Some time ago I mentioned how I was actually going to attend the IBM Professional Technical Leadership Exchange, taking place in Madrid, to give a presentation on one of my favourite topics regarding Knowledge Management: Personal Knowledge Management. Well, this time around I am actually going to the US, Somers, NY, to provide another presentation around that very same subject: Personal KM, next week Monday, from the 10th till the 12th to an IBM internal audience. I will actually be arriving at the Hilton Garden Inn Danbury this coming Friday and will actually be leaving next week Thursday.

As I said, I will be talking again about Personal Knowledge Management and, amongst other things, I will actually be talking about the key role of communities in helping augment the knowledge sharing and collaboration of knowledge workers by making use of different personal KM tools, like weblogs, wikis, social bookmarks, tagging (And folksonomies), IM/VoIP, podcasts, etc. etc. So at the same time that I will be talking about the importance of tacit knowledge, next to explicit knowledge, something that I have already talked about over here a couple of times already, I will be touching base on some of the different KM and Collaboration tools that IBM has been making use of thus far, mainly though those tools related to social software and the so-called Web 2.0:

• Weblogs: Blog Central (IBM’s internal weblogging platform)
• Wikis: Wiki Central
• Social Bookmarking: Dogear
• (People) Tagging: Fringe Contacts
• Podcasts
• Web syndication
• IM / VoIP (With Sametime 7.5)

I will be presenting next week Tuesday. However, and like I have just mentioned, I will be in Danbury from this coming Friday, so if you would want to meet up for a couple of drinks and a chat feel free to append a comment over here or contact me offline. It would be great if I would be able to meet up some of the folks who I have been interacting with here in elsua or out there in the Blogosphere. Thus if you are going to be around, let me know !

Tags: IBM, Collaboration Best Practices, Knowledge Management, KM, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Collaboration, Social Software, Web 2.0, Wikis, Weblogs, Social Bookmarking, Podcasts, Web Syndication, Dogear, Fringe Contacts, Sametime 7.5, Tacit Knowledge, Explicit Knowledge

People who have been reading from my weblogs for some time now would probably know how fond I am of Flickr, the online Web 2.0 photo sharing service that got me hooked from the very first time I bumped into it. In May it would be one year since I signed up for a Pro account (Thanks James!) and while I am certainly going to renew the membership I just couldn’t help thinking what would be the options out there for potential alternatives. And wouldn’t you know it, Michael Arrington, from Techcrunch, just wrote a nice overview of some of the different alternatives out there in The Flickr Gunners.

By the looks of it, it seems that the only alternative from those mentioned over there that I would be interested in would be Zoomr, specially since it originates from the same group of folks behind Meetro, with Kristopher Tate. However, I wouldn’t want to leave my Flickr account behind. And while I think I would be able to populate both accounts with pictures I have been taking over the last couple of years I am not sure if it would be a good idea to split up the potential audience of folks looking into those pictures.

I mean, I have been sharing pictures stored in my Flickr account as an interesting exercise to encourage community building by sharing something more than just work related stuff. In fact, some of those pictures I have been sharing all along so far have been incredibly useful icebreakers whenever I got started working with different distributed teams or just simply adding some diversity on my contributions to the communities I belong to. Yes, indeed, constantly working on my social capital skills. And Flickr has been great so far at doing just that, causing me hardly any effort but bringing me lots of different benefits and a good number of new connections I have been able to make during the course of that year that I have been using it.

So when I got to read The Flickr Gunners I was wondering if at this point in time I was ready to try out something new or just stick with that Flickr’s “specialness” that Michael mentions over there. I am not really sure. I may give it a try and start using Zoomr (I already got an account for it) but so far it looks like Flickr is the winner, at least, on this end. However, if other folks who I have been connecting with are flocking away into other offerings I may be forced as well to make the move. Either way, I better start getting ready with the alternatives and see if they would be any good enough or if they wouldn’t, in which case I would stick to Flickr for another year and see how it goes from there.

