Tags: Knowledge Worker, Knowledge Worker 2.0, Stephen Collins, Acidlabs, Kellypuffs, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, KM 1.0, KM 2.0, Knowledge Management 2.0, Learning, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Communities, Dave Snowden, Chris Collison, Geoff Parcell, Slideshare

Oh, and if you didn’t have enough with that particular presentation, that I have just referenced in the previous weblog post, which Stephen Collins (From Acidlabs) put together a little while ago, here we go with another one he has just shared with the world and with which I have fallen in love from the moment I saw it. Kellypuffs has already gone ahead and referenced it as well over at her weblog, so I thought I would go ahead myself and share it over here as well with you folks.

Why do I like it so much? Why did I fall in love with it since I first saw it? Well, most of the folks who know me in real life know that I have been involved with Knowledge Management since 1998. And the last five of those years I have been involved rather heavily with social computing, social networking and a whole range of different social software tools, as a new, refreshing, inspiring and contagious way to keep promoting knowledge sharing within different organisations; and get knowledge workers to collaborate closer with one another by learning what each of them has been doing so far and continue nurturing those different relationships.

Thus all of what I have written in the different weblogs that I maintain, all of the different presentations that I have done at various events (Both internal and external), all of the different demos and education sessions I have done throughout the years on a good number of social software tools, all of the different conversations and connections that I have made with other knowledge workers while evangelising around the subject of social computing can just be summarised with this single presentation. As simple as that!

Folks, allow me to introduce to you Knowledge Worker 2.0 (Power to the People)

If there is ever anything that I would need to describe the kind of work I do, the kind of work I know is possible for every knowledge worker out there, the kind of work every single business should strife for, this would be it. Trust me. There isn’t anything better to describe what a Knowledge Worker 2.0 is all about than this particular deck.

I have gone through the presentation in multiple various times already, and it is perhaps one of the most comprehensive approaches towards showing how knowledge workers would be in the knowledge economy from the 21st century. There is no way back. It is already happening. Here you have though three reasons why you would want to watch through the entire slide deck:

— A trip down the memory lane on where the concept of knowledge worker originated and how KM 1.0 came into existence. All of that explained in very simple terms.

— An introduction to Knowledge Management 2.0 (a.k.a. KM 2.0) with some very powerful video clips and testimonials that would make you think about things, thrice!

— Re-discover again Dave Snowden’s three rules to Knowledge Management in this new context, and some incredibly inspiring quotes, like this one from Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell: “You can’t manage knowledge - nobody can. What you can do is to manage the environment n which knowledge can be created, discovered, captured, shared, distilled, validated, transferred, adopted, adapted and applied“

And the rest of the presentation I leave it up to you to find out some more or not by going through it below or over at Slideshare. One thing that I know for sure, though, is that next time someone asks me what I do for a living I know which presentation I am going to be sharing with them. How about you?

Still think that Knowledge Workers 2.0 do not exist?

Tags: Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Stephen Collins, Trib, Acidlabs, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Communities, Slideshare, Trust, Relationships, Connections, Co-Creation, Cooperation, Co-Working, Tara Hunt

Remember when a couple of months back I created a weblog post sharing over here some further details on a superb piece of work done by Stephen Collins, from Acidlabs, on Enterprise 2.0 under the heading Liberate Your Control Freaks. Well, it looks like Stephen is up to something again. Check out the weblog post titled: I still haven’t found what I’m looking for - not the U2 song where he has shared one other presentation he has done recently for the Canberra Web Standards Group (That focuses on looking into the benefits and cultural aspects around social computing in a business context).

I am going to embed the slide deck below, but I thought I would just let you know about three reasons why you would want to check out the slide deck itself directly in Slideshare where it has been shared a little while ago and which will be good enough to give you an idea of what you can expect :

— Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing and Learning are no longer all about technology. On the contrary the focus is on the people with a focus on the Web as a framework to empower them to share what they know and collaborate with others.

— How building connections and relationships with other knowledge workers through trust can help you become smarter at what you do by cooperating and co-creating content for others to re-use.

— Find incredibly inspiring quotes like this one, from the one and only, Tara Hunt: “Data in the hands of a few makes for order; but data in the hands of many makes for endless possibilities“

Yes, that is right, I can certainly recommend having a look into the presentation materials Stephen put together, because more than anything else it would show you how you can tear apart the command-and-control walls within your organisation and start being yourself.

