Media Library (67)

Privacy Enhancing Technologies Roundtable Discussion

by Policy

Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) are changing the paradigm of how and where organizations can leverage data to unlock value. At its core, this category of technologies enables, enhances, and preserves the privacy of data throughout its lifecycle, securing the usage of data. Since data is the backbone of today’s digital economy, PETs have been gaining traction as a category for their business-enabling and privacy-preserving capabilities. They allow organizations to securely and privately collaborate and use data across organizational data silos, security boundaries, and jurisdictions.

To gain a better sense of the state of PETs, Paul Lekas, SVP for Global Public Policy and Government Affairs at SIIA, recently moderated a roundtable discussion with three leading experts in PETs: Dr. Ellison Anne Williams, CEO and Founder, Enveil; Vivienne Artz, Co-Chair for the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) Data Committee; and Prof. Jon Crowcroft, Fellow at The Royal Society (recent publisher of a seminal report on PETs).

Key takeaways:

  • PETs are here and now. The state of the technology has advanced considerably in recent years. PETs, such as homomorphic encryption, can perform complex, cross-jurisdictional analytics in seconds that previously would have taken weeks or months.
  • PETs are business and mission enabling. By protecting the confidentiality of data during analysis and dissemination, PETs allow both private and public organizations to expand data innovation in ways that advance societal interests – such as medical research and financial fraud detection.
  • Laws, regulations, and policy are driving the need for and adoption of PETs. Over 70% of countries globally have data protection regulations that limit the ability to share data and to conduct critical data analyses across borders. PETs can unlock the value of data while respecting the rules and regulations that govern data usage and sharing. PETs can also minimize the risk of breaching data protection rules.
  • Cloud computing and AI have also driven the need for PETs. As Big Data has expanded into cloud computing and AI, PETs are a necessary complement to enable utility without sacrificing privacy.
  • Regulations have not kept pace with technological development. PETs can protect personal information more effectively than traditional anonymization procedures, though privacy rules such as the GDPR do not account for these tech advances.
  • Governments around the world are focused on PETs. Among recent highlights, the White House issued the first ever U.S. national strategy, the U.S. and UK have advanced a PETs prize challenge, and the UN launched a PET Lab and issued guidance for unlocking value from government datasets.
AMPLIFY-2023_MainStage_AudienceEngagement

‘Meet Them Where They Are’: Industry Dive Newsroom Leaders Share Their Guide to Audience Engagement

by AMPLIFY 2023

Editor’s note: This article was written by Signature Magazine managing editor Kathryn Deen.

The countdown races on excitedly to AMPLIFY 2023, AM&P Network’s Content & Marketing Summit, June 27-28 at the National Housing Center in Washington, D.C. (Register here!) Attendees will experience an incredible agenda packed with valuable sessions, including the June 27 Main Stage presentation, The Fast-Evolving Guide to Audience Engagement.

Leading that presentation will be two leaders of Industry Dive, the B2B company with a humming newsroom of 140 journalists, many of them mid-career, putting out 30-plus business publications. (B2B giant Informa purchased Industry Dive last year for $530 million.)

Sondra Hadden, senior director of audience growth marketing and retention, and Davide Savenije, editor in chief, will deliver this takeaway-filled talk. Hadden has been with Industry Dive almost two years and primarily comes from associations, previously working at the American Chemical Society and the Biotechnology Industry Organization. She leads a team of five who manage paid media, organic growth campaigns, and retention efforts.

Savenije has been with Industry Dive for 11 years and worked his way up from an intern to helping develop the company’s editorial model and building its team. He’s been editor in chief for almost six years. The topic of audience engagement makes for the perfect intersection of content and marketing, working best together to strengthen organizations’ brands.

(Fun fact: Before working together, the duo first met on an AM&P Network webinar!)

Here are highlights from AM&P Network’s recent conversation with Hadden and Savenije about their AMPLIFY session.

AM&P: How did you come up with your session topic?

DS: Audience engagement is always incredibly important, so understanding your audience—having that strong relationship with them and the content you produce—is key. One of the reasons to do this session now is that there’s so much changing in the world and the business and media landscape at a rapid rate. So you really have to stay on top of change and how you evolve and meet people where they are in the communities you’re trying to reach.

