scoop.It, Storify, are good places to search for ideas but also to share content. Utilize it you from time to time, they can get very useful.

6. Identify/Tag the influencers

How would you feel if a blogger mentioned you in an article? Good?

Well, it's the same thing that happens if you mention influencers in your posts from time to time.

Every time you produce an article and quote an influencer inside, share your production with them. Send them an email, mention them on Facebook or Google+ or mention them in a tweet. Some of them will return the favor!

7. Find some fellow bloggers who can help you

There are some bloggers out there that, from time to time, reach out to their peers in order to gather a wider audience. Once a week or once a month, they are willing to share content from other blogs with their readers so that other sources of information benefit their audience. You can try to get in touch with them and offer to publish your recent article on their blog. There will certainly be a counterpart, because everyone is trying to be more visible but it's worth a try.

8. Reuse your old publications

Old articles can still be used to produce new content. Turn them into video or infographics, why not? A video can have more impact than an infographic, that can itself have more impact than an article to your readers. Do not hesitate to play the game by transforming your old publications into new productions.

9. A bit of advertising never hurt

Some paid ads published over a period of time will always strengthen your actions. Set a monthly budget for your items.

10. Guest-posts

This kind of campaign is not always easy, but when a blog gives you this opportunity, it is better to seize it. It is clear that they will (certainly) enforce a topic, or ask you to produce an article taking into account their given criteria, but once the article shared on his blog, you will be benefiting from exposure to their audience.

Most of us bloggers do not give more time to the promotion of our productions than to their creation. This is one of the reasons why our articles are not very visible.

I hope these tips will help you, as they have helped me, to spend as much time marketing your articles as writing them. Over time, more promotion techniques will become available, so stay up-to-date.

Knowledge cannot all be acquired in one day... Good luck!

Facebook Profile vs Facebook Page: What To Choose?

By Israel Yoroba

Exactly one year ago, I tried an experiment. I disabled my personal Facebook account and kept only my Page to mark my presence on this network. The objective was to analyse the "pros" and "cons" of choosing one or the other. Here I give you some of those points.

Actually, I created my Facebook page because I had reached the 5000 friends limit. But, over time, I wanted to position "Israel Yoroba" as a brand. It was therefore necessary to communicate on a "professional page". There was then a distinction in my communication approaches. My personal information was on my personal profile and my professional activities were on my page.

Saving time

Closing my profile allowed me to win, on average, 4 to 5 hours a day. When you have 5000 friends, you navigate between the information that appears in your newsfeed, the notifications of the groups to which you belong, or the update notifications of posts that you commented on, the chats, etc.

With my Page, none of this happens anymore. I do not have a newsfeed, I rarely comment on other people's profiles (except when I'm mentioned) and chat is more moderate. So I have a lot more time to stay focused on my work. Because, let's face it, Facebook can easily become a "weapon of mass distraction".

News

For a journalist and someone who is watching the news, I miss out on scoops or interesting information (fortunately, my communication staff brief me on the most relevant parts). To have only one page is to lose sight of what is being said elsewhere. It is a kind of self-sufficiency that makes you "blind" and even a little "narcissistic" not to say "selfish". Because your communication is one-sided. You can publish, but you cannot see what others are doing on their wall or in groups. I admit that it's a bit frustrating, especially when you belong to many communities on Facebook.

Visibility

The Facebook policy for pages is designed so that your posts are not instantly visible to your subscribers (43,000 of them, in my case). The conversion rate in terms of commitment remains relatively low (less than 3% on average in my case). Their goal is to encourage you to pay for advertisement in order to highlight the publication (and by extension, your page too).

On a profile, however, a publication is immediately shared on the news feed of all your friends. You benefit from a faster and much more consistent commitment (between 15 and 20, or even up to 40% on average).

Positioning

Being on a page is like being a "public figure" (in my case). This requires much more rigor in the publications. Typing mistakes that may go unnoticed into a personal account are less tolerated on a page. I often get poked every time I let one out.

Communicating on a Page requires planning. Every weekend, I update my editorial calendar. I know what I will publish from the beginning of the week and what could be put on weekends. By following the local/international news and according to my activities.

I am surrounded by a team that works with me to succeed. Because despite all the experience I have, it's almost impossible to manage your own page. Rest assured, I am the only one who accesses it. I personally respond to messages and comments.

Upstream, I have my calendar validated. Each post is re-read by at least one person before being published. Unlike a profile where I can publish any way depending on my mood, my page respects a publication quota. No more than 3 publications per day (with few exceptions).

What's the key point to keep in mind?

From this 12-month experience, I conclude that for an individual, a Page is only necessary when there is something to sell. The question does not arise for products, services, companies, institutions, associations...

Because on a personal account, you can also decide to make more professional publications. By setting rules, limits, and adopting a strategy.

It's All About The Selfie

By Nanda Seye

The Selfie. Everyone knows everything about it... Or do they? How was it born? Where does it come from? Here I decided to dedicate an article to the Selfie story. I, a good disciple of the Web Lord, took a geeky pilgrim to write this article and preach the Good News of Technology to you, my dear readers...

So what is a Selfie?

Have you ever photographed yourself with your smartphone? Your webcam? In front of a mirror? If so, you have already done a selfie. A Selfie (or self-portrait) is a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone and shared on social networks. Nowadays there is a growing trend towards group selfies, often effectively supported by selfie sticks.

Some of the milestones of the Selfie

Everyone thinks they know everything about the Selfie, but how many know its actual history? Here are some important dates in the Selfie evolution:

1839: first appearance of the selfie technique
Robert Cornelius (1809-1893) took the first selfie in history. This chemist (and fan of photography) took a self-portrait in front of the family shop in Philadelphia using a daguerreotype (a photographic process involving silver plate created by the French photographer Louis Daguerre).

1920: first group selfie
Five photographers (Uncle Joe Byron, Pirie MacDonald, Colonel Marceau, Pop Core, Ben Falk) of the Byron Company (a photo studio in Manhattan) snap a picture of themselves on the roof of Studio Marceau in December 1920.

1964-1965: best-selling record: A self-portrait by Andy Warhol, which sold in New York at the May Post-War and Contemporary evening sale in Christie's, fetched $38.4 million.

2002: the word "selfie" is used for the first time
The word Selfie appeared for the first time in September 2002 on an Australian online forum; a young man explained that he took a picture of himself to show the consequences of a fall down the stairs while he was drunk.

2004: The first #Selfie hashtag appeared on the Flickr site in 2004

2012: Rise of the selfie

2013: The word "Selfie" was added in the Oxford English Dictionary right between selfhood and selfish.

