Welcome to my online portfolio, the complement/substitute for my resume. The opinions included herein are my own and do not reflect those of any client or employer, past or present. Please check out the new site: http://danieljohnsonjr.com

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Moving to WordPress!

Hi folks! I am making the move from Blogger to WordPress, so if things may get a bit wonky in the meantime.

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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Blog
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Connect on LinkedIn
Interesting Things I've Read

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Monday, July 28, 2008

New Media Cincinnati - August 2008 Meetup Information

At the request of several of the members, we are moving the location to be more central to the Cincinnati area.

New Media Cincinnati meetup:

When: Saturday, August 9, 2008 2:00-4:00 PM EDT
Where: Panera Bread Company, 3806 Paxton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45209 (map)
This is an informal meetup for people in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Dayton areas involved with or who have an interest in new media (podcasting, video podcasting, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, social networking, etc.). The purpose of the group is to promote awareness of new and social media in area.

Everyone is welcome to come.

For more information on the store, please visit their local website: http://www.panera-centralohio.com/

The restaurant management has reserved the meeting room for us and politely requests that the group collectively spend at least $25 while we're there. I don't think this will be a problem.

The store has free wi-fi, so feel free to bring your recording equipment (audio and video) and laptops.

** If you're unable to make it to this meeting but have some opinions, or if you have any specific announcements you'd like to make, please contact me.

If you have any questions about this event or the group in general, please contact:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
(513) 373-4442
danieljohnsonjr [at] newmediacincinnati [dot] com
http://twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr

Facebook Group: http://www.newmediacincinnati.com
Google Calendar: http://tinyurl.com/2caxxp
Twitter: http://twitter.com/newmediacincy
Jaiku: http://jaiku.com/channel/newmediacincy
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/newmediacincy/
Wiki: http://newmediacincinnati.wetpaint.com

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21878733892

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Check out my other blogs:
Journey Inside My Mind Blog
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
Get That Job!
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Interesting Things I've Read
Are we LinkedIn?

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing TeleForum Notes

Today I participated in a NOREX member TeleForum on Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Warehousing (DW). I'm including my notes taken here:

  • Started off by defining BI and DW. I like the Wikipedia definitions myself. Also discussed what Master Data Management is; i.e., managing data that has become aged and may or may not be needed as much as current data. (The company I currently work for doesn't really think of what I do as BI and DW, but developing Decision Support Systems (DSS) is really at the crux of what I do here.)
  • Two polls on where participants are in implementing BI and DW in their organizations. Most are either currently using or evaluating, versus implementing.
  • Discussed scope of data definition and data modeling that should be done before getting into BI/DW. One caller will be building theirs from scratch versus buying something that was developed for someone else in their industry. (I wonder if different BI solutions have been developed for different industries.) Data cleansing is so vital when doing modeling. (Amen to that!)
  • Discussed risks in software selection and implementation. Licensing brought up as part of risk. Making sure that appropriate number of licenses (user vs site) important. How solution builds report cubes (pre-calculated or built at run-time) can affect performance and user experience. sBase(?) mentioned.
  • Practical support from vendors also brought up as consideration. Everything works great at the demo, but on the implementation there could be issues. Ask for references. NOREX mentioned that's part of the service they provide for members.
  • Discussed tools that are used, and pros and cons of each. One member mentioned Sybase IQ. Others are using Business Objects, SQL Server Reporting Services, and Oracle tools. Crystal Reports also mentioned.
  • Someone asked for experience with the Obvient strategies tool. No one on the call mentioned having any experience.
  • Any local government entities using data mining tools? No one on the call had any comments. Topic to be passed on to the government members outside the call.
  • SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services - how is it being used, other considerations. Has a lot of capability and interacts well with Visual Studio. Another member, however, saw a demo at Microsoft- some problems with creating a cube and error messages hard to decipher.
  • Discussed how to implement SQL Server Reporting Services through Sharepoint. (We use Windows Sharepoint Services as our company's intranet and are looking at how to do this.) No one on the call had any expertise to offer.
  • Discussed whether anyone uses Excel 2007 as a BI client. Some of the new functionality of Excel lends itself to an entry-level BI implementation. Some accountants in one organization using Excel to manipulate data from their other BI system. No one taking advantage of the BI capability yet. Concerns raised about quality of data, security, and versions.
  • Poll on whether anyone using SAS to access Star Schema data: dimensional modeling vs entity-relationship modeling. (Not really applicable to us in our organization.)
  • Release management best practices from Dev and Test to Production environments sought. How to manage things that are not necessarily files that can be version-controlled? Really speaking about reports and dashboard components.
  • One member mentioned his process is such that a developer will create a report and work from it at his desktop. Then when it's ready for deployment, he will publish it.
  • Other members mentioned a more rigid change management structure with development, QA, and production environments. (I guess it depends on the specific tools and systems being used.)
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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Blog
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Connect on LinkedIn
Interesting Things I've Read

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Friday, July 11, 2008

My 15,000th Update!

Twitter.comI would consider myself - and many others would probably agree - a power user of Twitter. I update over there. A LOT. In fact, I recommend that those who start following me immediately turn off device notifications, unless they have an unlimited text plan.

Twitter by far is THE most useful tool in my social networking arsenal. I know for a fact that actual business has been conducted through my use of Twitter.