While I am thinking about all this I am just wondering what the level of disruption would be when trying to move to other alternatives. Would it be better to just migrate all the content over or just leave it behind and start again from scratch? What do you think? So far I feel very tempted to start from scratch with whatever the alternative, perhaps Zoomr, but if it doesn’t work out all right will I lose some of that social capital already invested ? Would I be able to recover ? Would things be the same again as before ? If not at what price? Ahhh … Choices! Choices!

(I will try to figure it out during the weekend and see what happens …)

Technorati Tags: Flickr, Zoomr, Techcrunch, Photo Sharing

After being the word of the year for 2005 and also after the recent announcements where IBMers are now encouraged as well not only to continue further with their weblogs but also to venture into the Podcasting world (Check out Inside IBM: IBM Internal Podcast with PodTech) I thought I would create a weblog post over here as well to let folks out there know what is happening in elsua regarding this particular topic.

A couple of days ago I actually released the first episode of my IBM internal podcast called CoKnowCo and as you have probably guessed already it is one of those podcasts available internally to IBM, at least, for the time being and dealing with the subject of Communities, Knowledge Management and Collaboration. So far the reviews and the feedback I have been getting have been very positive and encouraging, which brings me into the next level of involvement with the experience overall: podcasting outside of IBM. I am not sure how it will all turn out to be but I find it a very good opportunity to try this medium and see if I would be able to maintain it or not externally. So far, I have gone into the routine of shaping up a number of different episodes that I will be releasing internally over the next few weeks and I am thinking as well that during the holidays I may be looking into ways of moving CoKnowCo outside of the IBM network to talk about those different topics related to Communities, Knowledge Management and Collaboration and suitable for larger, much more general, audiences.

Thus while the holidays are just around the corner I am going to try to see how I could go about hosting that podcast externally and make it as easy as possible to subscribe to so that you folks could also take a look and add it to your favourite podcasting players. I am not sure where I will be getting started but if you do have some resources available you could provide to people to get started with podcasting please do share some of those over here or contact me offline. That would be terrific ! Either way, and over the next few days I am certainly going to detail how it progresses and what will eventually be happening but right now the excitement and motivation to keep it going is there and I surely look forward to making it happen outside IBM as well. We shall see how it all turns out to be.

Technorati Tags : IBM+Podcast, Podcast, IBM, CoKnowCo

Well, I think that this was meant to be. If last year the word of the year was Weblog , according to Merriam-Webster Online, this year that honour seems to have been granted to Podcast, according to ‘Podcast’ is the word of the year.

What I find quite interesting from that particular piece of news is actually the definition itself of Podcast:

“A digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player,”

And the reason being that we seem to be missing one key important element which is part of every podcast, and that is web syndication. I think that is the main key differentiator from every single podcast, the fact that you can subscribe to them using your favourite syndication software, whatever that may be and keep yourself always up to date. I do hope that whoever may have come up with that particular definition would be able to include that as well as it would be much more representative than anything else from what a podcast should be. Thus we shall watch out and see what happens.

Technorati Tags : Podcast

Where will you be from December the 1st till 3rd ? Got any plans that would make a difference in the world we live in today and perhaps in the near future ? No? No plans? Then you may want to stay tuned and register to join Habitat Jam. The United Nations-Habitat (UN-Habitat) is currently preparing (With the help and support from IBM) one of those online events that not only would it be unique on its own but that it would also have a significant impact in the way we live in this world in the next few years to come.

Indeed, for the first time ever the world will stop and think what it can do to make a significant impact by hosting one of those worldjam events that I am sure would not leave people unaffected, all the other way around. There have been some folks who have been weblogging already about the online event itself (Amongst them Nancy White in Habitat Jam :: Another Online Event to Watch and Nick Aster in Habitat Jam Offers Online Discussion of Urban Issues Dec 1-3) and I am sure there will be more. But here is your chance to get to know a bit more what Habitat Jam is all about:

Imagine tens of thousands of people around the world just like you connecting in real time over the internet to discuss and debate some of the most urgent and controversial issues that face a rapidly urbanizing planet. Imagine world-class thinkers leading the discussions. Imagine the results that could be achieved by this unprecedented global conversation and collaboration. This is Habitat JAM.

