Categories
Blog

Electronic conspiracies

Technology has made our lives at once simpler and more complex. We communicate more widely and more freely, but have less true human contact. We can purchase our goods online, but miss the interaction with another human being. Social networking sites bring people together who would otherwise never cross paths, in the virtual world or in the real world…

Doesn’t it seem as though, some days, all the electronics around you conspire to behave badly, or not work at all?

Today has been one of those days for me, and it makes me stop and count my blessings. I have my own company, and I must remind myself on days like this that if I didn’t have clients, I wouldn’t have these problems. And if didn’t have clients, I wouldn’t have this business. And that would suck.

Technology has made our lives at once simpler and more complex. We communicate more widely and more freely, but have less true human contact. We can purchase our goods online, but miss the interaction with another human being. Social networking sites bring people together who would otherwise never cross paths, in the virtual world or in the real world. And if some of those people were better left unmet, the site creates something of a buffer against what might otherwise be an unpleasant encounter.

My work is much like that — my clients have access to technology they would never otherwise be exposed to. It helps their businesses, but adds another layer of complexity to the operation of said business. In the end, I like to think that the benefits outweigh the costs, but in the big picture, one never knows.

I often wonder what we would do if suddenly the entire planet’s power grid were to spontaneously and permanently fail. In New York City during the blackout a couple of years ago, the kindness and help that people extended to one another was truly an amazing phenomenon. Would it continue? Let’s hope so.

And in the meantime, let’s be as helpful to one another as though it had happened.

By Rebekkah Hilgraves

*RadHaus Solutions*: ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant. Marketo Certified Expert. Solutions Architect. Marketing automation implementation, integration, best practices, governance. Marketing automation, with a heavy dose of nerd. http://radhaus.solutions

*RadHaus Studio*: Broadcast and recording engineer, media production manager, cable monkey, marketing dork, project manager, chief cook and bottle-washer. http://radhaus.studio

A seasoned trainer, marketer, web producer and front-end developer, solutions architect, writer, consultant, broadcaster, recording engineer, and public speaker, I've worked in eLearning, Instructional Design, CMS, Marketing Automation and CRM (especially Marketo, ActiveCampaign, and SimplyCast), content delivery and management, taxonomy, SEO, media production and technical support. I bring a unique blend of experience and expertise.

Through RadHaus (formerly SheTech and Company), and in partnership with ELK // Obscura Media, and Prove digital marketing agencies, I have supported enterprise clients in marketing automation implementation and operations, digital marketing and data strategies. I help design and operationalize custom integrated marketing programs for businesses, working with audience/user group segmentation, SEO, web analytics, design and UX best practices, multimedia, social media and other strategic web design and delivery mechanisms. I also do hands-on media production and arts marketing, allowing me to remain involved in the arts.

As part of Marketo's education team, I managed the production and publication of eLearning modules, and was a key member of the LMS implementation and certification development teams.

A consultant on the Web Operations team for OppenheimerFunds in New York, I offered technical, production, and strategy support on a major web site redesign project.

As Managing Editor for an online news magazine published by NetQoS, I supervised and managed the migration of the site from a legacy content management system to a .NET-based commercial system. I maintained the site and the content, updating the magazine with new content from industry analysts and technical experts on a weekly basis.

My earliest foray into both technology and training was as a software trainer for logistics company Cheetah Software Systems, helping create an implementation and training practice standard for the company, and building their user documentation.