The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is calling Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision insulting. “What little we have … including our dignity … they are trying to strip that away, too. It’s unacceptable,” said Aaron Tobey, vice chairman of the Mashpee Tribal Council. “This decision is yet another assault on native sovereignty,” said Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell. Tobey said formal acknowledgement [...]

 U.S. Supreme Court ruling today could halt plans by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to bring a $1 billion casino to Middleboro. The ruling says the U.S. government doesn’t have the authority to set aside sovereign land for tribes recognized by the government after 1934. The Mashpee tribe, which was recognized in 2007, is seeking to place more than 500 acres [...]

First Run Press announces the release of the new Kindle book version of FIND YOUR ROOTS NOW!, a step-by-step guide for beginning genealogists. This publication combines the power of the Internet with sound research practices. The author, Joe Long, has over 30 years of hands-on experience researching his family tree. With this new book, he brings this knowledge to beginning [...]

Digital is rewriting the rules as publishers and distributors grapple with the commercial implications of copiable content, online file-sharing and social networking. Click here to read this interesting article from The Guardian. (The Guardian, February 23, 2009)

Despite the fact that 77 percent of business technology decision-makers engage with social media on the job, most B2B marketers are not effectively using social technologies to influence the purchasing decisions of their customers, according to new research from Forrester Research. Leveraging the same analytical framework pioneered by Forrester’s Social Technographics(®) Profile for helping marketers understand how consumers approach social [...]

Given that companies spend millions (in Pepsi’s case, hundreds of millions) to communicate a brand message to the world, it only makes sense to get the brand’s own employees schooled in that messaging first. It’s hard to argue against the logic of such an approach. Yet, across the brand spectrum, “it happens less than it should,” says Mike Kust, CMO [...]

On average, 70 percent of employee respondents of small and medium businesses (SMBs) with up to 400 employees said they spend 17.5 hours each week addressing the pain points caused by communications barriers and latencies, according to a global study sponsored by Siemens Enterprise Communications and conducted by SIS International Research. The research also showed that while SMB awareness of [...]

What do today’s financial troubles have to do with marketing, communications, and the web? Everything. According to a recent survey conducted by the communication consulting firm MStoner, more than half of 150 senior marketing, communications, and advancement professionals in higher education cited financial constraints or budgetary problems as the top challenges for 2009. The challenge to do more, or at [...]

Mistakes, bad luck and unexpected events can happen to any firm during good times and bad, but tackling misfortune in a forthright, brutally honest manner rather than trying to sidestep unpleasant truths can mean the difference between a small crisis and a full-blown public relations nightmare. Firms that are struggling could be tempted to wait out this bad period, but [...]

Town officials have figured out how to save a cool $1 million, but retirees aren’t warming to the plan. In an effort to put the brakes on the town’s escalating insurance costs, officials have begun negotiating with unions to increase employees’ share of the premium. Already four unions — patrolmen, clerks, library and DPW — have agreed double their share [...]