The Habitat JAM is about adding your voice into the global conversation about the future of our cities. It’s about having your say on important issues that affect you. It’s about building new global networks of people who wouldn’t have connected before. It’s about working together across the globe to agree on solutions.

As part of the preparations for the third session of the World Urban Forum, the Government of Canada in partnership with UN-HABITAT is sponsoring this 72-hour internet event. From December 1-3, 2005, the Habitat JAM will gather your input and add it to thousands of others to turn ideas into actions for the Vancouver World Urban Forum agenda and influence the Forum’s content.

As you have been able to read above this is going to be one of those online events worth while not only listening in but also participating to whatever the extent. As you will be able to read from the About Habitat Jam web link there actually will be six different forums in place:

• Improving the lives of Slum Dwellers
• Sustainable Access to Water
• Environmental Sustainability
• Safety and Security
• Finance and Governance
• Humanity: The Future of Our Cities

And everyone is more than welcome to participate not only by reading the different discussions but also by engaging into the different suggestions and great ideas that I am sure will float around all over the place. I know I could go on talking some more about what an event such as this one would eventually mean to us all but I think that would be enough for the time being. However, I do want to point out a number of different resources where you could get some more information details on the event just to get yourself ready to participate in it:

• Habitat Jam: Where you will find all the necessary information about the event plus whatever other details you may be looking for. So go and register today !
• Unprecedented Global Event: Tens of Thousands of World Citizens Unite Online to Debate Urban Sustainability Issues December 1-3, 2005
• And IBM and the Future of Our Cities: the latest one of the IBM Investors podcasts series on The Future of … where you will be able to hear from Charles Kelly (Commissioner General of the World Urban Forum 3) and Mike Wing (IBM Strategic Communications) all the inside outs of the actual event itself, how it was born and what the different expectations are. Quite enlightening to say the least if you want to be ready for what is to come on the 1st of December. Certainly a must-listen if you are planning to participate.

So what are you waiting for ? Go and register now and get ready for the online event of events. The one that will change the way we are, the way we live, in short, the one that will change the world as we know it ! And best part of all this is that we get to define those changes with our ideas. Now it is no longer the time to complain about this and that. Now it is just the time to take action and continue to have a much more positive impact in the world we live in. It is up to us to do so. Thus where are you going to be from December 1st till the 3rd ? Got any plans ?

Technorati Tags : Habitat+Jam, IBM, IBM+Podcasting, Podcast, WorldJam

Over at Jean-Francois‘ weblog, one of my IBM colleagues, you will be able to read one interesting post he has shared recently commenting on an article published in ZDNET News: Big Blue dives into podcast waters. Good read, indeed ! And like Jean-Francois just emphasises over there, IBM has recently embarked very strongly into one other technology that seems to have taken the Internet by storm for quite some time now: Podcasting.

Indeed, you have already noticed how I have been weblogging about the different podcasts that IBM has been sponsoring over at the IBM Investors web site. Well, now the difference is that for a couple of weeks IBMers have got the opportunity to create their own podcasts and share them with the rest of IBM employees on the Intranet. And as it is mentioned as well on the ZDNET news article:

“IBM also is providing its employees with software and information that will allow them to easily create their own podcasts.”

So as you can see we got it all working out and by the looks of it quite successfully. Now you may be wondering if I have actually dived in and created my own podcasting service. And the quick answer is “Yes, I have” although I am still deciding what the content would be about; the frequency of the podcasts and, most importantly, if I am going to be sharing them as well here in elsua or not. I think that for the time being I will just keep them internal, and see how it would go for a few months. Then at a later time I may eventually dive in and go external. But, like someone I know would say, one step at a time. No rush.

Technorati Tags : IBM, IBM+Podcast, IBM+Podcasting