Finally!!!! There was an honest to goodness Web Analytics Wednesday event in Atlanta. Free (thanks to a great sponsorship from Unica) and open to the analytics fanatics out there to come and socialize, network, and even listen to a panel discussion led by Eric Peterson.
It was awesome to see such a great turn out for this event. I am hopeful that there will be more true WAW events like this in the Atlanta area.
As I was thinking back on all of the questions that the panel answered, what really stuck out to me was that none of them had even heard about the proposed Code Of Ethics being discussed over on the WAA web site. I am fearful that even after the WAA and the community publish a final version that it will take a long time for big brands to accept it, if they ever do. So where does that leave us, the measure community? I am tired of reading the steady stream of propaganda and fear mongering that is coming out of “reputable” news sources such as the Wall Street Journal lately and not seeing a consistent and effective response from the community.
Thankfully, there are others out there that are concerned about this as well and some have gone to the WAA and they are forming an Advocacy committee to help provide that voice and direction and hopefully be able to arm the members with the tools to help the measure community as a whole stand up for itself. If you are interested in helping out, or have specific items that you would like the WAA to be the advocates for let them know.
For more information about the WAA Advocacy committee, reach out to Jason Thompson.
3 thoughts on “WAW, WAA, and the ATL”
Rudi:
My related post regarding the devaluation of the WAA Certification without Ethical guidelines is here:
http://michaeldhealy.com/2010/11/web-analysts-dilemma/
Great post which elucidates the key issue:
Change the WAA from Reactive to Proactive
We can put out all the data we want about this, that and the other thing but none of that matters to the public. They want to know that we practitioners have skin in the game.
That is the same expectation made of the Project Management Institute, the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering and, yes indeed, the National Association of Professional Organizers.
If the organization which sources their materials from the Container Store can adhere to a Code of Ethics, I am completely befuddled as to why the Web Analytics Association cannot.
Perhaps the reason no one listens to the materials put out is that we do not yet have the perspective of being impartial to vendors, companies and members alike. Would anyone pay attention to the National Cattleman’s Beef Association’s press releases about the safety of beef from Mad Cow disease without some sort of independent verification?
Of course not, they have a vested interest in selling more beef.
We have a vested interest in continuing online measurement. Our responsibility is to ensure that this is done in an ethical manner which follows the WAA Code of Ethics guidelines.
The choices at this point are:
1) Do we police ourselves?
2) Do we do nothing? Sit around and wait for the government to step in and police us?
Michael D. Healy
http://michaeldhealy.com
Thanks for the comments Michael.
We need to choose option 1. We must police ourselves. But even more than that, we have to educate the WAA members, the big brands, the vendors, the agencies. Everyone that is involved in this space must have the tools to battle against what is going to become a difficult fight about the perception of our industry.
-Rudi