I cannot believe this ! Last week Friday you would remember how I have been weblogging about the latest beta available from Qumana, QumanaXP and how much I liked the experience overall regarding the different new possibilities of sharing knowledge in your weblogs in a much more user friendly way and without hardly any effort. Well, I thought things would be different. I thought lots of people would dive into this new beta and take it for a spin, but it seems like the Blogosphere has hardly taken notice of it, if I come to check Technorati’s search results, where only 19 weblog posts referenced this particular weblogging tool. Goodness ! What happened? Why is it that people are not using such smooth and elegant weblogging tools as QumanaXP? Hummm, it makes me wonder. As I have mentioned back on Friday� I doubt there is any other freeware weblogging tool with such capabilities as QumanaXP so I am quite surprised to see that not many people seem to have tried it out yet.

However, and while trying to figure out what is actually happening out there, I must confess that one of the reasons why I have been watching Technorati over the last couple of days has been the curiosity of trying to find out how many more people were also having the similar issues I reported trying to get QumanaXP to work with Roller Weblogger. As I said it is the only thing left for me not to switch to this weblogging tool as my default option so I was curious to find out what people were saying on the topic.

Zero, nada, nothing ! Indeed, there is no single mention of this particular weblogging tool and Roller, which would explain why� I may be having the problems in the first place, since there are no other folks who seem to be exploring this combination and who perhaps could have tested it before going public. Hummm, I guess that would teach me for the next time. Thing is that I am now way too excited to continue making use of it so while hoping that I can finally get the problem fixed with Roller and QumanaXP (Already talking with one of the developers, by the way, so will keep you posted) I guess I will continue using it for my WordPress weblog and perhaps one of these days I will be creating another weblog post where I could then confirm that I can now use it with Roller and at that moment I can switch over to it and establish it as my default weblogging tool. I can’t wait for that to happen but I think I would also need to have a little bit of luck. Thus fingers crossed and let’s hope these issues get sorted out in the shortest time possible. We shall see how that goes.

Tags: Metablogging, QumanaXP, Roller Weblogger, Roller

If you have been reading elsua for quite some time now you would know that in most cases I am actually making use of different third party weblogging tools in order to share content. So far my favourite one is w.bloggar although Qumana comes pretty close, too, in the second place. Indeed, I have been weblogging about Qumana quite a few times and although I stopped using it for some time because of the fact that it was not validating its content as well as I thought I have always been following further developments on the software itself hoping that it would improve even more over time.

That is why when I saw this morning the weblog post from Neville Hobson on NevOn about� QumanaXP Public Beta Launched I just couldn’t help resist the temptation of downloading it and playing around with it. Neville is reporting some good reviews:

“The latest beta 3.0.0-b1 reflects some serious development work over previous betas - they do listen to the testers - and shows a strong commitment by Qumana to produce a reliable tool for blogging that will stand up well against the competition”.

So I just couldn’t wait any longer and I went ahead, downloaded, installed the software and the good fun just got started. Indeed, I am creating this weblog post from the new QumanaXP beta and I must say that it is a true delight. If sharing content collaboratively on the web can be as easy as this then we are off to a good start for sure. I mean, I am here posting this weblog post on to my WordPress weblog, elsua, and everything is going like a charm. It was set up in no time, it grabbed all of the previous posts, I could also see the list of categories I could choose from. I could add Trackbacks (We will see if they would work with Neville’s weblog post) and I could add the usual Technorati tags as easy as usual. And it all seems to be pretty slick so far.

There are lots of different features that I like, such as the Source View (One of the reasons why I like w.bloggar so much), or the Spellcheck as you type; of course, the WYSISYG editor, some more additional User Preferences, like adding additional ping services, the inserting of ads, although I haven’t tested that out just yet as well as I should but it will come and so forth, but if I would need to choose one feature over all of the others as to why QumanaXP would become my default weblogging tool is its use of use .Indeed, sharing content in a weblog will not get any easier than this, I tell you. At least, I am not going through an ordeal in order to publish this weblog post. On the contrary, it is a real pleasure and quite an smooth experience.

However, not everything is just going to be perfect, like usual, I guess. Perhaps the only improvement that I could think of with QumanaXP is with regards to the excellent Blog Manager option from where you can manage all of your different weblogs and their corresponding posts. As I said QumanaXP seems to be working just fine with WordPress. However, I cannot say the same thing about other popular Open Source weblogging engines, like Roller Weblogger. Apparently, this beta version seems to struggling setting up my Intranet weblog using Roller. I know it is not listed as one of the engines, but that is why we have got over there the MetaWebLog API in order to set it up. And that is exactly what I am using. However, after it grabs all of the different settings, including the name of the weblog and so forth and I am given the option to click on Finish I do so and it hangs there forever. It looks like QumanaXP seems to struggle to detect the categories and grab those different weblog posts, because I just cannot it get to work and I have been forced to end the task twice already.