I started using it back in August 2006, so I have had ample time to grow and develop community. Imagine my surprise earlier when I saw something magical about to happen:

Daniel Johnson, Jr. danieljohnsonjr Whoa. My next tweet will be my 15,000th. Send me an @ reply and I'll put you in it. You have 10-15 mins. Starting.... now.
I initially thought I'd be able to string everyone who'd replied into a 140 characters or less message. I mean, what's the likelihood that many people would be paying attention at that precise moment. I must have forgotten what my previous post said:
Daniel Johnson, Jr. danieljohnsonjr Okay, now, where are all you followers coming from?
I checked and I have close to 2100 people following my updates. Some are dormant accounts or may have not updated in awhile, but still, that's a lot of potential people to see my 14,999th post.

So, since I couldn't fit everyone into a 140-character "tweet", I hope this suffices. Thank you so much for enriching my experience thus far. I sincerely hope I've been at least half as valuable to you as you have been to me. Here are the people who replied, in the order they came in:
  1. doctoranonymous: Hi @danieljohnsonjr. Have a great weekend!
  2. purpletrout: @danieljohnsonjr Congratulations Daniel!
  3. mikeward: @danieljohnsonjr what if we dont wanna send you a tweet
  4. melgallant: @danieljohnsonjr congrats on the tweet record!
  5. chrbutler: @danieljohnsonjr Congrats on the 15,000th tweet!
  6. TeriLussier: @danieljohnsonjr nice tweet up! ;-)
  7. cossondra: @danieljohnsonjr put ME in there :-) we are such nerds arent we??
  8. audiojunky: @danieljohnsonjr haha congrats on the 15,000...thats a lot im reaching my 1,000 soon
  9. kate_the_great: @danieljohnsonjr OOH! Pick me! Pick me!!
  10. zaldor: @danieljohnsonjr 15000 tweets?! That's insane! Congrats! And here i'm not even at 5k!
  11. kflake: @danieljohnsonjr congrats on the 15,000th tweet!
Because I'm a good sport and love you all, I'm including this direct message I received
editvdo me, too...me, too...me, too
and this message that came in while I was typing up this post:
akirk45239: @danieljohnsonjr I'm late. I'll go for the 15,001st. Congrats from Monfort Heights
Thank you and everyone else I know from Twitter for making it a fun journey thus far. Now, onto that 15,001st update.

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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Blog
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Connect on LinkedIn
Interesting Things I've Read

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Thursday, July 3, 2008

Managing Multiple Online Identities - Podcamp Ohio Presentation

Here is the presentation I gave at Podcamp Ohio, entitled "Managing Multiple Online Identities", and the folks from Coefficient Media recorded the audio and have posted it to the Podcamp Ohio Podcast.
PodCamp Ohio, June 28, 2008



Thank you to everyone who attended the session! I feel like I learned at least as much from you as you may have learned from me.

The presentation has been getting some buzz from others in the blogosphere:Some folks mentioned the presentation on Twitter:
I also set up an RSS feed for the PodCampOhio Social Media Firehose, in case you want to track all the social media conversation related to PodCamp Ohio.

Also, if I've missed your link and you'd like me to include it, please leave it in the comments. Thanks again!

[IMG] "Startin' the day with @DanielJohnsonJr" by AnnOhio
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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Blog
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Connect on LinkedIn
Interesting Things I've Read

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

New Media Cincinnati July 2008 Meetup/Picnic!

Sunday Picnic, by su-linWho wants to come to a new media picnic/party? What happens at one of these events?

The Buehlers are opening up their home from 4:00 PM to whenever on Saturday, July 12, 2008 for the First Annual New Media Cincinnati Picnic

JTM Burgers and dogs will be provided along with all the condiments, some baked beans and a macaroni salad or two, just to make sure the picnicking basics are covered.

We will be outside, but John will have a couple of fair sized tents setup to keep the sunburn factor down. He will see if he can find a wireless access point and run it out the back door to improve wireless access.

John Buehler's (the 10MinuteLesson Guy) house
6543 Jayfield Drive, Hamilton (Fairfield Township), OH 45011 (map)
WHAT SHOULD YOU BRING?
    PodCamp Ohio, June 28, 2008
  • Bring a chair, or you'll find yourself sitting on the ground!
  • Bring whatever you would like to drink - Adult beverages too! (Please drink responsibly ;-)
  • Bring a dish to pass or a bag of chips if you get a chance - Don't go overboard, there's always too much food leftover at these things!
  • Bring your family
  • Bring a friend or two who are interested in new media
  • Bring a tip/trick/website/other new media item you've recently learned about to share with the group
  • If you recently attended Podcamp Ohio, come ready to share your thoughts on the experience with those who were not able to attend.
CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have specific questions about this particular event, please contact John Buehler at john [dot] buehler [at] 10minutelessons [dot] com

For questions or comments about the group in general, please contact:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
(513) 373-4442
danieljohnsonjr [at] newmediacincinnati [dot] com
http://twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr

ABOUT NEW MEDIA CINCINNATI

New Media Cincinnati is an informal meetup group for people in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Dayton areas involved with or who have an interest in new media (podcasting, video podcasting, blogging, micro-blogging, social networking, etc.). Members come together to network and share thoughts and tips on using new media.

Wiki: http://newmediacincinnati.wetpaint.com
Facebook Group: http://www.newmediacincinnati.com
Google Calendar: http://tinyurl.com/2caxxp
Twitter: http://twitter.com/newmediacincy
Jaiku: http://jaiku.com/channel/newmediacincy
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/newmediacincy/

[IMG] "Sunday Picnic" by su-lin

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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Blog
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Connect on LinkedIn
Interesting Things I've Read

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