Utah Tech Watch

Did The Daily Herald ever ever accept bylined columns or editorials from external sources? That was the question I (David Politis) posed that summer afternoon in 1994 on the campus of Brigham Young University to Robb Hicken, then business editor of the Provo, Utah-based newspaper.

What followed was a discussion about the growing importance of the technology sector to Utah’s economy and my opinion that local media outlets were giving Utah’s high-tech world the short shrift. Twenty minutes later, Hicken and I agreed, and thus was born Utah Tech Watch.

Starting first as a semi-weekly column and then expanding to weekly status, Utah Tech Watch was soon being carried by two other Utah papers: The Enterprise (the Salt Lake-based business weekly) and the Deseret Morning News (then known as the Deseret News). Over time, I also added email distribution of the column to interested parties.

At its height during the 10-year-span from mid-1994 to August 2004, Utah Tech Watch had a weekly circulation of roughly 140,000 readers and reached an estimated audience of more than 250,000.

However, after penning more than 500 columns of 500- to 800-words apiece on technology-centric topics ranging from new gadgets to corporate buyouts and from medical advancements to legislative issues, I was burned out. So I took (what is now) a more than three-year hiatus from Utah Tech Watch.

In the meantime, I continued to provide strategic marketing communications services to technology clients both in Utah and beyond through Politis Communications. I also formed SOAR Communications in August 2004 to meet the strategic communications needs of organizations in the Sports, Outdoors, Athletics and Recreation industries.

Former Politis Communications employee, Russell Page, tried to keep Utah Tech Watch alive by launching it on the ‘Net. His efforts notwithstanding, however, Utah Tech Watch languished — until late 2007.

Following several unrelated conversations and supportive feedback from multiple friends and colleagues, I’ve decided to try again to resurrect Utah Tech Watch on the World Wide Web, this time in the form of a blog.

At a minimum, it is my goal to write at longer column-length piece each week in the 500- to 800-word length. (And so far I’ve written two of that length: “Headed to CES Once Again” and “Who Owns Social Media Data? Scoble-Facebook-Plaxo Fracas Raises Questions.“)

I recognize that blog posts tend to be shorter. Sorry ’bout that. But I will post shorter items as well.

In my opinion, however, if I’m going to return to the form I once had (without getting a big head), I have to drive a stake into the ground and say, “This is how I feel” or “This is why this is important” or “This is something you (the reader) need to be aware of.” And if I’m really going to do that, that’s going to require longer posts; it’s that simple.

So . . . regardless of how you found Utah Tech Watch, welcome.

And if you need to reach me, it’s simple: dpolitis at politis.com is still the best email address to use if you want to reach me.

Please know that your feedback, insights and suggestions on how to improve Utah Tech Watch are always welcome. Comment as you’d like. Or if you want to just read here or via RSS feeds, that’s fine too.

In the meantime, I hope you find Utah Tech Watch interesting, thought-provoking, insightful and most importantly, worth your time.

Sincerely,

    

David Politis

P.S.  If you like Utah Tech Watch, you may also be interested in

• The Betty Factor at www.TheBettyFactor.com (covering all things marketing-related);
• The SOAR Communications blog at www.soarcomm.com/blog (covering all things related to the Sports, Outdoors, Athletics and Recreation industries); and/or
• DavidPolitis.com (the personal musings of David Politis not covered in any of the three blogs outlined above).

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[DISCLOSURE: From time to time, I (or anyone else participating herein) may write about current or past clients within this or other forums, on- or off-line. Please note that the Official Statement about Transparency, Disclosure & Honesty explains how I approach these important and sensitive areas and know that we hold any writers herein to these same standards.]