2014: "Selfie" was selected as Word of the Year at the 10th Word Festival in Nièvres where nearly 98,000 Internet users voted

2015: The word "Selfie" was added in Le Petit Robert 2015, along with "Hashtag"

Confidential: Social Networks And Me

By Yehni Djidji

A few years ago, I could easily spend hours sitting in front of the computer, watching photos on Facebook or on Hi5. That's right, if people publish their photos, the whole point is that we can watch those indeed.

Sometimes I went on profiles of people I didn't even know! When I was asked what I was doing, I used to answer: I look at people's prosperity! Actually, I was a little envious!

I have so many projects running through my mind, so many dreams still unrealised, that sometimes I have these "down" periods, when I feel that everyone is happier than me and that I am running late! Not specifically late with regard to others, but mostly late on the vision that I have for myself!

I envied those who were able to reach some of my dreams and who don't always realise that they are privileged! I also envied these people who enjoyed their youth in the fast lane because, stuck in my perpetual "school-house-sleep" routine, I might not have had any interesting story to share with my children!

But at least, it's fortunate that I happen to be the prime confidant among my connexions. Therefore, for lack of better insight, I would still have the experience of others as a reference point!

And then one day I realised that no one ever photographs their bad times!

Who's ever taken a picture of themselves crying and posted it on Facebook? During a funeral, upon hearing sad news: break-up, failure, dismissal? Who's ever created a Facebook album with a title such as "Pictures of my Failure", where we would see their despondency upon the announcement of the unfortunate event, their parents in the process of scolding them, and why not, marks cards showing their poor grades? If you've ever seen anything like this on a social networking site, please send me the address!

I understood that the pictures I saw were just tiny moments in a lifetime! And I have plenty of happy moments too! We all have those!

More importantly, I understood that people immortalize these moments because they would like those to last for eternity even if they are fully aware that it is impossible !! Also, there is no point in moping around !!! If lamentations were a way of achieving dreams, we would know about it!

Hence, now when I have my down times, I wear make-up, I dress up chic and I shoot very beautiful photographs! Lol!

Stay blessed!

You Have The Right To Publish Whatever You Want Online

By Jean Luc Houedanou

Dear teenagers and young adults who have been shocked by this article, and who did not fail to let me know, I owe you an apology.

Indeed, I wrote without considering the two absolute truths of social networks, namely:

1. In front of a (webcam, smartphone, video) camera connected to the Internet (or not), you may expose yourself (literally or figuratively).

The results can range from the topless picture (with a duck face, optionally) to the sextape - for the boldest among them, not to mention the full disclosure of the finest details of their personal life.

But hey, the most important thing is to get "likes", "retweets" and "+1s".

I know that some of you have fallen into the illusion that their degree of self-exposure (in every sense of the word) is proportional to their acceptance in one or more social circles.

Anyway, I cannot understand it, but it's your life and you may do what you want. Yes, I am among those who think that, in theory, everyone is free to do what they want in their spare time.

It goes without saying that you can publish whatever you want on the social networks associated with your name.

As a Web Consultant, I could explain to you that before hiring or recruiting you, employers will track your online activities on Google. But I guess you would reply: "Anyway, I would be a (web/social) entrepreneur. To hell with the bosses". Then you would be forgetting that working under the orders of a boss is a good way to acquire personal discipline – i.e. getting up in the morning, arriving on time, learning management by objectives and results, learning to save money - which separates professional entrepreneurs from the rest, but I'd digress.

I could tell you that common sense would compel any sensible person to avoid leaving compromising traces on the Internet. But it seems that the trend these days is to thoroughly reveal every nook and cranny of one's life on the Internet.

I therefore prefer to let you live in your wonderful world, where all actions are inconsequential. Especially when you take into account the second absolute truth of the web:

2. You know all your virtual friends and you can easily distinguish between your real friends, all of the jealous folks, and the perverts, or other individuals in need of thrills and sensational actions, as well as the bloggers/youtubers/scavengers looking for a buzz to promote their web platforms.

Well, I know it may be surprising, but all those people you have never met, and who subscribe to content updates that you publish here and there on the web might not be all trustworthy.

Indeed, many of the people described above are particularly inclined to share the privacy of others via Facebook, Bluetooth, unauthorized DVDs and any other means available.

But, you're not worried about that, since you personally know every single one of your 1,200 followers on Twitter and 3,400 friends on Facebook, right? It's not like any of them could publish your twerk video on some shady websites, obviously...

So, dear teens and young adults living in a wonderful world where you can put everything and absolutely anything online for any reason, such as:

To draw attention to oneself,

To please a boyfriend/girlfriend,

Or, and I quote, "It's my body, my private life and I do whatever I want."

Do as you wish.

Do not listen to this grumpy old blogger... He does not even have any friends on Facebook.

And then it's not like the reality will eventually come and bite you once you turn 25 and you would spend your days erasing any detrimental content that might affect you, while you would then be interested in LinkedIn and Viadeo.

Until then, I wish you all a good time on the Internet.

Caution! Cultivate Your Digital Identity Now!

By Edith Brou

Did you know that you have a digital identity? Well, yes, you do. You don't have to request it from any legal authority (for now, at least). It already exists and it can either elevate you or harm you. How? Because from the day when you connected to the Internet, and filled out a profile by registering your first and last names, posted photos or opened an electronic mailbox, your Identity was self-built without your knowledge. And it gets updated with each of your actions on your keyboard.

You can no longer go unnoticed because you are certainly "referenced", that is, by typing your name and surname, I may find you on the first page of the Google Search results. You therefore benefit from the natural referencing of this search engine (see SEO : Search Engine Optimisation).

However, there are tools much more sophisticated that allow you, by simply right clicking the mouse, to know in seconds, all the public and private information you have dropped over the years on ''the Web''.

In the worst cases, those we have taken their digital identities lightly (this amounts to misplacing their physical identity card), found themselves in very uncomfortable situations. For instance, it happened to that employee who got fired within a few months because his boss caught him happily smoking a big ''joint'' on his Facebook profile.

In the coming years, be aware that, to access some sites, your digital identity will be scrutinized, and for recruiters, it will be a very good way to have access to the profile of a potential candidate within a few seconds.

So now is the time to cultivate your digital identity, and take care of it to avoid a very bad harvest.

Job On The Web : How Not To Get Hired

By Israel Yoroba

Yesterday I posted an urgent advertisement to recruit a multitasking and bilingual intern. The required skills were:

- To know how to write and speak English.

- To know the Web environment and social networks.

- To be curious and to be available immediately.