But, not to worry, there is just some more to come …

(Thanks much, Stephen, for putting together such a lovely piece of work and for sharing it with us all! Well done!)

Tags: Gran Canaria, Ingenio, Pasadilla, Guayadeque, Fires, Incendio, Disaster, Catastrophe, Tragedy, Canarias7, Canarias Bruta, Atarecos, Paradise

And while we are still recovering from some of the fatal consequences from the recent fires developed in Gran Canaria, that wiped out in a matter of days thousands and thousands of years of nature doing what she knows best, here we go again. Canarias7, as usual, is doing a superb job in keeping us updated by reporting some news from earlier on this evening on a new fire that got started around 8.30pm local time in Ingenio, Gran Canaria, around the area of Pasadilla, close to Guayadeque (Guayadeque being one of the most emblematic and charismatic spaces from the entire island!) and which by the time I am writing this down it looks like the fire is under control and has not been progressing for several hours already.

However, it has not been extinguished just yet as the firefighters are still doing their magic in helping keep it under control. A couple of bloggers, Miguel, from Canarias Bruta, Reena and Esther, from Atarecos, have already been commenting on the situation, but it looks like not much more has been mentioned thus far. Something that could be taken as good news, in the sense that the fire may not be as serious as the one that took place a couple of weeks back.

The number of hectares potentially affected has not been mentioned just yet, as they are probably still evaluating the reach of the fire and ensuring it is extinguished as soon as possible, but you can already have a look into this thread of opinions from people all over the island sharing their thoughts about what is happening. Link is in Spanish, I know, but you would be able to see some of what is going on with 9 pages of commentary and growing!

I just hope that we may have learned something from our previous grievous experience(s) and, like it is mentioned in this particular editorial, we need to ensure everyone gets the message that it is the task of us all (Administrations, firefighters, special units, etc. and us, the common people) to take care of what was given to us without asking for anything in return. And the least we could all do is just that, take care of it to be able to pass it on generation after generation:

“Ahora, solo cabe esperar que las administraciones tomen buena nota de la sabiduría popular para restablecer el orden ambiental y social en la isla, porque ellos, los campesinos y los habitantes de la reserva de la biosfera saben mejor que nadie cómo preparar la tierra para el futuro.“

Like I said it back then, my dearest paradise is burning again and it hurts. It truly hurts…

(Picture courtesy from Canarias7)

Tags: Dennis Howlett, ZDNET, Irregular Enterprise, Facebook, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, KM 2.0, Collaboration, Collaboration 2.0, Remote Collaboration, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, IBM, Groupware, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Sametime 7.5.1, Lotus Connections, Connections, Lotus Quickr, Quickr, Lotus Notes 8, Notes 8, Ed Brill, Todd Watson, Virtual Worlds, Metaverse, Second Life, GreaterIBM, Eightbar, Social Software Adoption, Augmentation, Work Smarter

Last week I had a very enlightening and energising conversation with Dennis Howlett on several various topics. We actually spent an hour talking away and it kind of felt like one of those conversations that you keep enjoying to no end! As a result of that conversation, Dennis created a post over at his excellent ZDNET blog "Irregular Enterprise" under the title Will IBM Compete with Facebook/Web 2.0? and I thought I would chime in as well sharing my two cents worth of comments. Oh, talking about comments, I initially thought about sharing a comment in his blog post, but apparently ZDNET blogs asks you for your home address details, phone number and a whole bunch of other stuff to leave a comment. And there is no way I am going to be doing that for a single comment! Instead, I am going to link back to it, hoping they would fix that at some point! Sorry.

Anyway, onwards! In that particular weblog post, Dennis questions whether large corporations, like IBM, in this case, are able to come up to the challenge of competing with a number of different social software tools available out there, free of charge, and ready for everyone to make use of. And it comes to put together that challenge mentioning how IBM and other large enterprises are going to have a tough time adjusting their already existing pricing models in order to make it all work, specially for those of them still under the realm of groupware.

While I think his comments in that area are very very valid, and I hope to provide some further insights in that particular respect in a follow up weblog post, I was actually intrigued when he shared this particular comment:

"[...] one has to wonder how long it will be before IBM gets its social computing act together."

While I know and fully realise that we may be just getting started with putting our act together (Kindly insert here my disclaimer for my blogging activities…) I think we are putting our act together as far as Enterprise 2.0 is concerned. If you come to think about it, this year is probably going to be the one where IBM will have the strongest presence in the social software space.

