Tags: IBM, IBM Lotus Connections, Lotus Connections, Connections, Profiles, Communities, Weblogs, Dogear, Social Bookmarks, Activities, Activity Centric Computing, Lotus, Screencasts, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0

In the past, you would remember how there have been a number of times where I have been talking extensively over here about the upcoming release of an IBM product in the area of social computing for the Enterprise called Lotus Connections. I know as well plenty of folks have shown their interest in getting to know some more about this particular offering, since most of those different weblog entries that I have created thus far have been amongst the most visited over a short period of time. So with that in mind I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to bring things further into the next level.

Seeing Lotus Connections perform live! Yes, that is right! Instead of me telling you some more on what is actually behind such offering as far as talking on the subject of Profiles, Communities, Weblogs, Dogear (Social Bookmarks) and Activities, I think it would be a whole lot more beneficial if we would actually get to watch it live and check how each of the different components come together into a single unified collaborative and knowledge sharing experience.

Take a look then at the following demo that the IBM Lotus folks have been putting together:

• Lotus Connections.

It is a screencast that lasts for a bit over six minutes and in it you would be able to see how Connections actually works, which is probably as good as it gets. Because with that particular business end-user scenario you will be able to watch some of the very practical uses that this particular application has got to offer and how knowledge workers can benefit from it not only from the perspective of improving the way knowledge gets shared across but also how those same knowledge workers connect with one another to collaborate on getting the job done. And all of that without having to use multiple other tools in the process.

As you may be able to see from the Web site where the screencast is stored, you can watch the demo live or rather download it so that you can view it a later time offline. Whatever is easier for you. And also for those folks who may be looking for the script of the screencast you can also download it from here. 

Thus without much further ado and without taking too much time off from you for the demo itself, I would strongly encourage you all to take a look into the screencast on Lotus Connections and find out some more as to how IBM is planning to progress further into adopting social computing within the Enterprise and beyond. I bet that you will find it quite entertaining and enlightening. Because, above all, you will be able to see something very important and which may not be just related to Connections, nor to IBM itself: the fact that you can conduct effective business using social computing to address real customers issues and find solutions for them in the shortest time possible by empowering people to reach out for information and connect with other knowledge workers. Yes, that is right. Putting together the best of both worlds: knowledge and the people behind that knowledge. Can social computing get better than this? I doubt it.

Another step closer towards the final integration of social computing into the regular business processes that try to address customers’ real needs and act upon them. Excellent stuff! What social computing was ever meant to be!

Tags: Web2Expo, Web2.0Expo, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, InfoWorld, Juan Carlos Perez, Innovation, Social Computing Adoption, Technology, Processes, People, Cultural Changes

As you may have been reading already during the course of the last few hours, yesterday the Web 2.0 Expo got started with some incredible buzz about how Web 2.0 is eventually starting making its way into the Enterprise and become eventually Enterprise 2.0. And of all of the different weblog posts and news articles that have been shared thus far there has been one that caught my eye and which I thought would be worth while mentioning over here as well, since it touches base on a couple of weblog entries I have shared in the past. It has been shared over at InfoWorld by Juan Carlos Perez and is titled Wikis, blogs, RSS aim for the workplace.

As I have mentioned above, the main reason why I have found that particular article interesting is because it captures some of the main themes behind the Web 2.0 Expo event and which touch base on a couple of weblog posts I have shared in the past. Basically, how Web 2.0 should certainly not only become the base for Enterprise 2.0, but how it should not just stop just there. It should also be able to address some of the potential concerns that the corporate world has got about Web 2.0 ("areas like availability, performance, scalability and security"), address them and fix them, but always starting from the point of view where Web 2.0 left things: driving innovation at a rampant pace without having to necessarily reinvent the wheel!

