The old saw suggests that if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. We’re seeing a lot of that in the social software space. Apparently, now that every corporate executive has a kid on Facebook, more and more companies in the Web2.0, social software space feel the need to
n his October report for the Gartner group, Magic Quadrant for Team Collaboration and Social Software, 2007, Nikos Drakos does a compelling look at the online collaboration, er, social software space. Drakos’ opening line “The collaboration support market is being revitalized, with buyers and sellers looking to add social interaction in the context of broad
Dion Hinchcliffe did a pretty exhaustive survey of the state of enterprise 2.0 a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great read, if only to get a handle on just what Enterprise 2.0 is evolving into in the minds of people who are thinking about it! At the core of Enterprise 2.0 is a paradox:
Social Network or Community? I’ve been watching the rise of the social networking sites with fascination. There has always been a bit of fuzziness (or violent controversy, depending on in which circles one is having the conversation!) about what constitutes community in general, as well as about what constitutes online community. I think the rise
There’s a fascinating formal debate taking place on The Economist site this week. The proposition put forward is: This house believes that the continuing introduction of new technologies and new media adds little to the quality of most education. Speaking to the pro side is Sir John Daniel, President and Chief Executive Officer of The
If the web-displayed email list is the oldest form of Web2.0 technology, the message board is probably the second-most venerable form of the read-write web. For many web denizens, the message board is their first experience with publishing their words in a world-readable place. And though some would like to think this technology too “last
Educause has released their study of Students and Information Technology, 2007. There’s not much startling in this report, which the authors characterize as a detailing of evolution, rather than revolution. More students are using content management systems than ever. More have laptops than ever. Many have complaints about the unhelpfulness of the college help desk,
September’s big question on the Learning Circuits Blog is Where to Work? I think there are fewer questions that are more personal than what working environment is the “best”, so I don’t think I’ll try to generalize, but I will reflect a little on why I enjoy my work. As is obvious from the placement
My friend Bob Watson pointed me to an interesting article this week in Red Orbit by Ashley Heher about the U. S. Intelligence Community’s planned implementation of social networking software to improve cooperation and communication among agents. Heher notes the key features of the new app, dubbed “A-Space”: Aside from simply being able to share
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach posted a very thorough round-up of current thinking in The Art of Building Virtual Communities over on the TechLearning blog. If you haven’t read it, do. I learned of it from industry veteran Howard Rheingold. I’ve found over the years that when Howard says something is worth checking out, I’ll be sorry to