Within 10 hours, I received 65 applications by e-mail or via my Facebook page and profile. I received very good profiles. I will not talk about those.
I will focus on those who have been systematically rejected, since many of them were disqualified because they haven't realised that social networks are now a place where recruiters are "stalking" too. And if you dream of getting hired for an Internet job, here is what you must avoid doing:

- Not respecting the instructions of the announcement

Reply in comment while the instructions clearly state: "Contact me Inbox". The candidate who responds in the comments shows that, either he did not understand the instructions, or he does not care! The employer may want to discuss the finer details directly with the relevant candidates. He wishes to answer their specific questions, hence why the offer itself deliberately lacks precision.

- Replying to the offer with abbreviations

I have seen all kinds of things. I read it all. Here is a good selection: "Im up 4 da internship" or "Mornin its fr the job". But wait, there is worse: "hey gimme more info re: ur stuff".

Editorial quality is required. By sending SMS messages, you indicate that, even without pressure, you are not able to write a sentence correctly.

I also browsed Facebook profiles. What a catastrophe. Abbreviations, posts littered with spelling mistakes. One or two typing mistakes are okay! But when it's all over the place, the case gets hopeless.

- Being away from the Internet

Working on the Web obviously involves being on the Web. Some of the Facebook profiles (or Twitter accounts) haven't presented any activity for 6 months or more.

- Leaving inappropriate traces

On some of the profiles, I saw some awkward links and/or comments (girls with suggestive poses/clothes, people (almost) naked, videos of people being beheaded, etc..., others unknowingly (?) click on pornographic links and this is displayed on their profiles.

- The latecomers

Several candidates asked me inbox how to apply. I asked them to write a few lines of (their) motivation in English. Some of them replied later on the same night. As for the others... I'm still waiting.

I said it at the beginning. It should not be forgotten that our activity on the Internet (and specifically social networks) is scrutinized by employers. The CV and the cover letter are not enough anymore. The recruiter will check who you are, what you read, what you write. How you react. How soon. If you want to work, especially on the Web, do not make these mistakes.

[Interview] In The Bubble Of Israel Yoroba: "I am president, elite serial entrepreneur, veteran blog trotter, catalyst for change in our generation"

1. Quick (but effective) introduction of the personage and his achievements?

My name is Israel GUEBO. Better known as Israel Yoroba. I am a Media Expert and Coach, and specialist in social networks. I am also President of the Génération Innovante association. Furthermore, I am a member of the Bureau of the Network of Online Press Professionals of Ivory Coast, I am in charge of training and self-regulation.

I am a journalist by training and profession, graduated from the Superior School of Journalism of Lille, France.

From my experiences, I keep the most important ones. I trained the press service of the office of the president of the National Assembly, the communication department of the Presidency of the Republic and worked as coordinator of the digital communication for the Ministry of Youth.

From Print to Radio and Web, I have just over 10 years of experience with International Media. For 6 years (2008-2013), I had been a correspondent in Abidjan for the Web editorial of the French channel TV5. As such, I covered the 2008 US elections, the 2010 presidential elections and the subsequent military-political crisis in The Ivory Coast.

Between 2014 and 2017, I was chief editor of the "Studio Mozaik" Radio School, and later Head of the Hemisphère Media Production Office. That is the company that provides correspondence for TF1 in Africa and for France 24 in some countries of West and Central Africa.

For a decade, I have traveled around Francophone Africa to train state institutions. In Togo, Benin, Burundi, Gabon, Guinea... I train Senators and Members of Parliaments for the use of new media in institutional communication. This is taking place as part of the Noria program, initiated by the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly (APF), an institution for which I am a consultant.

I was also a web editor for the France 24 blog. In 2011, I did a brief stint at Radio France Internationale (RFI) on the program "L'atelier des médias". What I was most reknown for was the "Avenues", these local information sites with a presence in several African countries. Besides the Avenues, I launched, in 2013, the first Web Radio of information in Ivory Coast: Class FM (www.classe.fm).

All this earned me several distinctions: Best French Speaking Blogger in 2008 in Bonn, Germany. Best Blog of West African Journalist in 2009 in Dakar, Senegal. Harubuntu Awards Winner in 2011 in Brussels, Belgium. Francophonie  35<35 Prizewinner in the Blog category and Media Innovation Laureate in 2016 in Abidjan, these are the many distinctions obtained by the renowned Ivorian "Blog Trotter".

I saw my name in the Top 4 Most Promising Young People of Ivory Coast in 2016. This ranking was carried out by the Association of Lobbying and Public Affairs Councils of Ivory Coast (ACLAP-CI). In 2017, I created and supervised a media enterprise that won the second prize for the best Ivorian digital press company.

I am also the author of two books: "La Vie Comme Elle Va" (Life As It Goes, Balafons Edition, 2013), a chronicle that describes day-to-day life in the Ivory Coast, and "Compagnie Caïman" (Caiman Company), a novel published by Livresque Edition in October 2016.

2. What are your main goals in life?

My main goal is to be a catalyst for change in our generation. It sounds very idealistic, and maybe even utopian when we look at how our countries are evolving. But I remain convinced that each of us, one way or another, can bring his brick to build a different world, a generation with new values. And therefore, I do my best to teach and raise awareness around me. I believe in the power of sharing. It is the best weapon of development.

3. What tools and techniques do you use to accomplish things efficiently?

My first tools are my diary and my notepad. These are essential to better organise myself. Plus, I don't have to rely on electricity while using them. Every morning, I list everything I have to do on a page of my notebook. E-mails to send, phone calls to make, appointments (as scheduled on my diary), tasks to complete. Then I cross them out as they are done. At the end of the day, whatever has not been done is postponed to the next page. It's an effective monitoring tool.

Then there are all the Google Drive Apps, to work effectively remotely with my team.

Last but not least, to communicate, there's nothing like Social Media. First my blog (which is being enhanced), then Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are my main communication tools.

4. Any recommendations for your juniors?

First advice, keep reading. Sometimes it may sound like a trivial expression. But nope. It's important to read, read a lot. Not just on the internet, but read books, magazines, newspapers. This develops our intellectual faculties, and our culture.

Further, it's great to use search engines thoroughly. Google, in particular. This is an incredible opportunity for our generation. With this tool, you can learn anything.

Finally, my last advice is an attitude in life, it's about remaining humble. Because life is unpredictable, and today's victories must not be considered as final, but they should be a source of motivation to achieve a little more.

5. What is the best way to contact you?

The best way is by mail (isyoroba@gmail.com). I read them all the time. Then, the comments sections on my blog. On social networks, I respond to specific messages. However messages starting like "yo", "sup", "baby", etc. will remain unanswered (lol)!

