MC Systems Insight has been named a finalist in the annual Maggie Award competition for an article it published last April discussing IBM's layoff policies. Nominated for "Best Web or Digital Edition Article/Trade," the article will compete against ones from four other trade publications in various fields. The winner will be announced next month at the annual Maggie Awards banquet in Los Angeles, where awards will be presented to the best publications in the western United States. This is the first time that an MC Press Online publication has been nominated for a Maggie, one of the publishing industry's most prestigious honors.
The article that secured MC Systems Insight's place among the finalists was written by Senior News Editor Chris Smith. His widely read article questioned the ethics of secrecy behind mass IBM layoffs taking place last year and received tremendous attention and feedback from both journalism colleagues and readers. Titled "IBM Layoffs and Compensation Raise Disturbing Questions about Corporate Ethics," it has received more Web hits than any other MC Press Online article in recent history. In addition, the article has been picked up and featured in forums in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and numerous other consumer publications.
In the article, Smith addresses the then-climbing national unemployment rate as well as the secrecy surrounding mass layoffs at IBM, despite an upswing in income and revenue at the company during the prior year. He also questions the growing trend of off-shore corporate employment, including information about IBM's Patent Office application for a system to outsource "50 percent of resources in China by 2010," a story that originally broke in the Middletown, New York, Times Herald-Record. While large corporations don't always announce layoffs, Smith argued that significant layoffs are generally revealed to the public as a social responsibility and an attempt to ease the trauma inflicted by the loss of countless jobs. By withholding information about the number of layoffs, IBM was sending a difficult and painful message to its former employees. Smith writes: "The message is: suck it up, the company is doing fine, you're being laid off because you weren't as good as the workers we chose to keep."
"Being nominated a finalist for this award is a tremendous honor for MC Press Online, and I kind of like it too," Smith said. "The article really took off and received an unexpected amount of attention from readers and fellow journalists. With the national unemployment rate currently retreating from a sobering 10 percent, it's no surprise this article really struck a chord with readers, as so many are seeing their friends and family suffering from the blow of losing their livelihoods.
"It's concerning to everyone how many big corporations are outsourcing American jobs overseas, where lower-paid foreign labor is their key to success," he said. "Stockholders and company executives at IBM continue to reap the rewards of high profits, while former employees—who helped bring the company to its present level of success through extraordinary hard work and dedication—are out of jobs."
Should MC Systems Insight receive the Maggie Award, it would be the first for the company but the second for Smith, who was honored with a Maggie two decades ago for his work as editor of a cable television trade magazine.
MC Press Online Executive Editor Victoria Mack is elated about the nomination: "After eight years of publishing many excellent articles from authors throughout the IBM midrange industry, I'm delighted that MC Systems Insight is being recognized for the superior publication that it is."
The Western Publishing Association (WPA) Maggie Awards are among the most prestigious publication awards in the United States, celebrating 59 years of honoring publishing excellence for work deemed the "Best in the West." MC Press Online will be attending the upcoming awards banquet along with more than 600 other publishing professionals who will gather for this year's black-tie event. WPA's primary objective is to "promote the pursuit of excellence among publishing professionals." Keeping in the tradition, this year's ceremony at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel will feature a high-tech, visually creative multimedia show featuring the current year's entries.
For more information about the Western Publishing Association and the Maggie Awards, visit www.wpa-online.org. To read the MC Press Online article nominated for the award, click here.
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online