b.cognosco

AWAY FROM INTERNET: Bertelsmann to drop online books and music; German media group signals U-turn in strategy. Financial Times via Drudge Report Sep 1 2002 6:32PM ET
[...] The German group is understood to be in talks with several online companies, including Amazon, the US-based internet retailer, over the sale of its Bol.com books business and its BeMusic subsidiary. Bankers have valued Bol.com and BeMusic, both part of Bertelsmann's DirectGroup division, at €2.1bn and €120m respectively.
Under the plans, Bertelsmann is also expected to withhold further funding from Napster, the controversial online music business accused of flouting copyright rules. [...] [ Source: Moreover - Book publishing news]

Bertelsmann Looking to Sell Online Units

5:15:12 PM

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Bertelsmann is reportedly looking to sell its on-line book sales units -- BOL and BN.com Call me clairvoyant. Amazon already runs on-line operations for Borders Group [NYSE: BGP]. Taking over e-commerce ops for yet another retailer wouldn't require much in additional investment, but I'm not sure how they'd handle actual warehousing and distribution for BOL. Expect Barnes & Noble to buy back BN.com.

Bertelsmann in talks with Amazon to sell internet bookseller BOL - report. Ananova Sep 1 2002 12:14PM ET
Bertelsmann AG is in talks with Amazon.com Inc to sell its loss-making internet bookseller BOL, manager magazine reported in its online edition, without citing sources.
It said Bertelsmann also wants to put its US internet bookseller Barnesandnoble.com up for sale, which it owns along with high street bookseller Barnes & Noble.
The decision comes as Bertelsmann has grown tired of the persistent losses at BOL, which amounted to 30 million euro last year, the magazine said.
BOL is the market leader in the Netherlands and Scandinavia and the number two in Germany.
Bertelsmann declined to comment.
© AFX News
[ Source: Moreover - Book publishing news]

Revisiting K-Log Intelligence From John Robb

3:08:18 PM

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Here are three compelling K-Log posts that John has republished recently. A common complaint from new weblog users is how information fades away into the archives, never to be heard from again.

This is more a process problem than a technology problem. One good answer is what John exhibits here -- continue to mine those older posts and bring them to the fore for new readers. Also, you'll note that the text of the posts are actually in the Yahoo! Groups: K-Log discussion group. A second method John uses is to put key info into several formats and link between them, leaving a trail of virtual bread crumbs to lead users from one vehicle to another.

Mapping the Corporate Knowledge Network
Organizational Network Analysis[ONA] is a software supported methodology that reveals the real workings of an organization. I call this the corporate knowledge network. K-Logs (Knowledge Management Weblogs like Radio) let you map a corporation's knowledge network. How? Through the following:[...]
Consultants and K-Logs
One thing I have been tracking is the interest of consultants in K Logging. I was a consultant/analyst when I was at Forrester (they charged me out by the hour at $1,250). If I had known about K-Logs, it would have been very easy for me to offer clients a company-specific knowledge stream (for $10 k a month as a retainer). There would have been at least 4-10 clients that would have opted for this, and it would have made my job a lot easier (it also would have added 10-20% to the revenue of my research practice while keeping me in touch with client's needs).[...]
K-Logs vs. Discussion Groups
Here is my thinking on the differences between K- Logs and discussion groups. I have been talking to lots of people recently about the state of their discussion groups. To a person they have told me that they weren't what they expected, and some have said they have been a disaster. I am fairly sure that anyone that been exposed to an advanced K-Log system (with categories, RSS subscriptions, and community functionality) would never opt for discussion groups alone.[...]

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Source: John Robb's Radio Weblog]

CAFE Support

1:42:41 PM

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New icon on the left -- Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression. I don't know how I missed this, but thanks to Jenny Levine at TSL for having the icon on her site. This is well worth supporting in any way we can.