Did You Just Say Crowdfunding?

By Nanda Seye

During the month of August, I was helping out the TechOfAfrica team with the organization of an afropreneur afterwork event in Abidjan. So I was talking with a friend about that session, I was explaining that the purpose was to present the Afropreneur project and to promote the related crowdfunding campaign. But, as soon as I mentioned the word "Crowdfunding", my friend immediately shifted to a shocked face.

"Huh? What's that, Nanda? Some of your geeky stuff again?", she asked.

And then, I realised that what may seem obvious for some of us is not always that clear for others. This situation is amplified by the fact that many are not particularly comfortable with the language of Shakespeare. So I wrote this little article just to clear things up for everyone. Happy reading.

So what is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a collective financing practice that is executed via the Internet to help start-up projects. It connects project leaders and Internet users who want to invest in these projects.

Oh, is it? But how does it work?

It's simple, the operation can be summarized in three entities:

Project Managers <-> Web Platforms <-> Internet Users (Investors)

A. Project leader or startup:

You may have a project that is important to you, that you want to achieve. Instead of turning to the banks for funding, you can opt for a platform dedicated to this matter, where you would submit all the project details. This allows you to:

- Give visibility to your project

- Receive donations/loans

- Find potential partners/sponsors

B. Web Platforms:

These are websites dedicated to this purpose, on which one can run a fundraising campaign for their project. There are 4 types of platforms:

Donation platforms: the user (i.e. the investor) provides financial support to the project without receiving any reward.

Platforms with counterpart in kind: the user receives a consideration in kind

Loan platforms: Internet users grant a loan to project leaders

Direct investment platforms: Internet users invest directly in the capital of a company by acquiring a stake in the project or by becoming co-producers. In exchange, they earn the right to acquire financial counterparties in case of commercial success of the project.

In order to sustain themselves, the platforms keep a commission of 5 to 10% on the amounts collected.

Hey, that's interesting, but what are the platforms?

There are quite a few platforms, some of the most popular are:

- KissKissBankBank

- Kickstarter

- Ulule

- Indiegogo

C. The Web user:

This is the one who is interested in the project and decides to offer you some donations or loans, you may refer to him as your "Angel" investor (no pun intended lol).

That's all folks, I hope the concept of crowdfunding is now clear for you, and that you too can impress your friends lol and use it for your own projects.

One last piece of advice: a successful crowdfunding campaign involves choosing a platform that is in line with your project, a good presentation of the project and, above all, an excellent marketing strategy. Good luck.

[Interview] In The Bubble Of Nanda Seye: "it was essential to be very strategic and organised in order to reach the defined objectives"

1. Quick (but effective) introduction of the personage and her achievements?

I am Nanda SEYE, Ivorian, in charge of private sector programs in a training firm. I am completing a training in Computer Engineering Option Networks and Systems in a school in Ivory Coast. I have experience in Digital Marketing, Project Management and Computer Network Administration. Also, I have a blog on ICT. What sets this blog apart is the fact that it educates and informs on ICT topics through humour. Hired as a Community Manager by a coworking space from 2013 to 2014, I managed to bring together the different ICT communities around this space and to organize several events that helped in establishing the reputation of the company. This was my greatest accomplishment because JokkoLabs was the first collaborative space in that country; the concept was therefore unknown to the public. It was essential to be very strategic and organised in order to reach the defined objectives.

2. What are your main goals currently?

II have always had a particular interest in project management. So my goal is, God willing, to pass several certifications in this area, including the PMP (Project Management Professional).

Besides that, I plan to produce a Comic Strip because I really like the world of Comics. So I'm currently working on a comic book project that will later be derived into animated videos and video games adaptations. For this purpose, I currently work with a caricaturist and a graphic designer. After releasing this comic book, I will be keen to collaborate with folks specialising in video game development, in 2D/3D videos and other videos to carry out this project. Specifically, people who somewhat share values such as respect, surpassing oneself, perseverance, humility, simplicity, rigor, creativity, professionalism and, most importantly, humor.

3. What tools and techniques do you use to accomplish things efficiently?

My favorite software:
- Project management : Ms Project, GanttProject:
- Digital: Hootsuite, Photoshop, LikeAlyser, Giphy, Canva, Bitly, Social Bakers, MailChimp, Social Shakers, Google Adwords, Google Analytics

4. Any recommendations for your juniors?

Websites :
- gestiondeprojet.pm
- abilways-digital.com
- openclassrooms.com
- 1min30.com
- webmarketing-com.com

Blogs :
- jeysmacademie.net
- blogdumoderateur.com

Books :

Religious:
- Good morning, Holy Spirit: Benny Hinn
- Understanding the Divine Direction: David Oyedepo
- The hippopotamus in the garden: how to hear the voice of God in the 21st century: Alain Bouffartigues

Personal development :
- The alchemist: Paulo Coelho
- Think and Grow Rich: Napoleon Hill
- Attitude Is Everything: 10 Life-Changing Steps to Turning Attitude Into Action: Keith Harrell
- The Power of Positive Thinking: Norman Pearl
- The Leader In You - How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World: Dale Canergie

Digital Marketing :
- The marketing plan - digital communication: Denis Pommeray
- The art of the digital war: Caroline Faillet

Project management
- Project planning technique: Gilles Valet
- The project manager's toolbox: Jérôme Maes and François Debois

Life tips (quotes):

David (The Bible)
Psalm 146: Do not rely on influential people: they are only men, they are unable to save. As soon as they blow their last breath, as soon as they return to the ground, their projects are buried with them. Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, who puts his hope in the Eternal God.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Do not go where the path may lead. Go where there is no path and leave a trace

Abraham Lincoln

- The best way to predict your future is to create it
- Always keep in mind that your decision to succeed is more important than anything else
- You can fool a few people all the time; You can fool everyone for a while. But you can not deceive everyone all the time.

5. What is the best way to contact you?

I would say, via my Facebook profile: Nanda SEYE

Exploring Some Advanced Visualisation Techniques

By Necemon

This study is about the production and the description of some advanced visualization charts related to the higher education in South West Wales. Some actual data had been made available to complete this task and the objective is to get some meaningful and interesting insight about the data.

The data files are from a Management Information Officer in the Statistics Unit in conjunction with the Planning and Strategic Projects Unit (PSPU), both at Swansea University.

