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

Blog Day 2007 – Celebrate!

Tags: BlogDay2007, Blog Day, Metablogging, Blogs, Knowledge at Work, Denham Grey, Engineers without fears, Matt More, Acidlabs, Stephen Collins, eme ká eme, Miguel Cornejo Castro, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, KM 2.0, Knowledge Worker, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, eLearning, Virtual Worlds, Communities, Communities of Practice, CoPs, IBM

Yesterday was kind of a very busy day, both at work and on a personal level, so in the end I didn’t get much of a chance to create a post over here, so I thought I would go ahead and share this one today for a special event: Happy Blog Day 2007! Yes, that is right, today is Blog Day 2007, an event in the blogosphere that would help everyone promote those different weblog posts that even though they may not be very very popular they still provide some really good content. So I thought I would play the game and do my fair bit of homework on it.

And that is why in this weblog post I am going to follow the rules of this special event and share five different blogs that I read on a regular basis and whose content is just superb, hoping that you may find them useful as well and may have a chance to subscribe to them if you would wish to. So let’s get down to business:

1. Knowledge-at-work by Denham Grey: Yes, I know, this is not really a new blog at all, since Denham has been blogging already for quite some time. However, things have gone a bit quiet since beginning of the year and I am hoping that with this post I may get him to pick things up and get blogging again. If you browse through some of the different blog posts he has been sharing thus far, you would be able to see that he has got something to say about Knowledge Management, don’t you think? For those folks who may not know, Denham is one of the first folks who was thinking about KM when none of us were even busy with it! Thus, Denham, ready to come back? Please?

2. Engineers without fears by Matt Moore: And here we go now with something quite the opposite. For a good amount of time Matt has been relatively quiet over at his blog and over the last few weeks he has gotten started with blogging on a much more regular basis and just as insightful and thought-provoking as ever. Matt’s blog posts are those that would make you think about KM related topics twice. Always looking for that twist that differentiates what he has to say from whoever else. If I would have to summarise what you would be able to find over there I guess I would be able to do so by just saying: refreshing! (And worth while a subscription!)

3. Acidlabs by Stephen Collins: In the past I have been referencing a number of different weblog posts from Stephen and by now you probably already know what he is up to. Remember Knowledge Worker 2.0? One of the best presentations that I have seen to date around the subject of Knowledge Management 2.0 and already introducing the concept of knowledge worker 2.0 for the next generation of the workforce. And that is exactly what you would be able to find over at his blog: some really good insights on where we are with Knowledge Management and where we are going, which is perhaps the most exciting part of it all. Another worth while subscription, to say the least!

4. eme ká eme by Miguel Cornejo Castro: For those folks who may have hanged out at several KM and Communities of Practice related forums, there is probably very little that I can say about Miguel. He surely knows his stuff about the topic of KM and CoPs. So when I saw that he was getting started with his own weblog I was very excited, because everyone out there would be able to see what he is up to.

However, there is also one thing to note about his blog and that is the fact that Miguel is one of the very few blogs on KM sharing articles both in Spanish and English and somehow I feel a bit guilty (In the good sense of the word, of course) that I am not following his example. Perhaps this particular weblog post would help me get the final push and be a bit more prolific with my Spanish related posts. Let’s see. Miguel can have that kind of influence, you see?

5. And, finally, here is the fifth link that I am going to be sharing with you. This time around from a fellow IBMer: Wonderwebby by Jasmin Tragas. Jasmin has gotten started blogging externally just recently and if you browse through some of her blog posts you would be able to see her excitement about virtual, distributed collaboration and how Knowledge Management can help in this space.

At the same time you would be able to see how she gets to explore social computing and social software tools in order to help improve the way knowledge workers get to collaborate. But if there is something else that you would find rather interesting is how she is exploring virtual worlds, like Second Life, and their impact on eLearning. to help improve the way we get to acquire new knowledge and share it with others. Some pretty interesting stuff (Also if you would want to find out what IBM is doing in this particular area).