SH: There was definitely a time where the idea that social platforms wouldn’t be around or become volatile was hard to imagine. But what Industry Dive has been good at is never putting all our eggs in one basket, especially for reaching people and growing our audience. But how you do that feels very different these days than it did 10 years ago.

AM&P: Can you speak more about the collaboration between content and marketing?

DS: The most effective way to reach your audience goals is to collaborate cross-functionally. One of the things I really like about Industry Dive is how we’ve set up the collaboration between audience and editorial to integrate the audience function into the newsroom workflow and vice versa, as opposed to being siloed, which is the case in a lot of B2B media companies. If you’re on your own, there’s a lot of missed opportunities in understanding your audience, where to meet them, and how to expose them to your brand and get them to convert, whatever your model may be.

SH: We work very closely with Davide, as well as design and product, so we’re a cross-departmental team. My team supports all the publications, so we have to drive growth and retention across the board. It’s perfect to have an asset like the newsroom that can tell you so much about each  audience they’re writing for. Then there’s the next step of how you get your readers to do something; that’s where the marketing expertise comes in. It’s the perfect relationship.

AM&P: What do you hope attendees will get out of your session?

DS: Whether you’re a two-person editorial department, small team, really big publisher or association—if you don’t have that incredibly close, trusting, loyal relationship with an audience, and you don’t understand who they are and what they value, you’re going to be less able to effectively accomplish your overall business goals. It is about how you position yourself, how you maintain that philosophy of understanding your audience, listening to your audience, meeting them where they are, bringing them into your ecosystem, and developing that relationship. We hope people can come out of this session with some helpful insights into defining your vision and strategy, and then fitting your tactics into that.

SH: It boils down to having the conversation between the teams: Who are you trying to reach? Has it changed? Why? How? It’s about getting all your stakeholders in the room and not thinking of these departments as separate. We’ll provide examples of what Industry Dive has done to accomplish this, but whether you’re a small association or a larger company, there will be pieces that you can pull into your own goals.

AMPLIFY 2023 takes place June 27-28 at the National Housing Center in Washington, D.C. This is one event not to be missed! Register here to take it all in!

Media Library (66)

SIIA Encourages Congress to Examine AI with Holistic Lens

by Policy

The following statement on the May 16th Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law on AI is attributed to Paul Lekas, Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy and Government Affairs, Software & Information Industry Association

“AI is already having a profound impact across society and enabling scientific and economic possibilities once unthinkable. We are optimistic and excited about the technology and its potential beyond generative AI. We do have concern that hype around generative AI will distract from critical issues that warrant government attention. As China and the EU move forward with alternative visions of AI, Congress should lead in advancing a pro-innovation democratic approach. This includes fully funding authorized federal R&D programs to advance AI development, giving agencies sufficient resources to implement oversight of high-risk AI systems, incentivizing the adoption of technologies that enhance privacy and security, and addressing national security risks associated with AI systems. Any guardrails should be developed with due consideration of existing laws and focused on the highest-risk applications of AI that have significant effects on individual rights, safety, or security. As Congress continues public hearings on AI, we urge members to build on the work that has been undertaken across the Executive Branch and extensively in public debate and focus on targeted solutions.”

Neals

Profiles in Courage, Creativity and Moving the DEI Needle Make These Awarded Neal Entries Special

by MediaNeal Awards

“When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: ‘I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I’ve never quite sorted them out,’” Monty Pythoner and TV travel host Michael Palin once said. Good profiles get us thinking. The standout entries in this year’s Neal Awards for Best Profile Article dealt a lot with motivations and impulses—and interesting backgrounds.

“Before you ask Michelle Tran what she’s working on, make sure you’ve blocked out some time on your calendar to accommodate a lengthy answer.”

So begins Vestwell’s Michelle Tran Rarely Rests, Which Is Making a Difference for Women in Fintech, Justin L. Mack’s Neal Award-winning profile of the senior VP and head of enterprise sales and daughter of immigrant parents—in Arizent’s Financial Planning.

In an age when AI-generated articles draw criticism for their lack of personal touches, profiles have become more important than ever in all platforms. (TV sports profiles are everywhere now.) A common denominator in every niche is the fascinating people that populate it; good profiles give us that inside view to bring us closer to those people.

