Martin Slofstra: Writer and Thought Leader

This week, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P. has an exclusive interview with Martin Slofstra.

Martin Slofstra has over 20 years experience covering the IT industry in Canada, graduating with an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario in London in 1982, and starting with Northern Telecom as a corporate writer in that same year. He joined Computing Canada as staff writer in 1985. He's also served as Communications Editor and Editor of that magazine. In 1997, he helped launched and became editor of InfoSystems Executive (now called EDGE), Canada's first technology magazine for business executives. Martin has served as editorial director of the IT Business Group at Transcontinental Media, Canada's largest publisher of information technology-related newspapers and magazines.

Mr. Slofstra regularly moderates panels and makes presentations at trade shows and conferences and other industry events.

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

The latest blog on the interview can be found in the IT Managers Connection (IMC) forum where you can provide your comments in an interactive dialogue.
http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic
00:029:		Martin shares his views on corporate/social responsibilities and the movement in this area. "Corporate social responsibility is a huge area and it's not just affecting governments but it's about doing more for your local community, contributing to charities....I would challenge the IT industry to think about it some more, to follow the example set by people like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Warren Buffet ... and see what can be done locally and on a national level..."
01:36:		Martin talks about his involvement in connecting on-line communities...working with a church-initiated program called "I Care". An eBay-like program for people in need where people can post items that they require and where people, local retailers, companies, suppliers, manufacturers, corporations can post items they wish to donate. "....it is based on something called 'free cycle' which has 2000 registered users in Brampton. We are helping with that and we developed a program.......The great thing about this is that this is all done on-line. On-line make it possible to access a community like this...."
03:43:		Martin comments on the potential (of connecting on-line communities) in terms of social responsibility... "...the potential is unlimited...and the technology is there...Virtually everybody is on-line these days. What a great way to tap into this...you can mobilize millions of people all at the same time by doing on-line instead of the old conventional way.....I think this is a great example of technology being used for the better of society...."
04:55:		Martin shares his views on the impact of having so many people on-line in the world in general. "We are seeing profound changes in media and communications. People are interacting with traditional television, newspapers...not the same way as before. People on are going on-line much faster and connecting much easier...it's all instant messaging ....I'm not sure where this is all going to go to go. We've seen traditional media outlets struggling to stay profitable...they've downsized a lot...."
06:03:		Martin comments about the shifts in attitudes (ie. Gen X and Gen Y).... "It is great to see much more interest in environmental issues and social justice issues in the next generation. Younger people want to work for a place that has good corporate values and ethics....It's the whole quality of life issue that we are see the next generation much more committed to this. So I think we are seeing that more companies will have to rethink this whole area of social responsibility...It's not just basic corporate philanthropy...it goes well beyond that...."
07:34:		Martin talks about his plans for the future.... "As a lot of your listeners are probably aware, IT Business Group was acquired by our competition ITWorld about a month ago which leads to the inevitable downsizing..."