If you have been following elsua for quite some time now you probably have read the couple of different weblog posts that I have created around the subject of Dogear, IBM’s internal offering for social bookmarking. I know that there seems to be lots of interest out there about what IBM is doing regarding Web 2.0 and social software related technologies, Dogear amongst them, so I just thought I would let you know about a new IBM site that talks about this very same subject and although it is still in the making, you will see some sections that may not have been completed yet (That is yet to come), you can already see where it is heading. Check Lotus Greenhouse and, in particular the section dedicated to Dogear. Over there you would be able to get some additional information details about how Dogear works and how it is being used over at IBM

You will also be able to find, under the Community section, some Discussion Forums and a Dogear wiki where you can get additional information from the Dogear end-user community on how they are getting the most out of the application itself. Along, of course, with a section dedicated entirely to Features

Pretty impressive, I know. But as I mentioned earlier on, you may want to revisit it over the next few weeks because as you can see there are a number of sections that still need to be put together and completed. For instance, you would be able to see how the main homepage does not have much significant content. That will come. And along those lines you can also see how there are two other different IBM offerings in there that have not been started yet, but that I am sure they will in its due time. One of them is IBM Lotus Sametime 7.5 (A new revolutionary Instant Messaging client that I will talk about at some other time) and the other one is Activities (A new IBM application still in the making and that I will also be weblogging about it at a later point in time)

Thus as you can see it looks like little by little we will be having some more information available out there about what is happening in IBM regarding all of these emerging technologies around the world of social software and Web 2.0. Stay tuned for more updates to come because as they become available I will be sharing some further thoughts on them over here. The fun continues …

Technorati Tags: Dogear, Sametime 7.5, Activities, Lotus Greenhouse, IBM, Social Software, Web 2.0, Social Networking, Knowledge Management, KM

(Update): As kindly noted by my colleague Andy (Thanks for the pingback and for the headsup, Andy!) it looks like the site is currently down at the moment. My guess is that perhaps they are getting some more content on it before they will open it up again. Thus stay tuned. As soon as I find out more details about it I will share them over here.

While scanning through InsideKnowledge I bumped into a very short article titled Blogs and wikis “ten years in the making” by Graeme Burton where he comes to talk how there have been some people out there who have been indicating all along how weblogs and wikis are actually something not really that new and refreshing. In fact, Graeme comments how Rangaswami has actually been using both of them since 1995. So it looks like we should not be surprised at something so relatively old as both weblogs and wikis. That thought actually got me thinking. I started weblogging about end of 2003 on IBM’s Intranet and my participation in wikis goes perhaps a while back in the past from that same date. So I feel I can relate very well to the same thoughts that Rangaswami has shared over at that particular article.

However, even though those particular social software offerings have been there for a number of years it clearly shows how sometimes having refreshing technology at hand is not always going to work very well if people do not want to. And we have got the proof with wikis and weblogs taking so long to reach that status where everyone talks about it has. Yes, I am sure you know where I am heading…

Yes, indeed, the key message towards the successful adoption of both wikis and weblogs, amongst other social software available out there, is not the tools themselves, although there have been huge improvements about usability, scalability and accessibility all along, but more the people themselves. That critical mass of knowledge workers that I have talked about in the past and which are the main responsible parties of this hyped social media tools all along.

It is that same critical mass the one that is helping push the adoption of those tools because they themselves are acting as technical facilitators as well in the acceptance of such technologies amongst the non-tech savvy folks out there so that the initial technical barriers can be overcome and people get a chance to share what they know and collaborate with others. And that is the huge power of wikis and weblogs, amongst others. The fact that, thanks to that critical mass, everyone has got the opportunity to share their best know-how without spending too much time trying to figure out how to make best use of those tools. That is perhaps the main reason why all this social software is just so hot at the moment. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Knowledge Management, KM, Wikis, Weblogs, Critical Mass, Social Software

Through Lilia Efimova’s weblog, Mathemagenic, I have bumped into this particularly interesting article by David Gurteen on Stop Apologising for Knowledge Management. As I said, this is one very thought provoking article that David has put together, and that I have enjoyed very much, in which he is actually saying something that I have been advocating myself for quite some time now: There is no need to apologise for Knowledge Management. What is the point? Indeed, David comes to discuss how quite a few KMers out there have been in a situation where they have been in the need of neglecting or denying the Knowledge Management concept that they feel so passionate about. Goodness! How bad is that? How can you deny what you are so passionate about all along? Yes, I can certainly agree with David when he mentions that some times people may find it difficult to relate to, and that is perhaps what our job should be: helping clear out the KM message so that it is understood by everyone. But from there to denying it is going way too far away, in my opinion.

