Women Leaving Computer Science–(NYT) The number of women studying computer science reached its peak in 1985 at 38%, but dropped to 28% by 2003. What’s up? From the point of view of this article, it’s about marketing. It’s the lack of promotion of comp-sci as a creative and interesting field, not just a boring life of code. CIQ: We could wax on for hours. Instead two points: (1) There is a hostile environment created by fellow– and we mean ‘fellow‘– students and professors toward women students. (2) The interactive space faces a dire need for technically proficient people who are also great communicators, a role that can be well filled by women.

American Airlines Launches Lavender Site for Women –(NYT) As long as we’re on a roll, this story: Among the advice offered to women business travelers: Bring a little black dress to wear with heels. Comments one woman road warrior, “There are so many things that are infuriating about this lip-service nonsense that I can’t begin to list them all.” CIQ: Though we are practically speechless, we will, nevertheless try: We and many women aver that gender-equity progress is rapidly eroding in business. And we are met with, to put it mildly, skepticism. Leaving aside years of confidential internal corporate emails we are privy to, the two above stories in our view leave thinking people with few questions.

Agencies Walk Away from Fickle Clients–(WSJ) While many of the “chummy” long-term relationships between client and agency didn’t work, the new model doesn’t seem to be much better. Clients casting about for the latest and greatest are putting more and more accounts into review. A review can cost an agency $200,000 to $1,000,000. CIQ: Agency-shifting is not just about seeking digital competency as some other articles have suggested. We think long-term vendor-client relationships are much better for business. However, in the current buy-it-own-it-flip-it environment of American business, we wonder how much anyone values “long term.”

The Demise of the CMO–(Adweek) CMO’s are leaving their jobs at a fast clip. The latest announcement is from Kraft. The cause– ill-defined jobs and lack of connection with ROI. CIQ: This article makes a good point that, in order to be effective, CMOs need to be less about fuzzy marketing and more about data and analytics. Perfect territory for those in the online space who tend to be data-centric.

Thumb Your Way to Retail Therapy— (NYT) New services are letting you buy products simply by entering a text number. CIQ: A superb idea. We can really identify with one person who says, “I have stacks of things I’ve ripped out of magazines. At the end of the month, I have 50 things on my desk, and I’ve never bought them.”

Newspaper Sites Up 15%–(Center for Media Research) This according to research firm NAdbase. The report says that newspaper Web sites have contributed to a 13.7 percent increase in total newspaper audience for the coveted 25- to 34-year-old demographic and a 9.2 percent increase for 18- to 24-year-olds. CIQ: Good news for flagging newspapers. But CPMs must increase for the business model to continue to work.

Prepublication Tour for Writers–(NYT) This article chronicles a debut novelist’s experience schmoozing with book stores and their salesforces before publication. It’s a practice on the rise because it helps get the salesforce behind the book. CIQ: Great practice. We’d like to know whether publishers also have digital efforts towards the same end– like email lists of these salesforces and targeted emails to them.

 Ditching DRM–(WSJ) In a major shift, EMI has agreed to sell its music online without insisting on digital security. iTunes DRM software is proprietary, locking people into the iTunes store if they want music to be compatible on their iPods. CIQ: The theory here is that it’s DRM keeping music downloads to 15% of the market. But with CD sales falling drastically, what other choice does EMI have than to try this strategy?

Studios Limiting Digital Downloads–(Business Week) “Imagine if you went to a bookstore and they only sold books by Harper Collins,” begins this piece. Then it goes on to lay out the current craziness of online movie downloads. Certain sites have certains content. Oh, and there there are different formats, rules, and compatibility issues. CIQ: We all assumed that the movie industry would learn from watching the music industry commit suicide. Guess not.