New initiatives just recently launched like Lotus Sametime 7.5.1, Lotus Connections and Lotus Quickr (Topics that I have talked about in the past over here as well) clearly prove the point that IBM is thinking more and more seriously about putting together some pretty interesting social software offerings. And on top of that, you have got the upcoming final release of Lotus Notes 8, which Ed Brill and Todd Watson have just pre-announced will go live this coming Friday!, and which will introduce some really nice features related to social computing. Not to mention as well the incredible amount of work done thus far in virtual worlds like Second Life.

But the really nice thing about all of these offerings and something that not many folks seem to notice is that contrary to what everyone is doing out there at the moment, none of these social software tools are trying to replace or substitute already existing technologies. On the contrary, they are all trying to augment what is already existing out there in the area of collaboration and groupware in order to make those interactions much richer and beneficial for knowledge workers providing the perfect combination of traditional KM and collaboration tools and the next gen. of social networking tools.

And I think that is where the key may lay in the successful adoption and embracing of social software in the Enterprise. Not in the fact of looking through competition, but more on looking for the augmentation of what is already available out there, as a way to validate the way knowledge workers get to perform their jobs, so that they can be even much more productive without having to work much harder. Yes, the famous work smarter, not necessarily harder, by connecting with others, share your knowledge and learn from one another.

So, to "IBM…are you taking notice?" I would say, yes!, it *is* paying attention, and much more interestingly, it is trying to look into potential ways of integrating all of these different tools into the already existing collaboration flows that knowledge workers may be using already. And over time, very shortly, I am hoping to be able to expand plenty more on this and share some further thoughts on the subject, as I would be able to share some more stuff, even to the same level as Facebook. But that would be the subject for another weblog post very very soon…

Tags: PCWorld, LA Fire Department, LAFD, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Rob Paterson, FASTForward Blog, Mike Gotta, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Communities, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Education, Learning, Emergency, Emergency 2.0, Blogs, Flickr, YouTube, Podcasts, Twitter, Dave Pollard, How to Save the World, David Stephenson, Homeland Security 2.0 Blog, Prevention of Disasters

A couple of the folks that I get to read on a regular basis have been commenting in the last couple of days on a news item, originally from PCWorld, titled LA Fire Department all ‘aTwitter’ over Web 2.0, where throughout the article itself you would be able to read further how the L.A. Fire Department is starting to make use of social software tools like Twitter in order to be able to handle whatever emergencies and crises in a much more efficient and effective way by spreading information around much faster than through traditional tools. Quite an interesting read, to say the least, and a real business case for Twitter, nevertheless.

This particular topic is something that I have been thinking about myself quite a bit lately, specially after the recent fires in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, amongst other Canary Islands, and which I feel that Rob Paterson has put together quite nicely over at the FASTForward Blog in Social Media Adoption - Maybe a Crisis Will Help? Mike Gotta has made also an excellent point about how much we may be underestimating social software tools when handling crises of whatever the magnitude, just because most people may be using some of those tools for fun.

For a number of years we have given lots of importance to Knowledge Management in the business world, and lately that same focus seems to have gone into social computing as way to validate it for us all, but how about if, instead of just focusing on the corporate world, we would have KM and social software focusing on what really matters: the day to day stuff that can affect your own life (And that of your loved ones) and the environment for many years to come.

Yes, that is right. This is something that I have already talked about in the past. Just because you cannot justify the business usage of various social software tools it does not mean they are not useful to knowledge workers out there in general. On the contrary. That is exactly what the LAFD has proved with their adoption of different social software tools. Just like Mike Gotta mentioned, it is not about justifying the use of Twitter, or also of blogs, YouTube video channels, Flickr, podcasts, etc. etc. It is just a matter of making use of these tools to live and work smarter and not necessarily harder.

I mean, can you imagine if the local fire department, and the local government, here in Gran Canaria, would have set up a blog, or a podcast, or a Flickr account or even a Twitter channel a couple of years back and started educating the population in general on what could happen on a catastrophe of such proportions at this one and at the same time educate us all in what we could do to help, I bet that the end result of the disaster would have been completely different.

In fact, not only would the impact of the crisis would have been minimal, but there would have been from day one a very strong sense of belonging to the community from all parties involved that would have helped avoid having to go through such tough times as part of that prevention and education that would have taken place from way before.

