Community Content Creation

Dear Reader,

It has been yet again some time since I updated you on my antics, however I have been twitting recently!

Two stories took my eye today that got me thinking and I wanted to share them with you. The first, an article about the online fan base for Terry Wogan and can be seen here...

BBC - Radio Labs - Fan cultures in radio (3) - TOGs or "This Ordinary Group"

The article focuses on how the community feel closer to the celebrity by being part of the website rather than just being a listening body receiving information from the radio. In addition the article asked the users what could be done to improve the site - the response was very encouraging and just goes to show how those that use the information can better tell the creators what is best than the creators second guessing the content.

This got me thinking - if we can do it online, why can't we do it in real life. How do we as citizens engage with each other and our providers. This leads me on to the other item that caught my eye today.

An author of a blog I follow posted an entry live from a conference this afternoon about a speaker, Dominic Campbell, from an organisation called FutureGov he spoke about how Local Government were missing the point when consulting with their citizens. He gave examples of Brent Council and highlighted this video to help engage the citizens.



Local authorities need to engage and trust their community to help develop both the services that it delivers and also the information provided on their websites. Local authorities have to move away from the 'We are almighty, we know what you want' position to a 'Help us to help you' approach.

Web 2.0 can help with this, build an online community reflecting the real life world.

Till next time,

Vis.

When playtime stops and work begins

Dear Reader,

My previous post (Random Witterings: ICT - Getting Accountant Buy-in) made me think more than I had originally anticipated, and I have concluded that, in a way, I put the cart before the horse. My error was to jump straight in and try to help get the message across as to how to convince management (and accountants) that your project is a great idea, I did not, or have not, discussed what are the best tools for the job - hence this post.

I saw an interesting post this morning by Robert Scoble discussing how there has been a shift away from traditional personal blogs to a more business centred view of blogs. My personal opinion is that this is good thing and it shows that the commercial world is following developments made by the web for social benefit. Scoble would prefer that the blog remained personal.

Web 2.0 - the biggest buzz word to hit the internet since .com. The technology that has been developed and the interaction that has grown has been amazing, now everyone twitters, facebooks, blogs, IMs, emails, VOIPs, RSSs the list goes on but the question remains how do we apply this to everyday business, or, when does playtime stop and work begin.

Without the embrace of the commercial sector social media will remain on the sidelines, only being accessed by a select few while topics of conversation will remain unfocused and irrelevant to many employees. By embracing social media the commercial sector will help to develop the potential and attract new investment, just look at email and websites. What we have to do is think how a commercial organisation can benefit from using social media as part of its daily toolbox.

Work life balance is now more important to many employees than ever before. At the same time being an employer of choice is high in the priorities of many organisations. Somewhere a compromise needs to be achieved. Social media tools can help deliver that compromise.

The most favoured example of work-life balance is home-working; the ability for an employee to get up at 8.30am and start work from their home office. The tools required to achieve this are now becoming common place:

* Laptops - allows employees the ability to take their desk with them
* Virtual Private Networks (VPN) - allows secure access to office servers
* Voice over IP (VOIP) - allows employees the ability to connect to the office telephone system remotely

So the technology is available - but what about the problems..?

It is often said that the biggest thing missing when working at home is the banter - my question is why..? Tools such as twitter and instant messaging can help. Secure and shared between employees, IM can deliver the banter during the normal working day.

I have also heard people say that it is easier to pop down the corridor and see someone. What happens if the person you are going to visit working from home..? Also, if seeing someone is so important, what about video messaging..?

Other examples of where social media can benefit an organisation, but is not being fully utilised, is with regards to collaborative working. Why do we need to send around emails cc'ing the world and his dog - a blog would help deliver this. Imagine a development project where you need to be kept informed, but not required to respond - it is easier to RSS a blog than have to skim through a cc'ed email to find what you are looking for.

Another collaborative tool is the Wiki - the ability for a group of people to join in with the creation of a document without having to email around a paper constantly out of date.

Think of Facebook, imagine that a group of colleagues working together had the ability to keep each other informed (with or without pokes!) with live updates, information and reports from meetings, visits etc.. It is another example of how with simple thinking a play toy can be changed to be a useful business asset.

There are many tools available but it is essential that they are not dismissed out of hand as toys. They need to be considered and investigated as possible tools to help productivity in the work place.

Till next time.

Vis

The story behind the story

BBC NEWS dot.life A blog about technology from BBC News Is it lift off for Linux?

Sometimes I read about a news item on the BBC or other website or sometimes I read about it via a blog.

In the blog that I link to above I read the news story first and then the blog later and it got me thinking about how journalists are using their blogs to 'show their working' for stories and allows us the readers the ability to discover more about the story if we are interested.

Blogging has gone through, and still is going through, many manifestations of the same theme. I mentioned in my previous entry that business is still trying to find the case for using blogs and other social media and I see journalists are starting to move blogging to this new level and making it become part of the business and not so much about their opinion on daily life!

I know that some events of national importance have spread via twitter before the newspapers / website caught up to them, maybe we will see a natural flow for stories in the future...

