I am sure that there are plenty of folks out there wanting me to let you all know about some of the main highlights from the IBM Web 2.0 and Beyond Summit I attended last week, plus some other really exciting stuff that is going on right as we speak and coming from various fronts, but you would have to forgive me for not doing so right away and having to wait for the odd day or two.

Just as I was getting back home yesterday from the US, I got a call from my mum telling me that my younger brother finally got everything arranged and in place, after having waited for a couple of months, to go through an operation to help fight some Trigeminal Neuralgia he has been suffering from for the last few months. Those of you who are familiar with such illness would know it is one of the most painful ones known to mankind, so we were happy that finally came through.

And just this morning he went through what was supposed to be a three hour operation, which in the end extended itself for a total number of seven hours!! He is now resting in intensive care for the next few hours and the next 24 hours will be crucial. Doctors (And my entire family) are very confident about the outcome of the operation, but we need to wait…

So I am hoping you would understand how my blogging from here onwards, and till things get better for him, will be very light, if not non-existent. I care passionately about all of this work I am doing in the social computing space, but I am sure you all know where I put all of my money any and every time: my family!

It’s the only one I got, thus that is where all my attention is going right now wishing my younger brother a speedy recovery knowing he is a tough guy and will get through this one in no time!

Hang in there, bro! We all love ya! :-)

(And from here a special thanks! to all of those folks on Twitter who have been sending along their get well soon wishes for him. Know that he really appreciates them, and so do I! I said it once and I will say it again: you are all a special bunch and I am very proud of hanging out with you lot!)

For someone like myself who has been a corporate blogger for nearly five years, and still going strong, at one of the major enterprises out there in the IT world, with several thousand blog posts, there are times where video clips like this one, shared by Patrick Lambe (Whose superb Green Chameleon I can certainly recommend it’s worth while subscribing, like I have mentioned not long ago) on Explaining KM #4 Corporate Blogging, would make you smile big time. Over and over again! No doubt!

Continuing with that fashion of writing shorter blog posts, and without much further ado, here we have got Dr. David Vaine at it again, spending a bit over 6 minutes, telling us all there is to know about the fascinating world of corporate flogging, errr, I mean, blogging, behind the firewall, with policies, processes and everything. Worth while the 6 minutes, for sure!

Priceless!

Tags: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media, Collaboration, Blogging, Communities, Corporate Blogging, Flogging, Corporate Flogging, Remote Collaboration, Patrick Lambe, Green Chameleon, David Vaine, YouTube, Fun

If a few days ago I was actually creating a blog post over here recommending folks to subscribe to the fine blog from Gia Lyons to get to find out some more about Lotus Connections and social computing for the enterprise (Amongst many other things!), here I am at it again, about to recommend a superb blog that has just made it outside of the IBM firewall and which I am sure would grab people’s attention, specially those folks interested in finding out some more about what IBM is doing with regards to social media experience on the ibm.com Web sites.

Remember the other blog post I put together as well not long ago on SMT’s IBM Case Study - From Employees to Members: IBM Connects With Social Media? Well, this particular blog I am going to be sharing over here next would go pretty much along the lines of some of the stuff you will see on that very same case study on how IBM is embracing social computing on the external ibm.com sites.

Yes, that is right! Check out Technical and Strategic Insight on the Present and Future of the ibm.com Website to get a glimpse of what I am talking about here. I am sure that the first thing you are going to say is "What a long long name for a blog! Goodness!" and you would be right. It is also a bit too long for my taste, but if you go beyond that and if you check out some of the already existing blog posts, you would agree with me that this is one of those blogs that you will be subscribed to, if you are into social media and what large enterprises like IBM are doing. Here is an excerpt of what the blog is about:

"Insights from the ibm.com team; a diverse group of people with a unique depth and breadth of experience in developing and managing a complex large enterprise site. The team will address many of the technical and managerial challenges associated with running such a large and complex website; focusing on the innovative solutions the team has or will be deploying. Topics covered will be diverse, ranging from asynchronous java and security to innovation in Agile and website accessibility."

With that introduction I bet a bunch of folks out there would be interested in syndicating its content. The good thing is that I know a couple of folks behind the actual blog and I can certainly share with you the kind of outstanding quality you are going to find there! Right now you will be able to find the names and positions held within IBM from each of the bloggers and a way to interact with them if you would want to add comments to their own blog posts.

