E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Lotus Notes 8 Beta 2 – Testing the Waters of the Next Wave of Collaborative Tools? – You Bet!

Tags: IBM, Lotus Notes, Notes, Lotus Notes 8, Beta 2, Notes8beta, Wikipedia, Groupware, Composite Applications, Activities, Sametime 7.5.1, Lotus Sametime, YouTube, Thomas Adrian, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Demo, User Experience

In one of my previous twitterings, I have actually mentioned how, for the last couple of weeks, I have been testing the waters with the latest client from Lotus Notes 8: Beta 2. For a number of months, I have been trying out Notes 8 beta 1 and I must say that if I was quite impressed back then about what Notes 8 was putting together, I am really glad that I jumped into Beta 2, because the experience is way much more impressive. Yes, indeed, that is the right word for it: very impressive.

I know that quite a lot of people out there may be a bit surprised to actually see me here creating this weblog entry about a particular groupware tool that IBM has been championing for several decades (It even has got its own Wikipedia entry!) and which has shaped tremendously the market around collaboration tools. I remember back then, when I first joined IBM over 10 years ago, that we were all just getting exposed to Lotus Notes 4.1, then from there on to Notes 5, then Notes 6, Notes 7 and already preparing the way into Notes 8. So hang in there with me for a minute and you will see where I am heading…

As far as I can see, most of the major releases of Lotus Notes were actually having a huge impact in the groupware space. However, I feel that with the arrival of Notes 8 (definitely Beta 2 is showing some of that already!) we will be seeing, and experiencing, a paradigm shift where not only Notes 8 might potentially dominate the traditional groupware space (As it has done for many years), but also the more emerging technologies from the world of the social computing space. Because that is actually some of the major set of features put together for Notes 8 beta 2 this time around.

Yes, that is right. I am not sure if you have had a chance to look into the Notes 8 Web site or the actual demo of what it has got to offer, but if there is one thing very clear coming out of all that is that if Lotus Notes was ever meant to be a whole lot more than just an e-mail client, this particular version of Notes 8, whenever it reaches full production, will actually prove that once again, but with a twist.

With a twist because there are a number of different components that have been put together and which touch base quite nicely with the area of social software, going from the Composite Applications, to the integration with Activities, Sametime 7.5.1, different Productivity Tools or an RSS / Atom feed reader to be able to keep up to date with the information you need. And all that with a new and fancy user interface to handle your e-mail and calendar, next to the other different databases you may have been using already. In short, lots of goodies to talk about that would require a few different weblog entries, which is, indeed, what I will be doing over the next few weeks as Notes 8 reaches that full production status.

I just wanted to get things started today with this particular weblog entry to share with you a teaser video clip, stored in YouTube, by Thomas Adrian, and which comes to show you some of the different new features put together in Notes 8 Beta 2 and of which I will be talking about in future posts providing a bit more details with some more extensive overviews of how they work. The only thing missing from the video though is the lack of sound / voice, thus it may seem a bit weird going through it. However, it would be totally worth it and without much further ado, here is a quick preview of what is awaiting some of us when we get to taste the final release of Notes 8 and which we can already see with the beta 2 client:

Oh, if you cannot wait for those reviews I will be sharing shortly there is just one place where you would be able to get a sense of why and how Notes 8 has changed the way group collaboration will be seen as in the next few years. Check out Mary Beth Raven‘s weblog over at Designing the User Experience for Lotus Notes and Sametime. Who would have thought that the next major release of Lotus Notes 8 would have been done in conjunction with us all, i.e. the end-users, by having its developers listen and getting actively involved with our own feedback coming through that particular weblog from Mary Beth. Not sure what you think about this, folks, but very few applications out there have been shaped up this way, don’t you think?

(Stay tuned for those reviews as they will be coming up shortly. You will notice as well how I have consciously not included any other links to other reviews as I will be linking to them accordingly whenever the time is right)

I Taller de Podcasting de Canarias – Y lo Mucho que se Aprende de los Expertos

Tags: Podcasts, Podcasting, Taller de Podcasting, Podcasting Workshop, Cronicas de Esperantia, Mangas Verdes, Linotipo, Fran Saavedra, Canarias Bruta, Manuel Almeida, Victor Ruiz, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canarias, Pamela Systems, Skype, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, KM, Gestion de Conocimientos, Collaboration, Colaboración, Communities, Comunidades, eLearning, Educación

Sí, ya sé que vengo un poco tarde con el post sobre el I Taller de Podcasting de Canarias que tuvo lugar el 17 de marzo y que ya comenté en su momento, pero como lo prometido es deuda aquí tenéis una descripción de cómo fue el evento y de lo que aprendí durante las varias horas que estuvimos absorbiendo conocimientos, un montón, como dicen por aquí, del fascinante mundo del Podcasting.

Pero vamos por partes. Primero, hacer referencia a toda la gente que atendió el evento y que ya han creado sus respectivos artículos comentando cómo fue el evento. Segundo, por supuesto, las fotos del evento que podréis encontrar en Mangas Verdes, gracias a nuestro reporteros gráficos más dicharacheros: Manual Almeida (¡Vaya pedazo de cámara que se gasta el colega!) y Víctor Ruiz. Y luego, por supuesto, el agradecimiento a Octavio por haber habilitado la sala Luroa. En fin, un buen grupo de gente que se molesta y se preocupa, y mucho, porque todas estas tecnologías emergentes tengan su propio espacio en Canarias y los demás podamos explorarlas con comodidad y bastantes conocimientos para probarlas sin ningún tapujo. Vamos, de lujo.