The tool used is IBM Many Eyes. It’s a web service that lets user upload data sets and can turn them into various visualizations. There were a lot of choices but only advanced visualization types (especially maps) had been highly recommended rather than basic charts. Further, graphs that show rises and falls over time had to be avoided as the provided data was not time oriented. So the five visualization types demonstrated here are block histograms, bubble charts, maps, matrix charts and tree maps.

1.     Wales Map

Maps are really intuitive when it comes to show a comparison based on the location. In Many Eyes, the Wales map is slightly inaccurate but it allows us to get an interesting overview of the most popular regions where people go to study.

The following maps show the most frequented areas for each field of studies for the full time undergraduate students in Wales. The original data was dividing students according to their institutions. However, for the sake of mapping, those institutions had to be aggregated according to the respective cities they belong to. The darker an area is, the more it’s frequented for that field of study and inversely, the lighter a region is, the less it’s frequented. This doesn’t apply to the gray area, which represent the zone for which we don’t have any data.

Now let’s consider a particular case, the field of computer science. We can clearly see that Swansea is one of the most popular destinations to study computer sciences in Wales. However, when we consider all the subjects together, Cardiff appears to be the most popular choice overall.

2.     Matrix Charts

Matrix Charts are typically used typically used to display multidimensional data in a grid. It’s very useful when we have many criteria to describe the same data, for example we use matrix charts to describe students based on the subjects they are studying, their institutions and whether they are undergraduates or postgraduates. Our grid down here offers a single row with 2 discs: UG and PG and within each disc, we can see the proportion of each subject relatively to others.  The first result that strikes is that there are much more undergraduate students than postgraduates students.

Another obvious result is that there is a wide range of subjects studied in Wales.

Below we see that Nursing (9.89%) and Psychology(5.6%) seem to be quite popular among undergraduates in Swansea university whereas Computer Science only represents 0.96%.

The matrix chart below represent almost the same data but only at the South West Wales level.

3.     Treemaps

Treemapping is a method for displaying tree-structured data by using nested rectangles. Treemaps display hierarchical (tree-structured) data as a set of nested rectangles. Each branch of the tree is given a rectangle, which is then tiled with smaller rectangles representing sub-branches (Wikipedia definition). For our purposes, we use treemaps to visually compare the differences in number of students among areas of studies at the full time postgraduate taught level. We subdivide the students in the fields of studies according to their origin (UK, EU, Non-EU). The diagram obtained gives us some interesting insight.

For example, we notice that a lot of non- Europeans comes to the UK for business and administrative studies. Further, for most of the subjects, the number of non – Europeans exceeds the number of other EU students.

What we observed at the UK level is quite similar to what we see when we consider the Wales only. However the colours tend to imply that the percentage of international students is less in Wales.

4.     Bubble Charts

Bubble Charts are another intuitive and atheistically pleasing to visualize “who is studying what”. Here again we are studying the full time master students.

The figure below confirms the wide proportion of Non EU students in South West Wales. And here again we see they are highly represented in Business and Administrative studies. Anyways, Business and Administrative studies apparently represent the most popular field of study.

The two following Bubble Charts display the cases of Cardiff and Swansea. The trend is quite the same with the rest of the South West Wales but we can notice that compared to Cardiff, Swansea presents a smaller proportion of Business and Administrative Studies students. However, in Swansea, Engineering and Computer Science are quite more popular than in Cardiff.

5.     Block Histograms

A block histogram lets you see the distribution of numeric values in a data set. The x-axis is divided into "bins" that correspond to value ranges. Each item in the data set is drawn as a rectangular block, and the blocks are piled into the bins to show how many values in each range. (Many Eyes definition)

The figure down here shows the populations of full time undergraduate students based on their institutions. It clearly comes out that Swansea University is by far the favourite destination for studying French with more than 120 students. All the other institutions only have less than 10 students for the French Language.

We then observe a comparison between full time UG and part time UG students (again based on their institutions). The first thing that comes out of those visualizations is that are much more full time students than part time students (which makes sense). Further, while Swansea University seems to be quite popular among full time students, the population of part time students is pretty much equally spread among the institutions.

Data Visualisation : Thematic Maps VS Bubble Charts

By Necemon

This is a comparative study of two particular types of visualization techniques in detail.

We chose to study the map-based visualization and the bubble charts because they had been the most fascinating visualizations throughout this study. We are going to compare those two types on many factors.

Defining the visualizations

A thematic map is a type of map or chart especially designed to show a particular theme connected with a specific geographic area. These maps can portray physical, social, political, cultural, economic, sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects of a city, state, region, nation or continent.

An example of map is shown below. It shows the repartition of undergraduate students studying creative arts and design in Wales.

A bubble chart is a type of chart where each plotted entity is defined in terms of three distinct numeric parameters. Bubble charts can facilitate the understanding of the social, economical, medical, and other scientific relationships.

An example of bubble chart is shown below. It shows the repartition of master students, in the whole UK, according to their fields of study and origins.

Expression of the information

Both visualizations can convey the information pretty well to the viewer but the map based visualization is limited to spatial patterns. As mentioned above, it can be used to describe data related to places (cities, states, regions, nations or continents). On the other side, bubble charts can convey information of any nature. Further, they can convey many different kind of information at a time.

Discovery of deviation, hierarchy, relationship and association

The maps show well the relationships between places and the association among regions. They are also good for comparing 2 places based on a specific criterion.

The bubble charts are good for comparison too since they allow to show many different things at a time. Further, the circles can contain inside them some more data. This nesting can help understanding hierarchy when it occurs.

Depiction of data at different scales

Bubble charts are especially useful for data sets with dozens to hundreds of values, or with values that differ by several orders of magnitude. They can legibly show data values that differ by a ratio of 100,000, and can display hundreds of individual values at once (according to many eyes).

However the maps are not always efficient to display huge and/or complex data. The problem is that some regions on the map can be very small and they just don’t fit to add some complexity or some advanced charts. It’s true that we can zoom, but if regions are too far apart from others, zooming somewhere make us miss another important part of the data. We can then say that maps don’t really provide much level of details.

Ease of use and understanding

Maps are really intuitive, easy to learn, to use and to understand, even to lay persons. Actually we had been using maps for ages, at primary school during the geography lectures for example.

Bubbles charts on the other hand are quite unusual to lay persons. Further, they can quite confusing and difficult to understand when they contain a lot of data.

Look and feel

Both the visualizations are atheistically pleasing to visualize, especially when we use colours to demonstrate the differences between two categories. We can also use bubbles on maps, and the sizes of the bubbles make obvious which part of the map is the bigger, greater, etc.

Conclusion

Thematic maps are great tools that communicate the information well to everyone. However they only apply in a context of space. Further, they hardly deal with complex data.