Thus without much further ado, here is the first of many blog posts that I am sure you would find pretty interesting and engaging, to say the least: Test environments on the enterprise web. Drop by, say "Hi!" and get some dialogue going! It surely promises to be an interesting one! And me? What can I say? … Already subscribed!

Tags: IBM, Lotus Connections, Connections, Gia Lyons, ibm.com, SMT, Social Media Collective, Case Study, Social Media, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Communities, New Media, Metablogging, Blogging, Blogroll, Recommendations, Social Software Adoption, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Innovation

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!, to all of those folks who may be celebrating it today! I know that for plenty of the people who get to read this blog, today is a special day with plenty of things to celebrate and enjoy throughout. Well, you are not alone. I am, too! A day like today, 17th of March, back in 2004, my life, both on a work and personal levels, changed drastically! I came to live and work remotely to Gran Canaria, the place I once fell in love with about 12 years ago! Yes, that is right! Today is my fourth anniversary enjoying quite a unique situation: The Blogger from Paradise.

It is funny! Earlier on this morning, I had the intention of sharing with you folks something new I was going to re-introduce into this blog, as a way to celebrate these four years I have been living over here fully engaging with social software both inside and outside of the corporate firewall, and lo and behold, there I was having to postpone it for a few more hours, as I got alerted about something that I thought would be worth while sharing as well as part of such important celebration as today’s.

Yesterday late afternoon, I got contacted, through Skype, by Jerry Bowles, Co-founder and CEO from the Social Media Today collective, and he kindly asked me whether I would want to do an IM interview with him detailing some more about my role within IBM as a social computing evangelist as well as sharing some further thoughts on the impact that social software is having not only within IBM, but also with its various employees, like myself. Of course, I just couldn’t resist such an interesting offer and the result of it is SMT Blogger of the Week - Luis Suarez, The Blogger in Paradise.

In that particular article you would be able to read our Skype IM conversation on what kind of impact social networking has been having with myself and my various interactions with other knowledge workers, including my own boss, Gina Poole, who still keeps actively engaged with the internal blogosphere. Quite an interesting read, which clearly indicates how things are shifting within the corporate world, where employees may not longer be stranded in a fixed office in a traditional work location. On the contrary, with today’s pervasiveness of social computing along with the high penetration levels of broadband Internet connectivity, knowledge workers may be having the unique opportunity to decide where they would like to be working as their most motivating space to deliver on the job day in day out for an extended period of time!

Now, I am sure that everyone would understand that there are various different circumstances on how various knowledge workers get to interact with other colleagues, customers or business partners, but it is also very accurate to think that the traditional restrictions we once had about having to work from a fixed office work location may no longer be relevant in today’s distributed world. Such is the impact that social software is having amongst our current workforce where over 42% of the total population is now mobile; and I am surely glad to be one of those very very lucky guys who has got his dream job within such a large enterprise. And in Paradise.

Many people keep asking me what is the main business value from social software, and all along I have been saying something that certainly resonates with plenty of other folks out there as well. I am sure. In my own case, the main business value I am getting through social computing is the fact that the last three jobs I have had, have actually been given to me because of my corporate blogging activities, amongst several other tasks related to social networking. So, for those folks out there who may be thinking that that there isn’t value in social software, they ma need to think about it, because throughout my own experiences you can see that the impact can be tremendous, to say the least!!

What a great way to celebrate four years of coming to the place where I feel like home. Always have. Always will. And get to work on what I am really passionate about at the same time: Social Computing, Community Building and Knowledge Sharing! The picture shared below is just one of the thousands and thousands of reasons why I fell in love with the island four years ago and still am, just like in the first day …

Roque Bentaiga

Tags: St. Patrick’s Day, Saint Patrick, Patrick, Gran Canaria, Paradise, Jerry Bowles, Social Media Today, SMT, IBM, Blogging, Metablogging, Blogs, Gina Poole, Corporate Blogging, Corporate Blogs, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Innovation, Workplace, Virtual Teams, Online Communities, Skype, Mobile Workforce, Mobility, Flexibility, Work Life Balance, WLB, Working At Home, WAH, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Management, KM, Gran Canaria, Roque Bentaiga, Bentaiga, Mountains

Earlier on today, in our IBM internal blogging platform, Blog Central, one of the most respected, popular and knowledgeable bloggers on social computing within the enterprise made an announcement that I surely was looking forward to for a long long while! Yes, one kind of announcement that got me really excited, to the point that I thought I would share some of that excitement over here. Gia Lyons is now blogging externally!

