The Department of Education & Communities in NSW has published a range of materials during 2011 addressing various aspects of social media and how people working in this department can and should make use of it. Above is a video introduction to their internal microblogging tools, Maang.
Last week I was invited by Nigel Freitas to participate in a panel discussion about Knowledge Management (KM) for Sky News Australia’s Technology Behind Business show.
Technology Behind Business examines trends and analyses key IT concepts. Each week an expert panel focuses on one type of technology or strategy, explaining its use without the jargon, outlining the pros and cons and providing tips for all types of businesses. The panel in this episode included Felicity McNish from Woods Bagot and Gerhard Voster from Deloitte.
If you are interested in this topic, I've written a reasonable amount about it over the years including a couple of book chapters and magazine articles - most of it accessible through my archive.
Of course, robust discussion on what KM is and if it failed is most welcome! ;-)
This is a long anticipated play by Yammer to expand the foot print of its platform. I haven't had a chance to play with these new features just yet, so can't comment on the user experience or maturity of the new tools. However, I am wondering how this will affect Yammer's business model in respect to the enterprise and government sectors - the more it adds, the more chance that a purely viral deployment approach will bump into other enterprise applications and systems, which may result in the need for a more formal adoption and procurement approach.
UPDATE:Alan Lepofsky provides a more detailed review and point of view.
Nicholas Carr thinks these kinds of techno-utopian videos are creepy. I'm not sure about that, although both of these videos are some what homogeneous and perhaps a little 'antiseptic' - but they are marketing pieces, not true works of science fiction. They actually remind me of rather badly thought out 'perfect' user journeys. If you want something a little grundgy, try William Gibson.
In this new RSAnimate, renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how our 'divided brain' has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society. Taken from a lecture given by Iain McGilchrist as part of the RSA's free public events programme.
McGilchrist explains that its not really about the idea of the left and right sides of the brain, rather about how we understand the relationship between rational and intuitive mind.
Coming off the back of their annual social intranet conference, the ThoughtFarmer guys have announced the release of ThoughtFarmer 5. This release includes a new mobile-optimised version and an improved API.
I haven't played with the mobile version yet, but it looks well executed. I'm also really interested in the Integration Kit (TIK). No social intranet exists in a vacuum, so the ability to extend and customise ThoughtFarmer means you can use it as a true social workplace platform.
Dennis Howlett interviews Chris Robinson, CIO of KPMG Asia Pacific, about their tibbr pilot:
I wanted to know why KPMG would invest in what many people see as technology toys. In the above video, Chris talks about the many needs KPMG has identified as it adjusts to the 21st century.
Among other things, he says that the payback in terms of improved talent retention and the ability to actively connect KPMG alumni back to the mothership provides more than enough ROI to justify the spend. And that’s just the start. In their case, KPMG is using its rollout as a pilot that demonstrates value to the larger global practice. Oh yes, and for the naysayers out there – it is being used as a secure communication connection between KPMG and its clients.
Listening to the interview, you will hear that tools like email and Sharepoint are also still part of the user's information landscape at KPMG, but they are also mixed with other tools like SAP. tibbr's role in many respects isn't to supersede those tools but compliment them.
There is a lot to like in Confluence 4.0's new content editor. What I particularly like is that they haven't just improved the usability for everyday users, they have also made it even easier for those same users to utilise one of Confluence's key strengths, macros.
What's more, because its open source you can build exactly want you want from scratch or use one of the great distributions, like Commons or Open Atrium. Acquia's Commons 2.0 Beta 1 has just been released, with new Status Wall functionality (see the preview video above).