On the other hand, bubble charts are a bit more difficult to handle but they are really powerful, they can handle any kind of data whatever the scales.

And also some data may not be displayed properly if not spelled as in the map.

So maps are good to represent simple and spatial data whereas bubble charts are better for representing the most compound data.

A Practical Guide On Open Data From The World Bank

By Cyriac Gbogou

If you have ever checked the weather online, used the navigation function of your smartphone to find an on-duty pharmacy, or calculated the road expenses of your municipality, they you have already used "Open" Public Data. But maybe you didn't know it... For a long time, it was difficult (or even impossible) to access this information from the public authorities.

This concept was born from the belief that the huge amount of information systematically collected by public administrations should be accessible to all citizens. In the late 2000s, states and their various services began to grant access to these resources to a greater number of users. The first government open data policies were introduced in 2009. Currently, more than 250 national and local governments, nearly 50 developed/developing countries, and institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations have launched initiatives to release the data, and these are growing every year.

Data is considered "open" if everyone can use, reuse and redistribute it freely, free of charge, for any purpose and without restrictions. Many data sets are published on government websites, but most of them are only meant to be viewed in isolation, and are not reusable for other purposes. Open data must be reusable, that is, downloadable in an open, software-readable format, and users must be legally permitted to reuse it.

The availability of large-scale, easy-to-use data offers significant benefits: it can help streamline public services, foster economic opportunities, encourage innovation, improve public safety, and reduce poverty. As the benefits of open data reach an ever-increasing audience and more effective uses are being invented, governments and institutions around the world are eager to launch new Open Data programs or develop existing initiatives. It will take time to fully understand the complexity and enormous potential of open access to data, which is inseparable from the free license environment. But Open Data is still in its infancy, and best practices and communities are just beginning to emerge.

About this Handbook

As developing countries, as well as a growing number of other entities and organizations, embrace the Open Data technology revolution, the World Bank has designed this handbook to support their efforts. Based on online tools and knowledge, this guide gives them the advice they need to create their own strategies and platforms for accessing public data.

One way to look at Open Data initiatives is to view them from the economic point of view of supply and demand: data sets are goods; the data users are consumers, they are the ones who generate the demand for data; and government agencies and other data sources produce the offer. This vision is the focus of this guide and of the approach it proposes to structure an open data initiative.

In addition to this introduction, the practical guide includes seven sections:

1. What you need to know: A brief presentation of the key aspects of the openness of public data and its uses, illustrated by examples of initiatives at different levels; This section is for everyone, especially inexperienced users or those discovering Open Data.

2. First Milestones: Overview of the tools governments need to undertake an open data initiative; this section will be particularly useful for managers, coordinators and teams of administrations in charge of Open Data.

3. Technology Options: Synthesis of key technical questions regarding the development of an open data catalog; this section is specifically intended for IT specialists.

4. Demand and Public Engagement: How to create communities of data users and promote culture and data literacy among local, national and regional actors? How to advance Open Data concepts by soliciting partnerships and the media in particular? These issues will be of particular interest to public bodies, civil society organizations, technologists and journalists.

5. Data supply and quality: How to manage datasets, locate data and ensure their quality, relevance and accuracy? This section is specifically for those who produce these data.

6. Readiness Assessment Tool: Presentation of the methodological tool developed by the World Bank to diagnose the actions that governments must take in a given country or community to launch an Open Data Initiative. This section will be particularly useful for public officials who are committed to opening the data but do not know where to start.

7. Technical Assistance and Funding: An overview of the main technical assistance and financing resources provided by the World Bank and other organizations. This section is primarily intended for the public authorities of developing countries.

Educational Uses Of Internet Content Curation

By Antoine Mian

As a marketing tool, how can "Content Marketing" be used as teaching tool in higher education? We tried to provide an answer to this concern by exploring François Arnal works.

"Curator" is a term used in museums. It refers to the person who chooses artworks for an exhibition, the curator is called upon to make a choice, a comment and an introduction of some existing works. He is the link between the artist (or the cultural heritage) and the public. He is an expert. The curator on the Internet, after defining the topics of his technological watch, may choose to work from a curation platform allowing him to automatically or manually harvest, filter, editorialise and share some online content.

Web 2.0, which now amounts to an audience of more than one billion people, influences our didactic practices. What is changing today in didactic postures is the virtual presence of a student on the web who, in addition to having a teacher, can interact with millions of people for free. This situation forces us to move from a one-way pedagogy to a participatory and contributory pedagogy. Indeed, through social networks, we even end up into situations where a student get in touch with people having a high level of expertise. The teacher should therefore recycle "Web-marketing" strategies in order to build a digital didactic strategy that allows the acquisition, and above all, the sharing of information and knowledge.

Thus, if curation tools are originally intended for businesses and the general public, digital monitoring tools can nevertheless be used by teachers and learners.

The dual objective for the teacher is, on one hand, to thoroughly understand social networks, access to information and digital identity design, and on the other hand, to gain access to information, and therefore to knowledge.

A first step may be for the teacher to acquire these tools and to make them available to his students through an effective and operational digital environment.

A second milestone is reached when students access the digital tool not as mere consumers, but as producers of knowledge. The student becomes an actor. And curation allows them, among other things, to learn and control the flow of information, to classify them, to package them and to offer them to others in a sharing community and in a context of mutual exchanges. His interest in this theme makes him an 'expert' in the field of information sharing or in a specific area of knowledge.

Through an elaborate content strategy that allows the student to search for information, to grasp it, to modulate it and to relay it while issuing a critical opinion; the age of vertical knowledge (from the teacher above, to the student below) is replaced by another mode of cognitive transmission: horizontal or reticular. It's a horizontal transmission because the hierarchy is shaken up. The student may then teach the teacher; or he may lecture, learn from, and interact with other students.

Marketing For Programmers (or what I learned from my marketing classes)

By Necemon

I had to take a marketing class in my last year. At first, I didn't see the point for a software developer to learn those things, but then I realised that it's very important. I am sharing here, the key points I am keeping, regarding how marketing applies to the software business. I hope this note would be of some interest to both (aspiring) programmers and marketers.

Now there is a lot that could be said on that topic, here I just try to stick to the key points, and as it’s still a lot of information, I would rather not send it all at once. Instead I would spread that as small blog articles.

Let's first define "Marketing". It can be defined in many ways but it's basically the achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition. Indeed, the marketing concept is a philosophy of business that puts the customer and customer satisfaction at the center of things.