I agree with David that Knowledge Management is just a label, like KM is, like many many others. That is one of the things that differentiates as human beings, the fact that we need to label everything, but that is it. There is no need to go beyond that. What really matters is to actually make use of that label to move into the next level which is basically explaining what KM is all about, bring in some sensemaking into it, even though that may not necessarily be an easy thing either, as I have commented elsewhere as well. But at least, we should try !

There is no denying that Knowledge Management is back, I certainly agree with David on that one, too, specially with all this hype about social software, social networking and the like and I just hope that this time around we have learned the lessons from the past. KM is here to stay, whether we like it or not, thus if you feel that you are still passionate about the subject there is just one thing that you could do: show it!.

And show it now !

After the weekend break (And subsequent hiccup) where elsua has now moved to a new web hosting home I am really glad to announce that the move has now been completed successfully and elsua has got a new home with double the amount of bandwidth, space and whatever else. Wonderful! I am really delighted with how things went with the migration, except perhaps a little scare that took place on Saturday and for which I was not really sure how it would turn out to be in the end. But, at long last, it was all fixed that same day and we are back in business. As you may have noticed nothing much has changed in the overall experience. Things are going now back to normal. Only thing that I need to do now is look for a 3 column theme for my WordPress weblog that I can use, as opposed to the current one, so that I can accommodate better a recent change I decided to implement about including pictures inside of every single weblog post.

Somehow there seems to be a little bit of distortion that I am not seeing when I am actually previewing the weblog post and I think it is because of the actual theme I am currently using. Thus we shall see. I have already initiated the hunt for that super theme that would help address this issue but if you know of any other resource other than what Emily has shared over at her weblog please do append a comment sharing those links. I have looked through all of the different 3 column themes over there and I just couldn’t find a single one that I would feel comfortable with. I know, it will be difficult to find one but I am trying …

And talking about trying, while I have been doing the migration to the new web hosting environment of elsua, and since I couldn’t post anything during that time, I have had a chance to catch up with all of the different RSS Newsfeeds that I keep track of, specially the ones from my Knowledge Management folder and it looks like throughout all this time since I came back from Madrid lots of people have been having a great deal of great conversations ! Thus this time around I am going to give it a try and see if I can update on a more or less regular basis the Links and Thoughts section, which I have failed miserably to update throughout all these months, and include in very short weblog posts some of those links with some additional commentary.

If you remember I mentioned I would be using that section to remind me of future topics to deal with and it looks like since that ever growing list of links is never going to stop I might as well get it going once and for all. Thus hopefully, from here onwards you will be seeing some of that as well.

Any way, here we are, elsua has got a new home. I am excited about it all since there would be some interesting changes coming up along the way and, above all, the feeling that I am home again. Yes, it is good to be back…

Technorati Tags: Metablogging, WordPress, HostPC

If you would remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that elsua would be moving to a new home very shortly given that my current web hosting server was actually closing down the different servers. Well, I am glad to let you folks know that after having searched all over the place for different options, having talked to a number of folks (Thanks much for the great tips!), and having tried out a number of different things I have finally found my next web hosting environment. It will be with the folks over at HostPC. I have just signed up for one of the very competitive packages they have in offer and wouldn’t you know it, this is just perfect timing because they have just got started with a 15 day offer where they are doubling their offerings free of charge, for new accounts, that is. Here you have got all of the different details.

Thus I have signed up with them just a couple of hours ago and over the next couple of days I will be making the transition and migration to the new web hosting environment using the DirectAdmin access, so there may be a chance that if you try to access elsua it may be temporarily down while the DNS servers get to update themselves. Nothing to worry about I guess but you will have to bear with me while I get everything sorted out. I shall be back posting some new stuff over the next day or two while I finish off with the migration into the new environment. Let’s see how it would go…

Technorati Tags: Metablogging, HostPC