I am not sure how I am going to be able to fix this one issue, but I do seriously hope that I get it sorted it out because if I do manage to solve it QumanaXP will become, no doubt, become my default weblogging tool (Hoping that validating has improved as well quite a bit). So far I am liking and enjoying what I see. Some serious effort has gone into improving the tool and I am glad they have done so, because now, and thanks to it, people would not have any excuse any longer to share content in their weblogs in an inexpensive, user friendly, featured packed manner and very powerful weblogging tool ! Well done, folks! A really fine piece of software ! Keep up the good work while it is on Beta because we surely are going to enjoy the experience !

Tags: Metablogging, Qumana, QumanaXP, w.bloggar, WordPress, RollerWeblogger

It is that time of the week again where I will be sharing another weblog post that will detail the next series of pictures I have taken recently from a trip I did to a couple of the many symbols from Gran Canaria: Risco Blanco in San Bartolome de Tirajana, next to some other pictures from the highest mountain top of the island, Pozo de las Nieves. So as you will be able to see the scenery is quite spectacular but perhaps the nicest thing was the lovely weather I had while on the trip and that is; something that you will be able to see in the attached selection of the pictures I have included below. You will be able to see the rest of the pictures from the lot in my Flickr account under the tags Risco Blanco and Pozo de las Nieves.

That was it for this time around. Next week there will be some more that I will be sharing but that is another weblog post. Enjoy them !

Technorati Tags: Risco Blanco, Pozo de las Nieves, Gran Canaria

Ok, there has been lots of hype over the last few hours about the latest so-called innovation from Google regarding its already available integration between GMail and Google Talk, although it will take a few more weeks before it hits the rest of the world, since it is just available in the US apparently. Mind you that just this morning I saw it already available in my GMail account so it may get there eventually before we would have expected. Either way, it is coming if it is not already there. The important thing though is the fact that for the first time we have got a large enterprise putting together two different Internet environments to get the best out of them: Instant Messaging and e-mail and provide a new platform for people to connect, collaborate, share knowledge, exchange information and so forth. Indeed, I have been weblogging about this over at elsua @ ITtoolbox; we have got the unique opportunity to witness how, for the first time, how two of the most frequent activities we all get to carry out first thing in the morning are now walking hand in hand next to each other. I am sure that you would agree with this: the first thing you check in the morning is, perhaps, your e-mail, and then your buddy list to check who is online and who isn’t. Then you wander elsewhere (i.e. RSS Newsfeeds, your weblog(s), etc.).

So it would appear as if Google has done it once again; keeping ahead with the rest of the pack in enabling people to collaborate in a seamless way putting together several of the most important components available on the Internet today to help facilitate those interactions / connections: IM and e-mail. Well, I am afraid to disappoint a few folks, but this time around Google is not the first one of the pack in this, potentially crucial, collaborative space. And that is why I wanted to create this weblog post because apparently people seem to be forgetting things as they happen. And for quite some time ago.

Indeed, quite a few years ago, there was a company, IBM, who decided that this same integration of e-mail and Instant Messaging may have proved to be very beneficial in order to provide some new ground for people to expand their borders and help them collaborate much closer and perhaps much more effectively. So a bunch of IBMers decided to get working on a new product that over time, and throughout the years, has matured to be one of those indispensable tools for those of us who get to enjoy it during the course of the day. Indeed, Notesbuddy was born over five years ago to provide us, knowledge workers, with the possibility of collaborating much closer not only making use of e-mail but also IM. Since then lots of things have happened with this particular e-mail/IM client but overall it has kept true in nature to itself by allowing its end-users to make extensive use of the different e-mail and IM capabilities. Pretty much you are able to do the same stuff that you will be able to go with Google Talk and GMail, except that with Notesbuddy you have got the opportunity of integrating it with other tools, i.e. Lotus Notes, POP mail, etc. But you would be able to see your contacts online, your e-mails, your groups and so forth and still be able to collaborate with them in a seamless, yet very powerful way, since the memory foot print is almost non existent.

I know that many folks out there would say that Notesbuddy actually requires a license after the 90 days of trial but I can honestly say that is time more than enough for anybody to evaluate if it would be a worth while option for yourself or not to continue making use of it. The key message here though is that innovation in this particular space has already taken place and people seem to be quite content with the results so far (As can be seen over at the Notesbuddy reviews). But don’t worry, innovation does not stop there. With the upcoming release of Lotus Sametime 7.5, which I have mentioned elsewhere, we will be able to see where we would be taking things further. Based on some common features put together from both Notesbuddy and IBM Community Tools (Perhaps I will talk some more in a separate weblog post about this awesome piece of software), Lotus Sametime 7.5 will eventually be able to connect not only with other Sametime end-users but also with AOL, Yahoo! and even Google Talk end-users, all of that at the same time and from a single IM client, as has been described all over the place in different media.