Why should developers care about it? Because they also want to make money! Software is also a business and if you don't have customers, you don't have a business. Further, the marketer and the developer have surprisingly a lot in common. For example, one of the main challenges faced by the marketer is to be able to anticipate the next need, and to deliver a response to it. That's also a key challenge in the software industry, turning innovation into business. That's what made Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook so successful : coming up with the right product at the right time in response to people demand (an huge demand that competitors didn't clearly see yet).

It has been observed that companies which perform best are the ones that are marketing oriented: they aim to create a superior CUSTOMER VALUE in order to attract and retain customers. Customer Value: it's critical here. Customer value depends on how the customer perceives the benefits of an offering and the sacrifice that is associated with its purchase:

Customer value = perceived benefits - perceived sacrifice

Perceived benefit can be derived from the product (simple, fast, easy to use), the associated service(customer support, documentation) and the image of the company (Apple, Microsoft, Google)
Perceived sacrifice is the total cost associated with buying the product. This consists not just of the monetary cost, but also the time and energy involved in the purchase (download time, quality of the payment system).
Again, the key to marketing success is to exceed the value offered by competitors. But marketing is not just a concept. In the coming part, we will see how it can be applied through concrete actions. The ideas we are going to discuss include the following:

1. Reaction to the global and local marketing environment
2. Understanding the customer behaviour
3. Research and Information systems
4. Market segmentation and targeting
5. Branding
6. Communication techniques

1. React to the global and local marketing environment (on marketing for programmers)

By Necemon

Whether you are an independent developer or a company, you can't just do your own thing and make programs that you find cool. You have to consider the microenvironment and the macroenvironment in which you operate, to adapt and take advantages of emerging opportunities and to minimize potential threats.

Your microenvironment consists of actors that affect your ability to produce effectively in your chosen markets. Those actors are the suppliers, who build and maintain software, products and technologies that you use yourself (For example, Microsoft makes and maintain .NET and Visual Studio). There are also the distributors, and these days, the software distribution happens mostly online, on your website, on your partners websites or on marketplaces (like the Android market place). Some other important actors in your microenvironment are your customers (users and companies that buy or use your applications) and your competitors (other developers, products and websites that target the same customers).

Your macroenvironment consists of broader forces that affect not only your company but also the other actors in your microenvironment. These forces are largely uncontrollable. If we consider the economic forces for example, due to the effect of supply and demand, things such as national economic growth, inflation and unemployment can affect your sales. When money people make less money, they are less likely to buy your apps. There are also the social forces such as world population, the change in the age distribution and the change in household composition. Moreover, cultural forces may have implications for the way in which business is conducted. For example, it has been observed that some types of products and services are considered offensive or banned in some eastern countries, like China where Facebook and Google face some censorship issues.

There are some other factors in the macroeconomic environment such as technological forces and political and legal forces, which, in our context, ensure compliance with local and global IT laws, regarding patents and copyrights for example.

Last but not least, the physical forces: it is mainly environmental issues and natural disasters, such as if some random hurricane suddenly came up in the area where your servers are located, blowing them up and incidently making you lose your data and your customers. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, the macroenvironment factors are mostly uncontrollable. However, it's important to monitor the risks and be prepared to react.

2. Understanding the customer behaviour (on marketing for programmers)

By Necemon

It’s mostly about how people spend their money, that is to say: who buys, how they buy and what the selection criteria are.

Who buys? And more importantly, who is important in the buying decision? That’s not always the same, the person making the purchase is often different from the person who will use the product. Both may be different from the person with the power and the financial authority to make the ultimate choice of the product purchase (parents?). And of course, there may be some other persons influencing the outcome of the decision or even trying to impose their choice criteria on the decision. As you see, there may be many actors that you would need to convince that your solution is the right one.

How do they buy? The way organisations buy things is radically different from the way users (as individuals) purchase. Allow me to focus on consumers. It generally starts with the identification of a need  or a problem. Then the user will do some information search and try to find a solution. They might of course come across many solutions that they would evaluate and select the one they judge as best.

But how do they know, which one is the best? What are the choice criteria? Well, the criteria are various:

Technical criteria are related to the performance of the product or service (reliability, durability, performance, convenience, etc.)

Economic criteria concern the cost aspects of purchase (price, running costs, value for money, etc.)

Social criteria concern the impact that the purchase makes on the person’s perceived relationships with others, and the influence of social norms on the person.

Personal criteria concern how the product relates to the individual psychologically, given that emotions are an important part of decision-making for the customer (for example, some prefer a product just for love for a brand).

Wow, that’s quite a lot of information to process, isn’t it? Wait, to process it, you need to have that information in the first place. Before even understanding what they want, you need to know what they want, so you need to know your users, how do you do that? Through some more or less advanced research, hence the next point : Research and Information systems.

3. Research and Information Systems (on marketing for programmers)

By Necemon

Marketing research is extremely important. Companies that are really marketing oriented recognize that they need to always be in touch with what's happening in the market (and so should you). Customer needs are constantly changing, often in ways that are very subtle. If we consider the history of computing, where we went from huge machines, to smaller ones, reaching the home personal computer; and from disconnect machines to the need to connect them as a network and then to the Internet. There were then so many resources online that there was a need to sort them(as Yahoo did), and them to search through them (as Google did). More recently, there were a need to take the physical life social experience online (as Facebook did) and now we can feel that the people need is to take the internet everywhere they go, and we are slowly going mobile.

Many technological revolutions happen accidentally but most of them are the results of relevant research and observation. On the Internet, there are many (cheap) ways a programmer can find out what people want:

Internet surveys: usually managed by email or by a specialised web service like Survey Monkey.

Website traffic analysis: Measurements of the areas of the site most frequently visited, which products are purchased and the payment method used.

Marketing databases: Inviting users to create accounts on your service, deriving profiles by gathering relevant information about those users. Therefore knowing your users and their needs better.

Prototype testing: simply to make some users test the basic version of the application before it is completed, to see if they get the idea and if they like it, what they like about it, what they don't.

4. Market segmentation and targeting (on marketing for programmers)

By Necemon

Marketing segmentation is the identification of individuals and organizations with similar characteristics that have important implications for determining marketing strategy. Therefore, market segmentation involves the division of a diversified market into a number of smaller submarkets that have common features.

Consumer segmentation can be based on many factors:

Behavioural: benefit sought, purchase occasion, etc. for example: almost everyone use Microsoft Windows but people don't make the same use of it. Therefore, Microsoft came up with many flavors and the customer can pick one according to their need : Home Edition, Professional Edition, Enterprise Edition, etc.