Here are a couple of gems from the article that Juan Carlos put together and which clearly set the path to move forward with the adoption of social computing within the corporate world:

"They also point out that blogs can be effective marketing tools if they are used wisely, while syndicated feeds can improve communications that aren’t efficiently handled by e-mail." (Emphasis mine)

Or this other one:

""E-mail comes and goes and we wanted a place to collect and build," Suding said. "Web 2.0 is about employee collaboration and empowerment and self service. That’s what we’re achieving with the wiki."" (Emphasis mine)

As you can see from the above quotes, things may not be as difficult as what they may seem initially, since more and more businesses are starting to explore the world of social networking in order to help knowledge workers share their knowledge and collaborate with others a lot easier while at work. I am sure that it will be with events like the Web 2.0 Expo that will help move things forward towards the success of such adoption. However, we may still face another challenge, which may not have to do anything at all with the tools, nor the processes, but with the culture itself.

Will knowledge workers be able to let off go most of their own knowledge and share with others when in plenty of businesses out there "knowledge is (still) power"? What will it take for knowledge workers to let off go their knowledge and help contribute? Will social computing be up for the job and allow for that cultural change? Well, I surely hope so, and I will certainly be hoping to share some of those different insights here in this weblog as time goes by. For the time being though, time now to continue with that catch up of the Web 2.0 Expo happenings and see what people have been up to.

Tags: Life, Fun, Play, Balance, Sunscreen, Reflections, Life Matters

There are times where just surfing the Internet for the sake of doing just that is incredibly enlightening, educational, revealing, thought-provoking, inspirational, empowering, mind-opener, to say the least. You name it. Well, this week I have actually bumped into a particular YouTube video for which I do not have many words left other than saying watch it!

Perfect timing that I am getting to share it over here today, because it is certainly one of those video clips that not only would it make you think about things twice, but it also introduces quite nicely the weekend ahead of us. This is one of those video clips that as inspirational as it may well be, it is totally worth it watching it and digesting its content.

And I am going to leave it there for today. Have a good one everyone ! I need to go now and make a few phone calls! (After you watch the video you will know why…)

Tags: IBM, Technical Leadership Exchange, TLE, PLTE, Paris, France, Web 2.0, Social Computing, Social Networking, Communities, Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Management, KM, Enterprise 2.0, Social Media, Virtual Networks, Social Networks, Blog Central, Wiki Central, Confluence, Atlassian, Fringe, Ziki, Dogear, w3 Media Library, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Webconference, Sametime 7.5.1, Lotus Connections, Connections

If over the last couple of days, I have been weblogging about different conference events that rather I would be attending or that I would be interested in attending. Well, here is a third follow up weblog post on another event that I will be making it to and that I am surely going to enjoy quite a bit, since I am already very familiar with it as I attended it last year as well. Yes, I am talking about IBM’s Professional Technical Leadership Exchange, which is going to take place this year in Paris during the course of 21st till 24th of May and which will host several thousand IBM technical and delivery leaders coming from all over the place.

I am really excited about this year’s event for multiple reasons, as I will have the opportunity to present again on a topic that I hope folks would enjoy as well (More on that in a minute), then because I will have the great opportunity to spend a few days in lovely Paris and third because I am hoping to be able to meet up with folks over there who I have been wanting to know for quite some time now. I have already been in touch with them and there is a great chance that I will be able to meet them. Way cool!

So what am I am going to be talking about during the conference event, you may be wondering, right? Well, the title of the presentation I will be delivering is as follows: "7 Ways to Effectively Improve Your Virtual Technical Network Using Social Computing". And in it I will be covering some of the basic key concepts behind Web 2.0 or social computing, for those folks who may still not be familiar with them; then I will be placing a special focus on how communities are continuing to provide lots of value add in order to get the most out of that social networking experience. So much so that they are becoming essential, both inside and outside of the enterprise, to provide some additional business value to social computing.

After creating that connection between social networking and communities, I suspect we would go into the fun part of the presentation, as I will be spending some time covering seven IBM social software related tools and sharing with everyone in the room five different tips per tool on how to get the most out of them, and, most importantly, how to get started with all of them in case folks may not have been exposed to them just yet. Or, at least, present different scenarios on how they can make the most of each of them for their day to day jobs. Yes, a bit of showing everyone how easy it is to bring social computing into your daily workload and use it as just another business related tool.