This is one of the main reasons why in the past I have always been a very big fan of KM weblogs like those from Dave Pollard (How to Save the World) and David Stephenson (The Homeland Security 2.0 Blog) and why over the last few days I feel that it may be a good time now to explore how social software could help a group of people heal their wounds and those of their motherland, the land where they were born and raised, and help prevent future disasters like this one and, if not, at least, prepare us all to make the most out of it and help keep the damage to a minimum.

That is exactly what the LAFD has done thus far and I seriously hope that more and more folks would chime in these efforts. Because, after all, why should you worry about the corporate world and its adoption of social software when there are much more important things to safeguard, like your home, your family, the environment where you live (And work), in short,  the things your treasure the most.

Would you be up for the challenge? Would you start focusing where we would need to focus on while encouraging the adoption of social software? What is your local government doing on the subject? Are we all prepared to prevent the next disaster? Would you know how to react and help out? Perhaps too many questions out there. Perhaps we should start getting some answers for them…

Tags: Mac, MacBook Pro, Apple, Dennis Howlett, AccMan, Simplicity, Productivity Tools, iLife, iLife08, Picasa, ecto, Qumana, endo, Omea Pro, Omea, iWork, iWork08, Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes 8, Notes 8, IBM, IBM Productivity Tools, Camtasia, Screencasts, iShowU, Web Standards

A couple of days ago Dennis Howlett commented over at his blog AccMan on a recent post I created myself over here myself where I was mentioning how it was finally about time that I joined the Mac side and he was not surprised that I have made the move a few days back already and so far I am really enjoying the Mac experience. Certainly, to the point of not going back any time soon! And how spot on he is!

Yes, that is right! So far I am really enjoying the experience quite a bit. There certainly has been a bit of a learning curve, I am not going to deny that, but once you are over it, you come to appreciate one single aspect that I didn’t think of for quite some time while I was making use of different Windows machines: simplicity! That is probably how I could describe the last few days of working with my MacBook Pro: getting the job done with a lot less hassle and without having to figure much out! Good stuff, indeed!

However, over the course of those few days that I have started to make heavy use of my MacBook Pro I have found out that there is a price associated with it. And I am not just talking about how pricey the overall machine is (A whole lot more expensive than most notebooks and laptops out there!), but talking about the software applications available for it.

One of the things that I have come to notice is the fact that most of the applications I am heavily using on a Windows environment are not available for free on the Mac. On the contrary, they cost money and they aren’t cheap! That is how I have found out that I need to upgrade to iLife08 by paying a fee, if I would want to have a similar experience to Picasa (My favourite default app. for managing large amounts of photos). Or how I would need to pay for ecto, if I would want to have an offline blogging experience similar to Qumana, if not better. Or how I would need to pay for another tool called endo, if I would want to have an aggregator I could remotely compare to Omea Pro, my default offline RSS / Atom feed reader.

And all of that without even considering iWork08, which I am not sure I will be going for in the end, since I am anxiously awaiting in anticipation for the GA release of Lotus Notes 8, which includes the super fine IBM Productivity Tools that I am currently making heavy use of in my Windows machine. But more on that later, when I get to detail how I am successfully transitioning most of my work apps. into the Mac environment and enjoying every minute of it!

However, one of the major disappointments that I have been confronted with so far is one application that I make use of rather heavily in the Windows environment and which, apparently, hasn’t got a Mac version for it: Camtasia. Yes, that is right, I make use of it to create screencasts and I have been told that not only isn’t there a Mac version for it, but the only capable option offering similar functionality is iShowU, for which I would also need to pay a license fee (Thank goodness it is not as expensive as Camtasia’s is!).

And that is just some of what I am seeing at the moment while I am starting to consolidate my list of essential tools that I keep using in Windows and which I would love to make use of in the Mac. Well, it looks like I may need to adapt myself to the new needs and continue to pay for some expensive software, and hope that tool developers would think once and for all that to create a state of the art application for everyone to use you need to figure it out and make it OS independent, pretty much like in the Web you focus on creating applications that follow Web standards, instead of being browser dependent.

Thus yes, it is a completely new experience and one I am probably not going to walk back from any time soon, as I have mentioned above already, but I am hoping that over the next few days I will be creating a number of different weblog posts on how I have made of my MBP my default work machine without having to pay much more money for it, specially for the software. Thus stay tuned for some more to come, because I feel it is going to be a fun ride and if you have got some hot tips you would want to share with me from your experience … I am all ears