Psychographic: lifestyle, personality, age, etc., for example: Children have become a very important market as they are spending an increasing amount of time on the internet. As we can observe, Disney which is one of the biggest sellers for children, has created a web-based video game called Virtual Magic Kingdom, in an effort to stay relevant in the market.

Profile: demographic, geographic,etc. At a very basic level, markets can be segmented on the basis of country, region or city. Also, it's obvious that the language you use may change according to the country you target.

Once the market segments have been identified, the next important activity is the selection of target markets. Target marketing refers to the choice of specific segments to serve. Suppose you make a social network site, you should first target a specific niche. An example could be to create a site for French speakers, aged 25-35, who like to draw.

5. Branding (on marketing for programmers)

By Necemon

What's the difference between products and brands? A product may be anything that has the ability to meet customer needs whereas branding is the process in which companies distinguish their product offerings from competition.

The benefits of brands:

Company value, because the financial value of companies can be greatly enhanced by the possession of strong brands.

Consumer preference and loyalty: strong brand names can surely have positive effects on consumer perceptions and preferences. If we consider fan boys, like the Apple fan boys, who purchase nothing but what comes from Apple (Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc.). Most of the time, their choice depends more on the brand than on the actual devices quality.

Barrier to competition: the impact of the strong, positive perceptions held by consumers about top brands means it's difficult for new brands to compete. For example, Google has become notorious as the best search engine on the Internet. Even if a competitor like DuckDuckGo, Microsoft Bing or Yahoo (or you) come up with better algorithms, most of the online users would probably still use Google, as they got the Google brand on their mind.

High profits: Strong, marketing-leading brands are rarely the cheapest (Here again, think different, I mean, think Apple).

A good brand name should evoke positive associations and be easy to pronounce and remember (Yahoo, Bing, Color...). Also, it should not infringe an existing brand name and it should be distinctive (Google, Nintendo...).

Another piece of advice about internet branding, make sure the ".com" is gettable (as in www.yourbrand.com). When I say gettable, I mean that it's either available for you to get it first, or someone else owns it and is ready to sell it to you for a reasonable price.

6. Communication Techniques (on marketing for programmers)

By Necemon

The promotional mix, which is the overall range of techniques available to the marketer, comprises many elements but I am going to focus here on Internet marketing: products distribution, information and promotional benefits to consumers and businesses through internet technologies. Internet promotion is very convenient for a developer on a low budget (global reach at relatively low cost, metrics, dialogue with users, avoiding the necessity for intermediary salespeople...). The main ways to go about it include:

Online advertising: advertising your products by posting links and banners across the web, on your partners websites or through ad networks like Google Adwords.

Search engine optimization: maximizing your chances of being found by search engines (most importantly Google) and be showed among the very first results. There are many methods that helps, like mentioning relevant keywords in your page text and meta data. Also, getting popular by getting people to mention your product online and link to it.

Social media: the use of social network sites and blogs to get in direct contact and interact with your customers and potential customers

This ends our series of articles on "marketing for programmers". There is a lot to say on this topic, but I wanted to stick to some key points related to the software industry. If you are already a black belt ninja marketer type, you would probably find most of those notes boring, sorry about that, but please let me know the important things that I missed here. Anyway, those notes were mostly a summary of things I wish I would know earlier. If you are a white belt, new to marketing and want to know more, you should check out "Foundations of Marketing" by David Jobber and John Fahy.

Thanks for reading.

Web Citizen And Media Coverage: Yes, But...

By Cyriac Gbogou

These days, with the advent of social networks and blogs, every citizen yearns for information as mentioned in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which says:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

By virtue of this right, some citizens may sometimes tend to disseminate information without respecting certain rules of journalism that we will recall later.

It's worth indicating that elections are a time:

- to assess the state of the country at all levels (health, education, safety, etc.)

- to evaluate what changed and what didn't since the last election

- to monitor public opinion

- to review the promises that candidates had been making

In the run-up to elections, it goes without saying that we citizens, like the journalists whose job it is, must be very responsible in our dissemination of information.

Here are some rules to follow:

- To inform

- To explain

- To be reasonable and, above all, neutral

- To be independent and honest

- To be accurate and to verify any information before releasing it

To this we can add : to act as watchmen (watchdogs, lol)

During that period a lot of rumors, propaganda and false information circulate.

So how do you know whether what you see online is true?

Here are some tools to debunk the myths and manipulations.

share.america.gov/is-what-youre-seeing-online-true
verificationhandbook.com/book

In summary, freedom of expression has some rules that every web citizen must respect.

Final Reminder

Chapter 2

Before we conclude, I just thought I would remind you that this document contains the Chapter 2 of the Album, and that 8 other chapters are also available. You may download, (re-)read or share any of the various chapters and volumes independently/separately, depending on your interests. The PDF, EPUB, MOBI/AZW3/KF8 (Amazon Kindle) and MP3 formats are available.

To get them, just click on any of the links you like below or go to TheAlbum.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/The-Album.aspx)

The NeceMoon Album (complete)

Volume 1: Moon Light (softcore)

Chapter 1: Strategy and Tactics

Chapter 2: Digital Marketing and Web Visualisation

Chapter 3: Corporate Worlds and Emerging Markets

Chapter 4: Quick Wins, Tricks and Tips

Chapter 5: Transition - Extra Thoughts and Sharp Fantasy

Volume 2: Full Moon (hardcore)

Chapter 6: Software Development and Engineering

Chapter 7: C# .NET Programming

Chapter 8: Epic Prototypes, Classic Projects, Historic Genre

Chapter 9: Research and Case Studies

The Album is available in French as well at Album.NeceMoon.com
(or necemonyai.com/Blog/page/L-Album.aspx)

Conclusion

This is Good Bye. However, we can stay in touch. Feel very welcome to add me on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. If you also have any tools and tactics that help you achieve things efficiently, I would like you to tell me about that. My email address is necemon@gmail.com. You are more than welcome to write to me and report any possible mistake in this document, or to suggest any improvement, or to tell me about your favourite parts. However, if you don’t like The Album, don’t bother writing to me.

Anyways, I wish you all the best for your ongoing and next projects. Thank you for reading. And many thanks to Wikipedia, MSDN, IconFinder and FreeDigitalPhotos for the clarifications and the graphic resources. Special thanks to the Evasium Team. Thanks to all those who contributed, thank you Ahou The African Chick, Antoine Mian, Cyriac Gbogou, Darren Mart, Edith Brou, Holty Sow, Israel Yoroba, Jean Luc Houedanou, Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Karen Kakou, Nanda Seye, Nnenna Nwakanma, Olivier Madiba, Vanessa Lecosson and Yehni Djidji.
Thank you Monty Oum, rest in peace.

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