“…As a first-generation Asian-American, Tran said there wasn’t necessarily a lot of flexibility when it came to the childhood question of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up,’” Mack wrote. “The options were doctor, lawyer or another ‘fill-in-the-blank’ stable profession. ‘When I went to college, I was pre-law and said I was going to be an attorney. But I was bored to death. And I definitely can’t be a doctor because blood makes me squeamish, so that’s not going to happen,’ Tran said with a laugh. ‘So I thought, econ.’”

Start strong. It’s important to get readers right into these lives. Landscape Architecture Magazine was another Neal Award winner in Best Profile for an article titled, In Their Elements. “Outside the kitchen door of the Massachusetts farm where Stephen (Steve) Stimson, FASLA, and his wife and partner, Lauren Stimson, ASLA, live with their two kids is a water feature created by Steve in the agrarian spirit of thrift,” opens Jonathan Lerner. “Steve’s cousin welded steel plates to form a rectangular source basin. Its overflow spills into a straight 100-foot run of off-the-shelf C channel, bordering an extensive vegetable garden.”

Add nice photos and/or video.Later on we see a beautiful Stimson-designed enclosed courtyard (pictured), part of the renovation of a 1951 library on the campus of MIT in Cambridge. During the renovation, they had to address several issues, including mold allergies that could affect the health of students and staff. We also learn that Stimson and his wife issued a “Third Space Resolution” asserting that their firm “should consider itself a third space… as a safe place… “where BIPOC, LGBTIQ, and anyone else that was once on the fringe feels heard, celebrated, and respected…”

Hear from others. An important Neals Award finalist profile came from Foundry’s CIO, written by Sarah K. White. It focuses on DevColor, a fledgling career accelerator for Black technologists, and its CEO Rhonda Allen. Again we get drawn in quickly. “Nearly a decade into his IT career, Brian Mariner started feeling a sense of isolation that many Black IT pros experience at work. He had built up a ‘reasonable set of professional network opportunities’ but felt that he ‘didn’t have a lot of confidants in the industry either from school or professionally,’ he says… At DevColor, and in the A* program in particular, Mariner was finally able to be in a room ‘surrounded by software industry peers’ and have the experience of ‘not being the other’ in the room.’ “…Whether your company’s culture was built intentionally or not, it exists, Allen says, noting that DevColor works with companies to ‘help them disrupt the inertia of how they’ve always operated.’” Nice.

Mark an occasion. Janelle Foskett, editor-in-chief of Lexipol Media Group’s FireRescue1.com and FireChief.com, was another Best Profile finalist, for the story Las Vegas 5 Years Later: ‘Going Back Is a Big Deal.’ “Oct. 1, 2022, will be different for CAL FIRE Captain Chris Wetzel,” Foskett begins. “For the past four years, Chris and his wife, Amber, have spent Oct. 1 visiting the Beaumont, California, gravesite of Hannah Ahler—a ritual to honor the friend Chris had known for 20 years. This year, however, Chris and Amber will return to Las Vegas to attend events marking the five-year anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.” Remembering an occasion—triumphant or heartbreaking—through a person who lived it serves profiles well, especially when the writing is this good. “It doesn’t feel like five years for Chris. Much has changed in his life since the shooting—an evolution from defeat to appreciation.” And the pictures are moving as well.

Make us feel like we’re in the room. A few months shy of his 93rd birthday, Bob Dunlap has no plans to retire. He says he’d be happy to spend his final moments on this Earth behind his wooden desk, gnawing on a cigar, crunching numbers and serving as chairman and CEO of Dunlap & Kyle Co. Inc.” That’s the start of another Neal Awards Best Profile Article finalist, from Endeavor Business Media’s Modern Tire Dealer by Joy Kopcha. In 2021, Dunlap & Kyle surpassed $1 billion in sales, so Dunlap knows where he treads. Diversity comes in many forms today; often in photos age might be the underrepresented group. This article shows Dunlap great respect. “’We have a lot of charities,’ says Bob Dunlap, who has been recognized for his generosity. ‘The more of them you help and the more money you pay employees, the more money you’re going to make. People miss out on that.’”

 

african-european-girls-looking-computer-screen-while-blonde-lady-reading-documents-indoor-portrait-asian-student-glasses-talking-with-female-friends-uniersity-1.jpg

‘Binging Is Bad for Subscriber Health’; New Data Favors Reader Regularity Over Occasional Long Reads

by Media

Recent data collected and analyzed from the Medill Subscriber Engagement Index “shows that the most important factor in trying to get people to pay for news is reader regularity,” Mark Caro writes on the Medill Local News Initiative site. “What’s more, increases in page views and time spent may actually have a negative impact on subscribers and revenues.”