Yes, that is right, folks! If you are into social computing and social software within the enterprise and beyond; if you would like to find out a whole lot more about IBM’s Lotus Connections; if you would like to find out some more about how IBM is actually driving the adoption of social networking within the corporate world; and if you would want to find a whole lot more from what’s in Gia’s mind, I would strongly encourage you all to subscribe to her, now external, blog!

Here is the blog post where Gia was mentioning she was going public: Public Gia. Read further on to see what she will be talking about and how you will be able to keep in touch with her through her blog (Yes, I know, about time! heh). And to give you a sense of what she has already posted in her external blog, here you have got some very interesting blog posts to get you going:

1. Connections is like the global lunch room. Beehive? Global cocktail hour!
2. The Connected Age: Are you a bursty Web worker?
3. The nature of males

Thus there you have it, another passionate IBMer blogging outside of the corporate firewall around the subject of social computing and social software, willing to dive into the external conversation on the Internet blogosphere with all of us. So go over to her blog, say "Hi!" and add her blog to your blogroll. I can guarantee you will be able to learn a thing or two, like we have been doing ourselves with her internal blog for a long while now, and have plenty of good fun all along!

Welcome on board, Gia, to the Internet Blogosphere! See what pressure can do to ya? heh

Tags: IBM, Metablogging, Blogs, Blogroll, Gia Lyons, Connected, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Innovation, Connections, Lotus Connections, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Communities

As most of you folks out there may already know by now, specially if you had a chance to read the blog post I created about this topic about two weeks ago, this has been my third week without e-mail at work! Well, not entirely accurate, people still keep sending me e-mails and everything, but instead of me going ahead and replying to each and everyone of them, I don’t. I go out there into IBM’s various social computing spaces and provide the answers over there to them (And to the wider IBM as well as a result of that!), with the final outcome that they know from there onwards where they can go to get a much faster response from me. And e-mail is not it!

To all this, you may remember that I only apply a single exception, which is when people send me an e-mail that may well be of a very sensitive nature, i.e. confidential material, or a private one-on-one conversation. The rest is going out elsewhere… i.e. on to social software tools!

I haven’t been blogging much over here on my actual progress report on how I am doing, whereas in my corporate blog I have been sharing, at least, one or two blog posts a week, so I thought I would break that over here and start sharing with you folks my progress. At least, with a weekly blog post, so that over time, and, over the course of the next few months, you would be able to find out how things are going.

Earlier on this week, I got contacted via IM at work by a couple of folks who thought I would not be able to pull it off together for so long and that eventually I would be giving in to it. And to that my answer has been that today is the end of the third week and I am still going strong. When I decided to take the plunge and make this bold move, I knew one thing for sure: there is no way back! Ever onwards!

Thus, on to the third week, and here is a screen shot with the progress report:

As you would be able to see what it once was 30 to 45 e-mails a day, now has turned into 39 e-mails a week!! And this just on the third week of trying it out! Over time I am expecting to keep this number going lower and lower and in the end try to re-purpose how I use e-mail at work, i.e. basically what it was first initially intended for: a one on one conversation / communication instrument. For the rest bring on the open, public conversation into whatever IBM’s social computing tool we both may be sharing!!

And you know the weirdest part of it all? Well, you are not going to believe it, but subconsciously I am starting to apply the same principles to my external e-mail in how I handle every single incoming e-mail and so far it is going great! I am starting to see a reduction in there as well. Not as drastic, but still very relevant and noteworthy. We shall see how it evolves further.

One thing for sure, is that I am getting a kick out of it, because by bringing the conversation out in the open and collaboratively work with my social networks to get the job done, I feel like I am contributing ever so much more to the overall social computing space and I guess that for a social software evangelist that is not a bad thing … is it?

Have a good one, everyone!!

(Oh, and now that I am done with various deadlines I had to finish off this week, and seeing what a long weekend I have got ahead of me as I am starting to prepare to go to Zürich on Sunday, I shall be getting back to the blog posts where a couple of folks have been sharing some further comments and will keep adding further into the overall conversation. See you there!)

Tags: IBM, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, e-mail, email, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media, Social Computing, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Innovation, Productivity, Conversations, Dialogue, Openness, Progress Reports, Confidentiality, Privacy, Private Conversations, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Collaboration 2.0