Tags: Friday, Inspiration, Inspirational, YouTube, RocketBoom, Innovation, Change, Life, Small Things, Video

Here we are again, folks. Friday! YAY!!! And, like every Friday for the last few weeks, here I am again, going to share a couple of rather inspirational videos that I thought would fit in quite nicely with the theme inspire on a Friday! One of them is coming from a commercial and the other one is coming from one of this week’s episodes from RocketBoom. There is a logic in both videos put together one after the other, so you will first have to watch the one from the commercial, which is stored in YouTube and then straight after go and watch that episode from RocketBoom. Yes, all in that order. And you will see what I mean with inspirational. Here we go:

And now here is the link to the RocketBoom video. After I have watched both of them there would be just one single thing that is left for me to say for the day: whatever people tell you, no matter what, it is the small things that matter. Always!

Have a good one everyone and join today the crazy crowd that will continue to make a difference and change our world!

(Previously, on elsua - The Knowledge Management Blog at ITtoolbox. And now with 45 links and growing!)

Tags: Lucas McDonnell, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Collaboration, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Essential KM Resources, KM Resources, Uncommon Knowledge

In the past, a number of readers from the different weblogs I maintain on a regular basis have kept asking me to share with them the different Web sites that I get to check for my daily consumption of  Knowledge Management resources. To help accommodate those needs, some time ago I updated my public blogroll in Bloglines and anyone now can check out them out over here. There is an entire folder dedicated to Knowledge Management related feeds.

However, not long ago I actually bumped into another helpful and rather useful resource that I thought I would go ahead and share it over here as well so that folks would have the opportunity to check out what other KMers are actually reading. Check out 44 essential knowledge management sites and blogs by Lucas McDonnell. It is actually a follow up weblog entry from a previous one (35 essential knowledge management sites) where he has been sharing a number of different resources around the subject of Knowledge Management. And anyone out there wanting to get some essential reading could surely make use of such a handy set of resources put together.

What I really like about that particular weblog entry that Lucas has put together is not the fact of listing both regular Web sites and weblogs alike, trying to combine the best of both worlds, but more the fact that from the weblogs he has put together there is a strong presence around the subject of the next generation of Knowledge Sharing by diving into the world of social computing. Yes, that is right, over there you will be able to find a whole bunch of weblogs that deal with traditional KM, but at the same time they get to talk quite heavily as well about how social computing is impacting the way knowledge workers get to share their knowledge and collaborate with others.

And I am not sure about you, but I find that quite refreshing, specially as social networking is starting to make its way much more heavily into the corporate world. And as such, a new wave of interactions are taking place as a result of which Knowledge Management seems to be coming back into the spotlight it once had. And Lucas’ recommended reading is just a good starting point to check how some KM webloggers are viewing this renaissance of knowledge sharing and collaboration thanks to social computing.

I am already subscribed to most of the different resources listed in Lucas’ list, but I am surely glad to see that there are many other KMers paying attention to the impact social networking is having in the way we share our knowledge with others and collaborate with them. And I bet, as time goes through, that list of essential KM sites and blogs is just going to keep growing at a healthy pace. And I am surely glad I am subscribed to it, because we are bound to find plenty of other gems to subscribe to that would be worth while keeping an eye on.

So, from here, a special thanks! to Lucas for having put together such a fine list, and, much more importantly, for sharing it with us all! Well done!

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: Life, Changing World, Work Life Balance, WLB, Tony Karrer, YouTube, 21st Century, Future, Reality, Now! , Humble

Oh boy, I am shattered! What an incredibly busy week this has been thus far, folks! One of the busiest  I have been having in a long long while ! Thank goodness it is Friday and just feel like I could do with some well deserved rest and start enjoying the weekend a bit sooner than expected. I was thinking about creating another weblog entry where I could share some of the thoughts that have been going on in my mind over the last few days from stuff that I have been reading, but somehow I feel that my body and my mind have got other plans and just want to get the … out of here!

However, I thought I would create this particularly quick weblog entry where I would want to share a video from YouTube that I have found in several other places, Tony Karrer’s weblog being one of them, about how fast things are changing for us all at the beginning of the 21st century. There are lots and lots of things that I could share about the impact that video clip has had in me, after watching it. Humble is probably one of the words that comes to mind, amongst many others. However, instead of me just sharing some more thoughts with you on the subject, I am just going to embed the video over here and let you alone watch it. You will probably find it just as educational, enlightening and thought-provoking as I have found it.