The New York Times paid a ‘low seven figure’ sum’ for Wordle, a daily puzzle. Daily Drive is Crain Communications Automotive News’ popular podcast series. A quick look at the IEEE Spectrum site shows content posted one hour and three hours ago.

New data says that building reader habits and regularity leads to retention.

Gardeners’ World Premium offers online access for free to all of its print subscribers. The reason: so they engage on a daily basis with them. “The objectives were first of all to add value to those print magazine subscribers… but then, more importantly, we’re using it as a way to try and engage with these subscribers,” said Ed Garcia, head of retention at Immediate Media, in a Press Gazette article. Their renewal rate soars to 96% for those who have logged in 15 or more times in the past three months.

“Not only is the finding that it’s regularity that drives retention and reduces churn, but the page views and time spent can have a negative influence when you control for regularity,” Larry DeGaris, executive director of the Spiegel Research Center, said in the Medill story. The reasons? Reading a long article can bring on ad blockers—“pop-up ads, videos and other elements that may get in the way of your reading.“ And someone reading a long story on their mobile device may not have a great experience.

“It’s preferable for subscribers to be in the habit of visiting your news source regularly as opposed to reading long articles occasionally and staying away for significant periods in between. ‘Binging is bad for subscriber health,” states a summary of the Subscriber Engagement Index data.”

Here are 5 more keys to finding metrics that drive regularity:

Try mission-driven metrics. “Shifting our collective mindset from data mining to mission-driven metrics will fundamentally shift how we relate to news consumers,” wrote Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper, co-founders of News Revenue Hub. “Instead of digitally stalking users, news teams will spend more time openly engaging with communities and asking people what they want. Truly mission-driven metrics will show organizations if they’re serving the communities they say they serve; if they’re producing reporting that benefits people.”

Focus on your goals. “Click-through-rates, page views, engagement time, dwell time… there are many metrics, but it is not necessary to capture and measure everything,” wrote Elizabeth Gamperl in her Reuters Institute report, Overcoming metrics anxiety: new guidelines for content data in newsrooms. “Instead, you should focus on measures that support your editorial and revenue model goals, otherwise you run the risk of changing what journalism in your newsroom is in order to fit the metrics you have, [instead of vice versa]. If your goal is audience growth, you must start measuring new users. If your objective is to generate more subscriptions, perhaps you should consider measuring conversion journeys in more detail, from anonymous to registered readers.

Examine your sources of traffic. “Where is your audience coming from?” Gennady Kolker, audience development editor at Crain’s Pensions and Investments asked in our webinar last year. “It’s important because it tells us a little bit about their behavior.” What percentage of people are coming in from social? Referrals are what they call third-party traffic. What percentage is coming in from email? “We have probably anywhere from 10-15 newsletter products, both thematic digests, and what we call our Daily Newsletter, and we care about how many people are coming in from all of those newsletters… When we get to loyalty and advocacy, how do we get them to come back? And how do we get them to talk about the product?”

(This was supported in the Medill report: “’Sharing and talking about stories has a direct influence on reading habit, where information curation doesn’t,’ DeGaris said. In other words it’s not enough for an outlet to direct readers to stories it considers important. These stories also should be relevant enough to inspire conversation in the community…”)

Gear to a call to action. In that same webinar, Ann Gynn, managing editor of The Tilt, said that with their organic content, they “just want people to consume the content,” and they’re looking at the metrics that tell them that. “But in content marketing, we want them to do something after they consume the content, no matter how much of the content they consumed. So when you’re looking at the metrics, that’s where we need to go… That’s the difference from it, and that’s how you create your content. You need to be thinking about that call to action. There are both direct and indirect. But you need to be thinking in that realm.”

Go beyond clicks and opens. Melbourne Australia’s Nine Metro Publishing’s first dashboard focuses on newsletter signups and shows: signups by member type and engagement; trends in both signups and cancellations; and audience overlap between newsletter products. The second dashboard measures newsletter performance and shows: send count, open rate, click rate, and cancel rate for any selected period of time; the recency and frequency of a newsletter audience; and the reading journey of newsletter users within an email and in subsequent Web sessions.