Y, como siempre, lo mejor es siempre estar conectados y enchufados con los expertos en la materia con los que poder aprender bastante sobre el tema antes de lanzarse de lleno a explorar el medio. ¿No creéis? Y eso es prácticamente lo que hicimos los asistentes disfrutando de los conocimientos y consejos de gente que lleva mucho tiempo en esto del podcasting como Fran J. Saavedra, de Crónicas de Esperantia, o Charlie, Miguel y Pino del equipo de Canarias Burta. El evento en sí puede que no tuviera una altísima participación, pero lo cierto es que los que fuimos lo disfrutamos mucho, no sólo por lo didáctico del evento, sino porque parte del propósito fue también dar clases prácticas sobre lo que es el proceso de creación del podcasting y su correspondiente publicación en la red. ¡Increíblemente fascinante lo fácil que llega a ser una vez que te pones a la faena!

Y quizá fue éste el aspecto que más me llamó la atención y la que más me ayudó a dar ese empujoncito final para la creación de podcasts dentro de no mucho tiempo, la verdad. El gusanillo siempre ha estado ahí, desde luego, pero la charla por parte de Fran, Charlie y Miguel ha sido la que al final va a tener su fruto y me va a lanzar al mundo de los podcasts.

Como habréis podido ver si leéis este blog con regularidad, en el pasado ya he comentado cómo había participado en una serie de episodios con diferentes podcasters, pero siempre desde la perspectiva de invitado y nunca desde la perspectiva de productor de los diferentes episodios. Bueno, ¡pues eso va a cambiar y muy pronto!

Quizá ése sea el gran éxito del I Taller de Podcasting de Canarias. El hecho de que después del evento ya he empezado a poner las cosas en su sitio y estoy preparando el lanzamiento de mi propio podcast, que, por cierto, va a tener un poco de todo. En formato híbrido, haciendo podcasts tanto individuales como colaborativas, tanto en inglés como en español, tratando varios de los temas sobre los que ya llevo un buen tiempo comentando en los diferentes weblogs que mantengo: Gestión / Administración de Conocimientos, Colaboración, Comunidades, Educación y las Redes Sociales o el social computing.

Ahora sólo me quedan ultimar los detalles finales, como echar un vistazo a Pamela-Systems y en particular Pamela para Skype y decidir cuál es la mejor opción, y empezar a dar los primeros pasos. Habrá que ver cómo irá todo al final, pero lo cierto es que estoy bastante ilusionado con empezar ya que me va a permitir poder conocer a mucha gente que ya llevo leyendo durante bastante tiempo. Veremos a ver qué tal se nos da. De momento, agradecer, de nuevo, tanto a Fran, Charlie y Miguel, como a Octavio el haber organizado tal evento por primera vez en Canarias y que sepais que el gusanillo estaba ahí desde hacía tiempo, pero lo habéis despertado y con muchas ganas! ¡A por ellos! (Uy, perdón, ese último comentario pertenece a otro contexto )

Secrets of Successful Blogging by Ted Demopoulos

Tags: Metablogging, Business Blogging, Successful Blogging, Blogs, Booklets, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Collaboration, Conversations, Ted Demopoulos

I am now back from Budapest, where I have been for the last week attending an IBM Global Business Services Learning & Knowledge internal event around the subject of Knowledge Sharing and Community Building, of which I have talked about here and here. The event itself was just awesome and incredibly re-energising! One of those events that makes you feel jazzed up by the second day you are attending! I have got lots and lots of stuff to share around the event itself and also about the lovely city of Budapest, so I am hoping to make it a bit of justice over the next few days when I get to share a rather long weblog entry detailing what the event was like and what being in Budapest for a week is. Thus stay tuned because it will be shared over the next few days, I hope. It will pretty much depend on how things move forward with that massive catchup with everything else that I am going through at the moment.

However, I just wanted to give you all a heads up from a lovely booklet that Ted Demopoulos has put together recently and which will grab your attention immediately if you are into the subject of weblogging and helping you out improve your overall experience with this social computing tool, in order to reach out, connect with others, share your knowledge and collaborate with other knowledge workers in the subjects you are passionate about as well. And all of that through pimping up your own weblogging experience.

Yes, indeed, that is right. That is the whole purpose of the Secrets for Successful Blogging by Ted Demopoulos, where you can find "101+ tips for blogging more efficiently, effectively and profitably". All I can say is totally recommended! You can read it in a breeze at your own time, specially when you have got a spare minute to dive into each of those different tips. That is, exactly, what I did myself while I was in Budapest. Internet connections have not been very good, specially while I was getting there, so I had a chance to revisit the booklet again and put together some further annotations on how to improve my own weblogging experience and I must say that some people would say it is all pretty much common sense and all, but when you actually see it written down in a such a simple and effective manner that Ted has managed to do, it just clicks.

So, here I am, recommending it (Like many others have done already thus far) as well as one of the best quick and beneficial reads for those webloggers who are not just getting into weblogging in the last few weeks, but also for those people, like myself, who have been weblogging for a number of years and who could still learn a thing or two on something you never thought it was so easy to implement. Amazing, but totally surprising the effect of going through 101+ tips and figure out that there are still lots of things you could do to help improve the way you handle conversations out there in the blogosphere.

A recommended read, for sure, so if you bump into Secrets for Successful Blogging by Ted Demopoulos and still think you can learn some more on what drives your passion in the weblogging world I would strongly encourage you to get your hands on a copy of it. Then I am very certain you will be very grateful to Ted for helping you pimp up your weblog in no time and with some concrete tips you can start implementing from day one!

Thanks much, Ted, for such a lovely, quick, short, and amazing booklet! Worth while a read, to say the least!