It is just amazing that this presentation piece has been put together quite some time ago and is making the rounds all over the place nowadays. I guess … What comes around goes around… Have a good one, folks! Signing off for now…

Tags: elsua, ITtoolbox, Knowledge Management, KM, Wikis, Cultural Change, Remote Collaboration, Collaboration, Skype, VoIP, Real-Time Collaboration, KM Barriers, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, ClaimID, Identity 2.0, IBM, KM Strategy, Videocasting, Vodcasting, Vodcasts

Here I am again sharing with you some further notes on some of the most popular weblog posts I have created in the last couple of weeks over at the other Internet weblog that I have been maintaining in the last few months: elsua - The Knowledge Management Blog around the world of Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Communities and Social Computing. As you have been able to see, the last weblog entry I created on this subject followed the same format that I am going to follow in this particular post, which is actually group those popular weblog posts by the last two weeks, so that you get a chance to see in a single go what people have been reading in the last couple of weeks.

I must say that this time around folks over at ITtoolbox have actually been reading a bunch of different topics so, as usual, I am just going to share a couple of comments from the more frequent weblog entries that have appeared already over here and for the new ones I shall just put together the syndication feed summary so that you can have a quick look just in case you may have missed it. So without much further ado, here are the most popular weblog posts from elsua - The Knowledge Management Blog in the last couple of weeks:

1. The Problem with Wikis Is People - Time to Provoke a Cultural Change in the Way We Share Knowledge?: A couple of days ago I actually bumped into a very interesting, and thought provoking, entry over at Jeremiah’s Web Strategy weblog titled: The Problem with Wikis is People, where he actually coins a very insightful definition of what wikis are all about: "Wikis are great for Community Knowledge". A definition that I would certainly agree with, I must say, specially from a Knowledge Management and Social Computing perspective.

But why is it that wikis have not been adopted widely specially both inside and outside of the firewall? Here is a weblog entry that tackles these issues and that proposes on solution: Provoke a cultural change!

2. Is Skype Becoming an Enterprise Collaboration Platform? - Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid!: Can you imagine what will happen if one of these days companies would start opening up to Skype and begin adopting it as an enterprise real-time collaboration tool? Can you imagine what that would mean for different businesses? Yes, Skype may be forbidden in most companies but how long before they give up and they would start seeing some more of the capabilities that Skype provides, specially with the recent release of Skype 3.

3. Taking Down Knowledge Management Barriers: For the second time running, this particular entry came up as being one of the top, most frequently read, weblog posts over the last couple of weeks and interestingly enough so it did the follow up weblog post I shared not so long afterwards: Taking Down Knowledge Management Barriers - Part Deux. I am glad to see that plenty of folks are actually discussing some of the major issues that have been dragging KM all along and try to venture into potential ways to address those issues, overcome them and bring KM back to where it was supposed to be in the first place. Stay tuned because there is a third part coming up tackling those same issues and I will be sharing those insights over here in this particular weblog.

4. 15 Ways to Use Software to Improve Your Knowledge Management: Here is this other weblog post coming up for the second time running as well, where it shows how quite a few people seem to be interested in how software, specially with all this social computing hype going on at the moment, is helping KM come back in full force empowering knowledge workers to share more information and knowledge and collaborate with others perhaps even much more effectively than ever before.

5. Your Single Social Network - ClaimID and Identity 2.0 to the Rescue?: Here is a follow up weblog post on the series about social networking fatigue that I have been weblogging about in the past a couple of times and which touches base on one of the major inhibitors from social networking adoption which is the sign-up and building further up of the initial network for each and everyone of the social networking tools available out there. This is another plea, like some other folks have already commented, on perhaps introducing a single and unique social networking profiling capability and use that one across the board.

6. IBM’s Knowledge Management Strategy: Well, well, well, it looks like this particular weblog entry seems to popup, almost every week, as one of the most popular reads as well. And I am saying all this because I am delighted that plenty of people are still interested in finding out some more about some of the stuff that IBM is doing in the space of KM, something that, if you would remember, I decided to give it a bit more exposure with the IBM category in this very same weblog. And again, I would suggest you continue to tune into this particular category because there will be plenty of stuff to discuss on this area during the course of 2007 or, perhaps, starting even earlier!

7. Ten Video Sharing Services Compared - Time to Enter the World of Videocasting? - Part Deux: Here is a follow up weblog entry on yesterday’s post that I shared regarding online video sharing offerings. If yesterday I was actually suggesting an interesting resource worth while going through for those folks interested in videocasting in general here is a recommendation to a weblog post from DVguru that is certainly worth while a read for those folks who may not be too sure where to get started and how to get things going with whatever the online video sharing service. The weblog entry may be a few months old already but still very much relevant and worth while a read, including the commentary.

So that was it, folks, at least, for the last couple of weeks. As you would be able to see, still that lovely combination of KM related topics, along with some more knowledge tools discussion and a few other interesting bits and pieces around the world of Social Computing that I haven’t covered elsewhere just yet, but that I am planning to come back to as time goes by. Specially in those areas where I feel that KM is coming back from wherever it was before and it is now a good chance to see how it is benefiting more and more from that comeback with the emergence of social software. But that would be another story for other weblog posts. For the time being, hope you get to enjoy those already popular weblog posts and I shall be back for some more in upcoming weeks.