And what social software tools those may well be? Well, I have been talking about them quite a few times already over here, but here you have got the list of tools I am planning to reference: Weblogs (Blog Central), Wikis (Wiki Central running the fine piece of software called Confluence, from Atlassian), Fringe (What you would call a People Portal, pretty much along the same lines as the wonderful Ziki), Social Bookmarks (Dogear), w3 Media Library (For all sorts of rich content media, like podcasts, videocasts, etc.), IBM Lotus Webconference 7.5.1 and IBM Lotus Sametime 7.5.1. And from there onwards how they may all integrate with one another with the upcoming Lotus Connections.

As you can imagine, it is going to be a pretty packed up presentation, since I am hoping to be able to share as well some of my own experiences from being exposed to different social software tools and for having used them for a number of years. I am hoping that with this particular session I will be able to open things up a bit more and help other fellow IBMers start making use of different social software tools in order to perhaps help them improve the way they share knowledge and collaborate with others.

This time around I am not sure I would be able to make the presentation available over here as some of the different screen shots from the slide deck are a bit sensitive, so I would have to look into them, see if I can sanitise them and then make them available after getting the heads up. Either way, at least, you would be able to see from the above text what I will be talking about.

Finally, two of the other items I am really looking forward to are as well, of course, Paris, where I haven’t been there for the last few years, so it will be good again to catch up with it and see what is happening over there and spring time sounds like the perfect time to be there. And then the possibility of being able to meet up people who may be around and who would want to get together for a drink or two. I know that a couple of folks who regularly read this weblog would be around, so I am really excited about meeting up with them. And whoever else who may want to get together, the usual thing: drop a comment over here or contact me offline and I am sure we will be able to set up something.

Tags: APQC, Knowledge Management, Innovation, Enterprise 2.0, Rave, Enterprise 2.0 Rave, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Francois Gossieaux, Emergence Marketing, Emerging Technologies, Technology Adoption, Collaboration, Work Smarter

Well, it looks like the next couple of days I will actually be talking about interesting upcoming conference events that would be taking place all over the place and which may draw an interest as well to some of the folks who read from this weblog on a regular basis. If yesterday I was actually mentioning how by the beginning of May I am actually going to be heading to Houston, TX, US, to present and attend at the APQC Knowledge Management & Innovation Conference here is another event, taking place in May as well, that you may be interested in checking it out: Enterprise 2.0 Rave - A 24 Hour Brainstorm Amongst Peers.

I am actually not going to be able to make it, although I wish I would be able to, given the program they have put together, as I will be presenting myself at another event in Europe during that same time that I will weblog about some more during the course of tomorrow. But, by the looks of it, Francois Gossieaux (From Emergence Marketing. A weblog I can certainly recommend subscribing to!) has put together an incredible amount of hard work to make it happen and it surely promises to be quite an exciting Rave. If not, check out the excerpt from the event’s homepage and which would be descriptive enough as to why all of those folks involved in bringing social computing to the enterprise should check it out, just in case they haven’t got anything better to do those days and want to get some fresh ideas and share their knowledge with others (Gosh, I really wish I would have been able to make it!):

"Who should attend?

If you or anyone on your team is involved with deploying or thinking of setting up Web 2.0 tools within your enterprise, you cannot afford to miss the Rave. The event will be chock full of opportunities to network and build an informal support community to share best , and just as importantly worst, practices."

As if that would not have been good enough to attract people at the event, just head over to the Speakers section and start reading who is actually going to be speaking at the event! Goodness! 7 out of the 10 speakers are folks who I have been subscribed to for several months!!, and which surely know their stuff not only about social computing in general but also how to apply it to the business world: Enterprise 2.0.

That is just fantastic, indeed! I am sure that the event is going to be packed up pretty soon. With that line-up, there isn’t probably a really good reason, nor excuse, not to make it. So I bet that if those folks interested in such hot topics as social computing and Enterprise 2.0 would be able to make it, they will. Here you have got as well the program of the event, just in case you may want to check it out before you go any further with it.

And if all that is not good enough to create some further buzz about the Enterprise 2.0 Rave, then I would suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed, because I am sure Francois and a few other folks would be sharing with us some of the different insights coming out of the event and I will certainly be one of the folks out there who would be very keen on digesting whatever comes out of the event, because I bet it will make my job, and that of those around me, a whole lot easier. And who wouldn’t want that, right? Helping large corporations adopt social computing in order to share knowledge and collaborate amongst knowledge workers much smarter than ever before. Because, after all isn’t that what Knowledge Management is all about?

