By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
It's two days to Christmas, and I'm mulling Christmas Past and Christmas Future (You are familiar with the Charles Dickens' classic tale, yes?) I request your participation. Like most other journalists or bloggers, I will post year-end retrospectives and year-ahead prognostications next week. I ask you to contribute. Choose your ghost and your Scrooge. What do you think were the most important events affecting the technology industry in 2010 -- and why? They don't have to be industry shaking, but merely important to you. What would you like to see next year from the tech companies that matter most to you?
I often crowdsource material for posts, but this request is different from others. Typically I ask readers to respond in comments and by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). The e-mail responses tend to be long and thoughtful, and I often feel guilty about not being able to use all the contents. I will ask some responders to this question for permission to post their entire response (or a good chunk of it) as a guest contributor. I'll edit your writing, and we can banter back and forth to get it just right. Other e-mail responses and those in comments to this post will go into stories I write about the year past and year ahead.
One of my goals during 2010 was to include Betanews readers more in stories. We have an active commenting community. But there are two problems with comments -- most of the commenters aren't identified and, too often, insightful mini-analyses are simply lost in the flow. I want to bring your valuable insight to the surface. Reader contribution will be a top priority for 2011.
I've already started reaching out to some readers, asking them to make contributions. You know who you are. This request is broader, and it's an opportunity for you to express what you think mattered in 2010 and what will, or at least should, be important for 2011. There will be plenty of year-end, year-ahead stories as January 1st approaches. Why shouldn't you have a say? Some of you will in blog posts, but here's a chance to reach your community here.
Then there's the Joe factor. Some very vocal commenters clearly don't like what I write about. You bash, but often aren't specific. Here's your chance to have your say -- about what you think mattered this year and what should matter in 2011. Any guest posts will be edited for style, not content (unless offensive). The point is to get reader perspectives. If something comes across as fanboyish, commenters can filter it out.
For year-end, year-ahead, I will write at least about Apple, Google and Microsoft as companies and cloud computing, mobile devices, security and home/work digital lifestyles as broader topics. You can contribute to these topics, or write about others.
Ho Ho Ho Ba Humbug, please comment here or e-mail joewilcox at gmail dot com.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