And that would be it for now. Five blogs worth while looking into as part of Blog Day 2007. I do hope that you get to check them out and perhaps subscribe to one or two as you may see fit. Time now to celebrate! and get started with the weekend!

Have a good one, everyone!

10 Essential Windows Tools for the Mac (That I Am Keeping)

Tags: Apple, Mac, MacBook Pro, MBP, Productivity Tools, Windows, Web Browsers, Opera, Safari, Flock, FireFox, Extensions, Skype, Instant Messaging, IM, Qumana, Blogging, Metablogging, ecto, iTunes, Audio, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Audacity, Adium, Google Talk, Lotus Mobile Connect, LMC, IBM, Lotus, Lotus Sametime, Sametime 7.5.1

After the initial couple of weeks using more and more the MacBook Pro I must say that I am still enjoying the experience quite a bit. I have already started the migration of most of the productivity tools that I use at work and over the next few weeks I shall be sharing some further thoughts on what the new environment is like. However, I thought I would get started with this series by mentioning the first round of Windows tools that I am still going to keep using in the Mac. I consider them essential, even more when the experience is even much more enjoyable.

Thus from here onwards I am just going to detail the first 10 tools I am keeping in the Mac and which I will continue using rather heavily. Then in subsequent blog posts I will share some further thoughts on other tools I am adopting and which are native to the Mac. And, in between, and throughout those entries, I shall be sharing further thoughts on the various options from IBM tools I am using for the Mac. And see how far I can go. So, let’s get started:

1. Opera: Yes, I know, Safari is the default Web browser for the Mac, but I feel that Opera is still the fastest one out there, so it will continue to be my default application for everything related to browsing Web 1.0 sites and  some of the Web 2.0 ones. In case you may not have tried it out I seriously encourage you to take it for a spin for a week and you will see you will not be back.

2. Flock: Oh, and for the Web 2.0 applications that I get to use on a regular basis, Flock still remains my default Web browser. Just as good as in Windows it allows me experience different social software tools without not noticing whether I am on Windows or the Mac. Just perfect.

3. FireFox: And for the different Web sites where neither Opera or Flock work I am making use of the good old (slow, CPU hog, incredibly slow) FireFox. I just wished that when people would put together those superb extensions they would also make them work for Flock. Not too much asking, don’t you think?

4. Skype: Definitely, my default VoIP and Instant Messaging client. It was one of the first tools that I installed in the Mac and I am just as happy with it as I was with the Windows version. Put simply, it just works (Despite the recent outage for several hours after years of not seeing anything like it. Not too bad!)

5. Qumana: I know that a few of my friends and work colleagues have recommended that I get to try out ecto, as perhaps the best offline blogging client for the Mac, and for a few days I did give it a try. However, I wasn’t sold on it too much. Perhaps I will keep testing it out and see how it goes, although having to pay for it is not what I am really looking forward to thus far. Why? Because in Windows I am rather content with how Qumana works. I still think it is one of the best offline blogging clients, rather solid and incredibly easy to use. In fact, I am writing this particular blog post with it and it feels exactly the same as in Windows, but with the Mac flavour

6. iTunes: Yes, you could surely make use of it directly in the Mac, after all it is an Apple product, but I am surely glad that I am not missing anything out on the good stuff I had in my Windows machine. And on top of that, it already came installed with it. So it will still remain as my default podcast and vodcast player, amongst many other things. By the way, you can really see how this particular app. was designed for the Mac, and not for Windows. Nifty!

7. Audacity: This is perhaps one of the very first Open Source applications I am porting over from Windows in order to continue making extensive use of it to create, record, produce and edit different audio files. It is ideal to record podcasts, audio conference calls and webcasts and whatever else. And the user experience is just the same. So I am keeping it. No doubt.

8. Adium: Ok, this is not a Windows tool. We all know that. But if I wanted to keep in touch with colleagues, friends and family using whatever the IM network I needed to have an option for the Mac. And most of my friends suggested Adium as probably one of the best and although I am not making use rather heavily from the various IM networks as I used to (As I said, most of those interactions are now coming through Skype) I still went ahead and installed it. And will still be making use of it, specially since it would also allow me to connect with Google Talk, my second default VoIP and IM client. Perhaps, at a later time, I will provide some more details on what the experience is like for the Mac.