Thus here we go, perhaps witnessing for the first time an interesting global IM interoperability with some of the major IM players out there and still keeping in mind that integrating all of that with your e-mail is a good thing. Actually, it is a very good thing !

Technorati Tags: Google, Google Talk, GMail, Instant Messaging, e-mail

Some time ago I created a weblog post here in elsua around the topic of The High Cost of Interruptions where I mentioned how despite the fact that interruptions may be considered a negative thing, which is what has happened for quite some time now, they can actually be quite productive on their own if managed well and in a timely manner. Indeed, they can be one of the most powerful enablers to help increase the social capital from a given team / community. Along those same lines of discussion I have bumped into a news article that I have been wanting to comment as well on for quite some time now. The article itself is titled: “Interruptive� Technologies Draining Knowledge Worker Productivity, Says Basex.

I haven’t had a chance to read the executive summary just yet, but I found this particular quote quite interesting:

“Managers need to recognize that 28 percent of each knowledge or information worker’s day may be wasted due to unnecessary interruptions such as instant messaging, spam e-mail, telephone calls and the Web,“

That certainly may be accurate to some extent but has anybody done any study looking at the facts from another perspective? Is there any study along the same lines that would indicate how much time and effort have been saved over and over again from the hundreds of IM conversations that knowledge workers do in order to fix problems, look for information, have interactive discussions with other coworkers and so forth? Has anybody done any study on the huge amount of money and time saved by knowledge workers while making use of the web looking for information they may be able to reuse without having to necessarily reinvent the wheel having to create their own Intellectual Capital out of their own work? Has anybody taken into consideration how many millions of e-mails are exchanged on a daily basis to help people collaborate with one another, share information that would be crucial to the project or the community they are working in?

I bet that if there would be some studies put together along the lines I have mentioned above the results would indicate how much more money knowledge workers are making despite the different interruptions that people go through on a daily basis. At the end of the day I am not saying that all interruptions are good, nor are they all bad, what I am saying is that if we are going to look at that data accurately we would also need to look at how much value add people are providing for their companies while making extensive use of those interruptions. I bet that the results would be so much more interesting and relevant to the issue in here: we need to ensure that knowledge workers know how to manage those interruptions without having to additional education on how to prioritise those distractions. I think it would be much more relevant and productive to show people how to manage them than to teach them how they would need to do their jobs. Because after all, and like I mentioned elsewhere, “We create our own distractions and just need to learn to manage them“. If we would apply that statement to most of the concerns raised with “Interruptive� Technologies Draining Knowledge Worker Productivity, Says Basex I bet we would be much better off. For sure.

Technorati Tags: Social Capital, Knowledge Management, KM, Intellectual Capital

Over at Denham Grey’s weblog he has just been sharing a weblog post that all of us, knowledge workers, Knowledge Management advocates and so forth should not be ignoring. In KM Wikipedia Regression he just mentions how the quality of the KM related article in Wikipedia has gone down a bit. Probably quite substantially. Shawn Calahan has also been commented about it on Call to update Wikipedia’s KM entry.

So what Denham is asking us all to do is to go out there and start updating the Wikipedia article on KM so that it has got all the good quality it deserves. Thus Denham is suggesting the following sections:

• Overview
• History
• The KM domain
• Core Theory
• KM competencies
• References
• External links
• KM bloggers

Then he also suggests that, where possible, we should also be able to update the different sub-themes related to Knowledge Management, like Intellectual Capital, amongst many others. Overall, I think that this is a terrific idea actually and I would very much like to help getting those articles updated. Even more, I think that I would also be very keen on having another section dedicated to Knowledge Management Tools. But instead of just going ahead and update things further I would also be very keen on setting something, perhaps, much more rewarding in the long term.

Some time ago you would remember how I created a weblog post, KMWiki - A Collaborative Persistent ‘Conversation’ on All Matters Related to Knowledge Management, where I mentioned how Denham had created a KMWiki space whose “ultimate aim is to prepare Wikipedia entries on key KM concepts, develop topic and concept maps of this exciting domain“. So what I would like to propose in here is to indeed go ahead and start doing some updates on the KM Wikipedia article but work on those updates first over at KMWiki and then once we all feel comfortable with the level of information and accuracy we can then go ahead and update the Wikipedia entry. That way, once we all reach a consensus on what to add to the main entry, at the same time we can continue working on further updates without disrupting the information already available and establish a period of say monthly or quarterly updates that could constantly keep Wikipedia’s article accurate and relevant throughout time.

Does it make sense to continue making use of KMWiki to prepare those items for the KM Wikipedia article and perhaps help create some other additional resources around KM related topics ? Does it make sense to add another category for KM Tools giving the good amount of Web 2.0 related tools that have certainly given an incredible boost to KM related topics (Content Management, Social Networking, Collaboration, eLearning) over the last few months / years, amongst other traditional KM tools? What do you think ?

Technorati Tags: Knowledge Management, KM, Wikipedia