Tags: elsua, ITtoolbox, Software, Knowledge Management, KM, KM Barriers, IBM TV, Corporate Blogging, Corporate Blogs, Enterprise Blogs, Instant Messaging, IM, KM Strategy, Vyew, BlinkList, Social Bookmarking, Learning

Oh dear, I actually thought that I had shared a weblog post last week where I was sharing the weekly glimpse of elsua’s (The Knowledge Management Blog) for week 47, like I have been doing for the last few weeks already, to then only find out just now that it didn’t get posted after all. It just went into my draft weblog entries and it has been sitting there ever since ! Hummm, I guess I will have to go ahead and re-write what I put together back then and try to combine it with the weekly glimpse from the following week. So that is what I will do. However, I will try to keep the weblog post as short as possible and therefore just share the details of the different weblog entries without duplicating content. Let’s see. Here you have got the most popular weblog posts for the last two weeks from elsua - The Knowledge Management Blog ranked by page hits:

1. 15 Ways to Use Software to Improve Your Knowledge Management: If you ever wondered what would be some of the major components that a successful Knowledge Management programme should have, if you are in the actual process of reviewing your current Knowledge Management programme I would encourage you all to check Techsoup’s article on "15 Ways to Use Software to Improve Your Knowledge Management" where you would find plenty of different tips put together by combining the best of both worlds, both the traditional KM and the new emerging KM based on social computing. Worth while a read and here is a preview of what you would be able to find over there.

2. Taking Down Knowledge Management Barriers: Ever wonder why Knowledge Management didn’t take off within the enterprise in the way it was first envisioned? Ever thought what were the main KM barriers that prevented that massive adoption of KM programs? Want to find out how things are changing nowadays with the inclusion of social software into the whole picture? Here is a weblog post that touches on some of the issues of the past and also a look into the brilliant present and most promising future.

3. IBM TV - Keeping an Eye on IBM Happenings: Ever wanted to keep up to date with whatever is happening over at IBM around the world of Knowledge and Information Management, Collaboration, Communities, Emerging Technologies, Social Software and Web 2.0? Ever wanted to know how IBM is trying to combine the best of both worlds and merging quite successfully both traditional groupware tools with the latest on social software tools? Then you may be interested in this particular weblog post where I am sharing a link to the IBM TV Web site where you can find some good resources to get you going in this area. So read on further for some more recommendations on what to check first.

4. Tips for Successful Corporate Blogs: Ever wanted to find out what corporate weblogging is all about? Thought you have seen it all when talking about corporate / enterprise weblogging? Ever thought you have had enough of all those studies and surveys? Well, here is a weblog post I created where I referenced another weblog post by Roland Piquepaille that gets to comment on a very worth while survey and study performed around the subject of corporate weblogs and which I am sure you are going to enjoy. This time around, this one is coming from Northeastern University, MA., and Backbone Media Inc.

5. Instant Messaging As a Powerful Vehicle for Instant Communications with the Enterprise: Here is a weblog post where I am sharing some of the annotations that I have taken from a recent e-meeting I have attended, through the replay, from Osterman Research Inc. around the subject of Enterprise IM and how Instant Messaging is making its way rather quick into the enterprise world as perhaps one of the most powerful collaborative tools for real-time interactions. Long gone are the days where IM was just meant for teenagers …

6. IBM’s Knowledge Management Strategy: This is also bound to be one of the most popular weblog posts for the whole month, because on the statistics it is actually showing up on the Top 5 for three consecutive weeks. So I guess it is interesting for folks out there to find out what IBM is currently doing around its KM strategy. And I guess that over here, in this weblog, you would be able to hear some more about it, specially now that I have got the IBM category up and running. Thus stay tuned for plenty more to come.

7. Vyew 2.0 - Free Web Collaboration: This particular article also came up on the top 5 for week 46 and it clearly shows how much worth while it actually is in order to help virtual and distributed teams and communities collaborate and share knowledge on whatever the topic. And all of that with just something so relatively simple as just having your favourite browser and a URL. Stunning!

8. BlinkList Guide for Educators- Tools and Tagging: Here is a quick weblog post that actually details how you can get the most of your social networking tools experience by making extensive use of an impressive social bookmarking tool like del.icio.us and FireFox 2.0 and how in my own set up I am actually achieving similar results making use of both BlinkList and Flock. BlinkList as my preferred social bookmarking tool which now integrates quite nicely with whatever other social bookmarking tool and Flock, still my default web browser despite the recent releases from IE7 and FireFox 2.

As you would be able to see, plenty of different topics dealing not just with traditional Knowledge Management but also with the next generation of KM, Social Computing, which, as I have been saying all along, is perhaps what KM should have been all about all along: the perfect combination in balance of both explicit and tacit knowledge exchanges. Good stuff!