1. Twitter reports coming in about a story
2. Appears on BBC
3. Read the follow up / workings on the blog
4. Contribute in the comments

A useful site I have been following is called 'Strange Attractor' which is complied by an on-line journalist called Suw Charman-Anderson who describes herself as a 'social software consultant and writer' she and her husband Kevin Anderson have some great ideas as to how social software can be implemented in journalism.

Maybe business should look to journalists for the case to embrace!

Till next time

Vis.

Real People Don't Have Time for Social Media - ReadWriteWeb

Real People Don't Have Time for Social Media - ReadWriteWeb

As usual I have left a long time between witters, but the article that I have linked to might have something to do with it.

The article discusses the role of social media (i.e. Blogging [& replying to blogs], Facebook, Twitter, etc..) in everyday life. The blog generated many comments talking about how often people use Social Media and reading between the lines show what types of organisation have embraced the technology and those that have not.

Many of the responders worked in the 'media' or web industry and have embraced the new developing tools and are starting to utilise them as part of everyday life. Many of the 'dissenters' who do not use Social Media evidenced that they did not have time or the ability to to use it.

My view, which I also commented to the post, are that these new media tools will become more popular in the future as corporations start to realise the benefits and understand how to use them to their advantage. Just look at Email and the Web!

Personally I do not use Social Media much, my reasons are...

1. Time
2. I work in a culture that does not embrace the change
3. I have no one to socialise with!

I will try not to leave it so long next time!

Vis.

Chateau Pquarantecinq

Chateau Pquarantecinq

Now here is an interesting fella, a person I have had the opportunity to meet in a past life.

The author of this blog recently moved to Winnipeg, Canada, but still runs his very successful website from this location. He is a man of many talents and has wrote many books mainly on Architecture. On the side he takes an active interest in Irish culture by observing those who actually live it.

You may ask how he does this when he is nowhere near Ireland - the answer - the Internet! He is a true modern age worker emphasing the point that work is an activity not a location.

Have a read - it has not been updated for a little while - but it is worth it when it is. If you are interested in architecture then check out his other blog... http://www.archiseek.com/onsite/

Till next time

Vis.

500 miles with a 5 minute charge

Business 2.0...Big Innovations: EEStor - Sep. 18, 2006

I am sure that you can now tell that I am often attracted to stories that will help drive technology in the future, therefore this one has got my attention!

It described a new type of electric engine currently in development that, if proved successful, will power a family car for 500 miles on a charge lasting 5 minutes. Unfortunately it will mean longer queues at the 'fuel' station, but at least you will not have to 'fill up' so often!

Unless.... you can plug it into the mains at home...hmmmmm!

I really think that without this sort of inventiveness the world will grind to a halt. Should this engine take off it will dramatically reduce the need for petrol in everyday life, thus redirecting the supply into producing cleaner, more efficient power. I really hope that this engine does hit the big time as it will be the start of a new technological revolution....!

Another witter over!

Till next time,

Vis.

Online Communities

Random Acts Of Reality :: TTIM#2

This is an interesting little piece. It is from a blog that I have been reading for a little while since it caught the public eye.

The author, Tom Reynolds, works for an Ambulance Service in London and he recounts his tales of saving lives in his big white taxi. He has turned his blog into a successful book.

In this particular article he talks about another blog that he visits regularly, that of Neil Gaiman and how he lets that personality shine though his blog. Tom himself is also puts himself into his online work. I have sent him an email and was very happy to receive a reply within 48 hours answering my questions.

In this article he discusses the concept of online communities and how they are developed within the web. My witter for this is that communities build themselves by links to other like-minded sites and people move around the web from site to site reading understanding and contributing to the community.

The introduction of RSS readers allow us viewers the opportunity to gather this information quickly in a readable format and then investigate it further if necessary.

The online community is very much alive!

Till next time

Vis.

Zero-point energy

Zero-point energy

Having mentioned this in my previous post and then read a bit more details on Wikipedia I think that I should really tell you, my dear lonely reader, the definition of zero Point energy that I heard.

It is the force that holds particles together. This is the glue that makes diamonds hard. It is available everywhere, even in the vacuum of space.

If harnessed this power should be able to supply enough energy for everyone, and given that one of the greatest barriers to space travel is having to carry all the fuel around this will also be able to open up space exploration in a big way!

Till next time,

Vis.

Feel free to leave a comment.

Internet's future in 2020 debated

BBC NEWS Technology Internet's future in 2020 debated

This is an interesting little article from the BBC. It discusses the possible direction the web and internet based communications are heading and what they will be like in the year 2020.

It has always made me think what the world will be like in x years time, especially in the world of communications. Myself and the Viscountess were discussing this the other day and I came to the conclusion that the first thing that needed to be addressed was the power resource to supply all this demand.

As soon as a new and efficient power source was found technology would accelerate to the stars! As a by-product of this a general improvement of living throughout the world would also been seen. It is quite interesting to note that all this talk about where the Internet will be in 2020 does not take into consideration the sate of the world in the time - without power there will be no computers, therefore no internet!

Roll on zero-point energy - which was used as the power source of the baddies weapons in the cartoon / film "The Incredibles"