9. Lotus Mobile Connect: This has been the first of the IBM applications for the Mac that I have installed. And right on the same day that I bought the machine, since I wanted to check it out and get that one fixed. And avoid surprises. And boy, does it work beautifully or what? With it I can access the IBM internal network without a single problem. If there is anything else that I can say about it is that it works! Really nice!

10. Lotus Sametime 7.5.1:  And, finally, here you have got the second IBM tool that I have installed in this machine. I have been using this particular VoIP and IM client for a number of months and to date it is one of the tools that I am using on a regular basis for most of my real-time interactions. And it works beautifully. Something that I am really happy about as I couldn’t leave without it, specially with the various social networking capabilities it offers. But more on that as time goes on.

And that would be it. Next step would be to talk about the next round of tools I have decided to continue making use of in my MacBook Pro. There are quite a few to be honest, so one of the things that I have been very conscious of is to keep those tools to a minimum, to help avoid some clutter and ensure things are running smooth. After all it is a Mac. So how much clutter can you add to it? Very little, right? … You bet!

Friendships in the Connected Age: High Quantity AND Higher Quality – It’s All about Trust!

Tags: Steve Rubel, Stowe Boyd, Anne Truitt Zelenka, Matt Hodgson, Stephen Collins, Relationships, Connections, Friendships, Virtual Teams, Virtual Communities, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Trust, Social Networks, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Computing, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Knowledge Worker, Web Worker, Communities, Innovation

I am sure that by now a whole bunch of people out there in the blogosphere have been commenting around one fine weblog post put together by Steve Rubel under the title The Web Changes How We Define Friendship. I am not going to link to each and everyone of those different entries. Not to worry. However, I am certainly going to link to a few of the folks that I have been reading for a long while now, as they are all adding some really good insights that I think you would find interesting and worth while a read. So here they are: Stowe Boyd, Anne Truitt Zelenka, Matt Hodgson and Stephen Collins.

I know that after you have gone through all of that reading you may be wondering what my take is, right? Well, what can I say? Something that I have been saying all along and which I am hoping that social computing will give it much more importance that what it has been given thus far. For instance, in none of the links I shared above have I seen it mentioned. Not even in Steve’s original blog post. It is all about trust!

Yes, that is right. No matter whether we are talking about real life or virtual relationships, or friendships, the main key thing that will make them all work is nothing else but trust, and, as we all know, trust is not something that you build up overnight. It takes time, effort, commitment, lots of energy and dedication, and just a split second to destroy it all, specially in a virtually distributed world, where we are lacking that physical contact that allows us to build and enhance our trust skills on something so important as our body language.

So, to me, it is not much about the quantity nor the quality of those different relationships or friendships, but more how much trust you have been able to build up into those over a period of time. Trust is the glue that makes friendships work and, as a result of that, trust is the glue that makes a social network successful. Or not. And the key thing from this, in my opinion, is that it is down to the individual, that knowledge worker, to figure out how they would want to work out their way in their social networks, and help build those trust levels to the point where you can treasure those virtual connections just as much as they ones you have in real life.

If anyone out there is expecting that trust will work its magic on its own, you may want to think about it twice. It won’t. Trust is all about what you would want to do with those relationships in the long term, whether you would want to keep them healthy, nurture them, or work hard on them to make them meaningful to you. Or not. Only then would you be able to call some of those relationships, if not most of them, friendships. Just like in real life.

(Oh, and if you would want some more additional reading on how influential trust is for the successful virtual interactions you are exposed to on a daily basis, check out the superb weblog post that Anne put together just recently: Trust: The Secret Sauce for Virtual Teams. I just couldn’t have used better words for describe it and, like I said, bit surprised she didn’t make the connection between both blog posts. They would have been a perfect match!)