OK I know you're probably getting sick of this but I been reading through the newly revived Wiretap at John Cooley's ESNUG and there is a definite trend I'm seeing: Companies, organizations and events that have been declared DOA are coming back to say they are very much alive and active. But the "word on the street" was that they were dead.
So let's define "word on the street." The reason a lot of people in the engineering world say that losing the media is not a big deal is because "engineers talk to each other." Well, guess what? I talk to engineers too and what I write about generally comes from them. And since there is no other source of information to verify what they are saying is the media that no longer exists, what else are you going to believe.
Yes, when engineers talk about engineering problems, they are a great source of authority. But when they discuss business, current events, industry activity.... well it's probably a load of hooey.
EESof, DATE, Stone Pillar, Nascentric, Pyxis and a dozen other companies and organizations have all had reports made about their death this past year, based on statements from engineers that they are gone. That "information" has been duly noted by what remains of the press. What do all of those groups have in common? A lack of effective communication with the market. The only way to change that is to invest more in communication. If you don't want to do that... expect "reports" of your demise.
