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

SOMESSO 2009 – Openness and Innovation in a Web 2.0 World by Andy Piper

Last week took place one of those conference events that surely has carried on with the conversations all over the place around the subject of social computing within the enterprise. And for many more days to come! I am sure. Yes, that’s right! Last week SOMESSO 2009 (The Corporate Social Media Conference) took place in London and it surely produced quite a stir with some really interesting presentations & topics around social media; and although I couldn’t make it to the conference myself, I surely had the opportunity to catch up with some of the various online interactions available in multiple places. Really worth while catching up with it, in case you may not have done that just yet.

However, today, and while we are all waiting for the various video clips from the conference keynote and breakout sessions to become available online for us all to enjoy further, I thought I would point you to one that I am sure you will enjoy quite a bit, specially if you are interested in how a large corporation like IBM is making use of social software to help drive openness and innovation into new levels.

Check out Openness and Innovation in a Web 2.0 World by my good friend, and fellow colleague, Andy Piper, which he presented to a nice crowd on Friday morning. Then, as a follow up, I would recommend you have a look into a couple of blog posts he shared late last week to help provide plenty more context and background on the purpose of the slide deck he used.

In that presentation you will be to see how a large business like IBM decided to support and fully embrace social software a few years back, by continuing to trust its employees to extend further on the already strong corporate brand, bringing out thousands and thousands of strong, passionate and committed voices who all along have been understanding what it is like this new wave of social interactions in a corporate environment in order to help boost knowledge sharing and collaboration across the board. And doing all of that in a trustworthy, prepared and enabled culture environment where a key strong message resonates out loud: do not fear!

I can’t wait to watch the video recording of Andy’s pitch, as I am sure it was as thought-provoking and revealing as his slide deck is, but for now, and, while we wait for that clip to become available online, we will have to enjoy his deck over at Slideshare and the blog posts I referenced above. And that’s just the beginning, folks. Wait till some of the other outstanding sessions become available as well…

Like I said, one event on social computing within the enterprise to remember! And for a while!!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, SOMESSO, SOMESSO 2009, smo09, Conference Events, Events, London, UK, Openness, Trust, Enablement, Cultural Change, Culture of Sharing, Andy Piper, Slideshare, Videos, Presentations

Learning to Change – Changing to Learn

Last week one of folks I follow in Twitter, John Hovell, shared a link to perhaps one of the most thought-provoking, controversial, enlightening and spot on YouTube video links I can remember since I started getting exposed to social software back in 2002! Yes, that kind of impact is what this video I wanted to reference today in this blog post has had in me over the last few days since John shared it (Oh, if you are interested in Knowledge Management he would be someone you definitely need to follow!). It’s one of his favourite videos and after watching it I can see why. Mine, too, by the way!

The video is titled "Learning to Change – Changing to Learn"; it lasts for a bit over five minutes and it is one of those little precious gems that describes the kinds of challenges we are facing currently within the Learning field and, most importantly, it helps set the stage on the next generation of what Learning should be like. In it, you will find some amazing reflections on the new paradigm general education needs to start not only facing, but fully embracing if we would want to prepare properly the next generation of smart-kids that will rule our world in the not so distant future.

I tell you, watching through the video till the end has been a tremendous experience; one I can certainly recommend everyone to spend those five minutes. It will not only make you think, but take action as well. I am sure. It’s one of those videos that clearly sets the stage on the kind of impact that social software is having within our society and how instead of blocking these new emerging tools, we should instead be fully supporting their wider adoption, not just within our work environment, but also in our lives. Main reason being? Our kids are already doing it! And doing a great job at it for that matter!

If you ever thought that Learning needed to go through a radical facelift, and make-over, and join the 21st century, once and for all, this is the kind of video you will need to watch to help set the pace on what lies ahead. As most of you folks know by now, my background comes from the education field, and I know at some point I will be back to it. Well, this is going to be one of those videos I will proudly show not only to my students, but also to teachers and those who can make a difference, because, after all, (Nimmy puts it much much nicer than what I could possibly do, to be honest, in another wonderful blog post just shared earlier on today)

"Education should be about learning to think for ourselves, discovering our own minds and what is ‘good’ for us"

(Oh, before I let you go, if you change the word Learning for Business, the contents and the message from this video are just as valid, if not even more, on what lies ahead for us all embracing social software within the corporate world: to help change not only how business gets done through our personal business relationships, but also ourselves as part of the process!

Quite an inspiration to kick off another week at work, don’t you think?)

Tags: Learning, Education, Society, Schools, Education System, Students, Learners, Smart Kids, Education 2.0, Learning 2.0, Web 2.0, Knowledge Economy, Change, Challenges, Change Management, YouTube, John Hovell, Informal Learning, Informl, Nimmy, Life, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Personal Knowledge Sharing, Innovation, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity