Comments(0) Thanks to my friends over at Studio 501c I was alerted to another excellent video presentation from the Common Craft Show, this time explaining clearly and simply what a Wiki is. I thought the RSS presentation was a one-off, but I realise I need to look out for new stuff from these folk. Definitely worth a subscription.
Comments(0) Google - you either love ‘em or hate ‘em it would seem, reading the article from yesterday’s Sunday Times. Google are saying they need more information about us, and their competitors are saying they already have too much. The trigger for this latest pouring of outrage is - apparently - Google’s announcement that they had invested almost $4m in 23andme, a fledgling biotechnology company co-founded by Anne Wojcicki (Sergey Brinn’s significant other half), that is interested in the human genome. Interestingly, ordinary users (and I count myself in that category) are saying very little. I find that the Search engine does what is says on the tin; Google Reader is the best RSS reader, and I make the most of all the other freebies (Notebook, Calendar, Documents, Spreadsheets, desktop toolbar , screen saver, personalised search etc.) that they make available via their web site. Their argument that by getting to know more about me and my search habits will improve the relevance of their search results sounds believable - to me anyway.
However, one interesting quote attributed to Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central, with reference to Google’s pending (?) purchase of Feedburner (a company that tracks subscribers to all kinds of on-line content providers):
"Have people really thought about the ramifications of this? Google will not only know what you search for, what ads you click on, but they will also know exactly what you are subscribed to at a very intimate level…..they are going to know more about some people than their own family members may".
Perhaps it’s the fact that I come from a country that has more CCTV cameras per head of population than any other county in Western Europe (or the world), or my naive belief in the Google motto ‘Don’t do evil‘, but I believe that Google’s ultimate objective is to stay ahead of the game in providing a search service that everyone wants to use because it finds what they are looking for!
Comments(0) 
Just received David Weinberger’s book "Everything is Miscellaneous". A fascinating read for anyone interested in trying to make sense of the digital information world we live in, and how we can thrive on information chaos. Only half-way through, but a thoroughly recommended read for anyone with knowledge management credentials.
Comments(2) Not a very profound quote I’ll accept, but I saw a quote attributed to yours truly in an article in Internet Week about the merger talks between Microsoft and Yahoo. I don’t even remember talking to the author of the article, but I’m attributed as saying: "The new technology out there is allowing people to connect far more easily and the best way to do this is through social media tools". Well hopefully not many people will argue with that, but what I would have preferred to have been quoted on is that regardless of what Yahoo and Microsoft decide to do in terms of the business-to-consumer interface, its the content that really counts, and I think that Yahoo have a clear edge over Microsoft in this respect. So, apologies to any readers for my actual printed quote - which is quite inane really!
Comments(3) A very good introduction to RSS, courtesy of The Common Craft Show
Comments(0) I am grateful to Hilary Messeter from the National College of School Leaders (NCSL) for agreeing to present at a recently Community of Practice workshop I co-hosted. The NCSL have created a Facilitation Toolkit for their community of over 100,000 members. This is primarily focused on communities within the education sector, but the toolkit is a great resource for anyone who is new to the world of on-line facilitation, or indeed for anyone who is currently supporting a community of practice.
Comments(0) I came across this excellent slideshow presentation from Andrew Hinton, which goes some way to explaining what is meant by "Information Architecture". It touches on Social Media, Web 2.0 and communities of practice, and even manages to draw some interesting parallels between social networks and the M-16 and AK-47 assault rifles. I particularly liked the quotation attributed to Groucho Marx - "Time flies like and arrow, but fruit flies like a banana". See how a banana might help you to cultivate your community of practice!
Comments(0) If you’ve ever wondered what the acronyms and ‘civil service’ speak actually mean on the letters you get from the council, or you need some help interpreting the latest government policy initiative, check out the Local Government Glossary over at Wikispaces. The Glossary was the initiative of the Social Media & Collaboration community of practice over at the IDeA, and it is hoped that the Glossary will attract some further contributions from anyone in local government (staff and contractors) who may be working on a project or initiative not currently mentioned in the Glossary.
This is also an excellent opportunity to explore the the effectiveness of social media for bringing together the collective knowledge of staff working in the public sector. I don’t think there is any expectation that this will be the ‘Wikipedia‘ of local government, but it’s a small acorn, and will be given every opportunity to grow. So, if you want to add your favourite bit of civil service speak to the Glossary, go and register your details at Local Government Glossary, or just use it as a reference the next time you get some gobbeldygook from the council!
with me:-
"Effective collaboration requires trust, relationships and
understanding that take time to develop. Why are so many on-line systems
still developed on the basis of "build it and they will come and work
together" … ending up with empty Forums and a lot of money wasted?"
I was determined to avoid this problem when I set up the IDeA
communities by de-emphasising the
technology and promoting the fact that there was a central team of
people who were there to support project and programme managers in
setting up their communities of practice. This extended to facilitating
face-to-face launch events which were used to build trust and introduce
users to the social media tools they could use. Given this now has over 2000 members and more than 60 CoPs working across local government, I think the approach was reasonably successful.
This is the model I’m also going to use for the contract I’m working
on for the DfES, where a network of CoP’s will be established across
the Further Education Sector as part of a business change management process. The first priority is recruiting community
managers who will be out there meeting with various stakeholder groups (e.g. LSC, LLUK, OfSTED, MIAP, QIA and many others) and
encouraging greater collaboration within and across these groups as a precursor to developing a purpose-design on-line community (social media) environment. I’ve never believed in just providing the technology and waiting for people to use it.
Thus, I think my approach is about as far as you can get from what they’ve done with GovXchange!