Tags: APQC, Knowledge Management, KM, KM Events, Innovation, Dave Snowden, Jimmy Wales, Carla O’Dell, Alice Dunlap-Kraft, Mary Ellen Sullivan, KM Training, KM Learning, Communities, ThinkPlace, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Networking, Wikis, Weblogs, Social Bookmarking, Podcasting, Tagging, Syndication, Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing

First day back after the long Easter break and it looks like this time around the everlasting battle between work / life balance was won by life! What an incredible weekend I have had! Checked out lots of different places and had a really good time! I took a whole bunch of pictures that I am hoping I will be sharing shortly in my Flickr account, as soon as I get back on track from catching up on everything! Goodness! How much e-mail can you get after being a couple of days off? At least, I am now done with it and back on track with almost everything.

Anyway, that is not the reason why I wanted to create this particular weblog post. Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on a presentation that I will actually be using very shortly as beginning of May I am heading over to Houston, TX, US, to attend the APQC event on The Conference on Knowledge Management & Innovation.

Yes, that is right. From May 10th till 11th I will actually be attending what promises to be a fantastic event, if you get to read the 7 Reasons why this KM conference is a must attend. The list of keynote speakers is rather impressive as well as you can read over here (Dave Snowden, Jimmy Wales, Carla O’Dell, amongst others). No doubt. But there is actually a whole lot more. From May 7th till the 9th there will also be some specific Knowledge Management training and I have actually decided to attend a couple of the different courses offered: Knowledge Management: Strategies and Tactics for Business Results and Measuring the Impact of Knowledge Management.

So in the end I am going to be there from the 6th of May till the 13th enjoying what I am sure is going to be a great learning opportunity to find out some more about what is going on around the world of Knowledge Management at the moment. As I have mentioned above, I am actually going to be speaking, along with two of my fellow IBM colleagues (Alice Dunlap-Kraft and Mary Ellen Sullivan), during the event as well as one of the different breakout sessions. The title of the session is Communities: Hotbeds of Innovation at IBM and I have taken the liberty of reproducing the abstract over here so that you get to see what we will be covering during the couse of the breakout session:

"IBM’s culture emphasizes innovation, and its leaders rely on communities of practice for innovation. The innovation culture permeates communities from the very top, where IBM’s vice president for technical strategy and innovation issued an executive challenge to communities, to the grass roots, where ThinkPlace catalysts evaluate new ideas from their communities. Community members swarmed around the buzz of new ideas in a recent 72-hour Innovation Jam, and IBM’s Academy of Technology created an outreach program to link to community members. The growing use of social software has increased the number and diversity of collaborators working on new ideas."

As you would be able to see, we will be talking about how communities have shaped the way knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst community members have taken a new wave of interactions within the enterprise by which innovation is thriving back again thanks to the adoption of different social computing tools, like wikis, weblogs, social bookmarks, podcasts, tagging, Web syndication, etc., in order to help those same knowledge workers drive that same innovation. And all that along with the usage of one other tool that has certainly grabbed a lot of interest already: ThinkPlace.

The final presentation has not been made available just yet. We are just giving it the last finishing touches, but as soon as it is ready to go I will actually be sharing it over here, so that you can have a look well ahead in advance of what we will be talking about. You can imagine how excited we all are with the whole thing, not only for making it to the event and present on some of the stuff we have been working for the last few months, but also because of the incredible opportunity it would be to attend some KM related training along with meeting up with a whole bunch of other passionate KMers and do some heavy (social) networking. Perhaps one of my favourite activities from every single event I get to attend

Will you be there? Will you be making it to this years’ APQC Conference on Knowledge Management & Innovation? If the answer to both of those questions is Yes! and if you would want to meet up for a drink, do not hesitate to drop a comment over here or contact me offline and we will be able to hook up, I am sure. Look forward to meeting up with those of you who may be going to the conference!

I may create another follow up weblog post with some final comments as the final dates approach, thus stay tuned for some more to come!