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

The Machine Is Us/ing Us – Transcending the Web

As you may have noticed, over the last few days I haven’t been blogging much over here in this blog, mainly due to lots of things happening while at work (Some of which I am hoping to be able to share plenty more about over the next few days…, specially since it deals mostly with adoption of these new tools), but at the same time mostly because I have been taking a break from various social networking activities to reflect on how I would want to pursue further my own adoption of social software.

No, I am not going away any time soon, nor quitting any of the already existing social tools I have been using for a while. What I have been doing lately is giving it some further thought on how I would want to spend my time not only exploring social computing within the enterprise, but also how I could help spread the message around with its wider adoption. Once again, I sensed how I was starting to spread thinner than what I would have hoped for and therefore it was time to re-group again and think about how I would want to make continued used of these social tools.

I am sure over time I will be able to share with you folks my new approach towards some of the tools I have been using for a while; some of them rather surprising, and a couple of them rather thought-provoking (Like my continued use of Twitter, for instance), but for now I just wanted to let folks know that I am back to my usual regular blogging activities with plenty of really cool stuff to share with you all.

Starting with a YouTube video which, to me, represents something I have been mentioning as far back as 2002 with regards to what Web 2.0 is all about and what it means for us, not just as Internet end-users, but more as a modern, post-industrial society overall: it has never been (Nor will it be … ever) about the tools themselves, but it will continue to be all about us, as humans, most capable of transcending the Web and allowing us to change ourselves on not only who we are, but also what we do and live for in the current times…

Remember the wonderful video clip The Machine is Us/ing Us, that I blogged about a little while ago, that Michael Wesch put together and that changed our views on what the Web 2.0 movement was all about, well, check out The Machine is Us/ing Us – Dance Mix (And which Michael also referenced under the title “The Machine is Us/ing Us – Dance Mix“) where you can clearly see what I meant with Web 2.0 transcending the Web…

It is one of those YouTube videos that will surely give you goose bumps (It surely did to me and managed to bring me back to life as far as my blogging activities are concerned) and will remain a strong reminder for us all that Web 2.0 and social software, for that matter, are not just about the tools, quite the contrary, it’s all about us, our Internet culture, our ability to experience the Web in ways we never thought we could, mainly by reaching out and connecting with other people, to, in the end, help each and everyone of us make a difference!

What a performance!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Web 2.0, Culture, Society, Humanity, Internet, Web, Dance, Ballet, Transcending the Web, Machine Is Us/ing Us, Michael Wesch, YouTube, Performances, Inspiration

Identity Management on Facebook by Josh Scribner

I guess it is inevitable, right? I suppose there is no way to stop it, either; perhaps it shouldn’t be after all. Who knows… We all probably realise though that the usage of Facebook as one of the most powerful social networking environments out there will continue to soar even more rapidly than right now, where it was just mentioned a couple of weeks back how it reached over 200 million users, as months go by and more and more people get exposed to social software in general. Yes, like I said, it is probably inevitable.

However, what most folks can do, but may not have realised about it just yet, is the fact you can establish, and control, how you would want to interact with it, specially if you are in the need of separating both your personal and your business interactions, because, as we all know, sometimes some things should remain just that: private.

So what can you do to tailor your own Facebook interactions to suit the various different groups you connect with in that social network, so that not only you can make sense out it, but also those personal and business connections you have in such powerful networking environment? I know that plenty of times folks have been talking about how you can protect your own privacy while using Facebook extensively. I could go ahead and share with you all some tips on how you can get things going, and start protecting some of those conversations, if you haven’t done so thus far.

Nonetheless, I am actually going to do something much better than that. If you need to take a closer look again in how you manage your identity in such social network so that you can split up interactions and define multiple levels of visibility, walk no further than a recent presentation that one of my team colleagues has put together and shared across in Slideshare.

Check out Identity Management for IBMers on Facebook by Josh Scribner. This is a slide deck that provides plenty of great tips on how you manage, and still make sense, of your identity in Facebook. It provides plenty of background on why we, end-users, need to watch out for what we share, how we share and with whom we share it. Because you never know how and where those interactions will turn up. Pretty much common sense, I can assure you all, but still plenty of sound advice on how you can improve your overall exposure to such social networking tool. Thus without much further ado, here you have got the embedded version, so you can take a look and judge whether it may be a good time now, or not, to re-evaluate how you are making good use of Facebook, both from a personal and business perspective. Worth while taking a look into Josh’s deck to get things going, for sure.

(A special thanks to Josh for sharing that lovely slide deck outside of the company’s firewall, so that other folks out there would be able to benefit as well from such nifty, and useful, presentation! Well done, Josh! And thanks for sharing!)

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, Facebook, Privacy, Identity, Identity 2.0, Identity Management, Business Relationships, Personal Relationships, Josh Scribner, Slideshare, Presentations, Stream, Life Stream, Declarative Living

Open Enterprise 2009 – Dion Hinchcliffe Interviewed by Stowe Boyd

I tell you, it is starting to become some sort of an unstoppable addiction checking out all of these wonderful various interviews that both Oliver Marks and Stowe Boyd continue to carry out for their on-going Open Enterprise 2.0 initiative whose results and final outcome(s) they will be presenting at the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 conference event in Boston in June 2009.

Latest one that I have been enjoying quite a bit has been the one that Stowe Boyd did just a few hours ago with the always engaging Dion Hinchcliffe where they get to discuss a number of various topics around Enterprise 2.0, social software adoption, case studies (Dion actually mentions quite a few examples to check out further!), Return On Investment, the impact of the current econolypse we are going through, etc. etc. Some really good and insightful stuff! For sure.

However, there are a number of other relevant topics that I thought I would share over here as well, since I feel rather identified with them. I have been sharing very similar thoughts all along since I started getting involved with the area of Social Computing a few years back. So here you have a few other interesting nuggets both Dion and Stowe covered under Open Enterprise 2009: Dion Hinchcliffe Interview:

• The role of Success Stories: … in the adoption of social software, that is; something that a few of us have been saying all along; sometimes it is much more powerful and compelling to collect anecdotal evidence through storytelling or narrative than trying to figure out hard, tangible metrics of the intangible to try establish the ROI of social software. Putting Stories to Work anyone?
• Best Practices: This was one of my favourite parts from the entire interview! How many times have you been asked “Do you have any best practices for social software for my business?”; or, better, “I love this Enterprise 2.0 stuff; how do I get on with it? What are the best practices for social software adoption?” It sounds all too familiar, right? Well, Dion’s answer to those questions would be the same one I have been advocating for time and time again: there aren’t ANY best practices on social software adoption! Main reason being? “Organizations are unique, and operate in very different ways” and therefore what may work for one business may not work for another. So next time someone comes to you and asks you about Best Practices for social software point them to this interview. Priceless!
• Tearing down the firewall: This is something that most companies haven’t event started to comprehend, yet, it is happening more and more often as time goes by. This is a thought I have started to grow very fond of a little while ago, perhaps over two years ago, when I first heard Dave Snowden saying something along the lines the the firewall has got its days numbered with more and more knowledge workers wanting to “go outside” and taste the lovely waters of ad-hoc collaboration, knowledge sharing and co-creation with their own customers and business partners and other thought leaders from the industry. Yes, I know, those hard assets, Intellectual Capital, IP Law and Copyrighted materials would still need to be stored in a protected environment behind the firewall, but the rest of the interactions and conversations will be happening elsewhere. Eventually they already are! Even between employees of the same company outside of the boundaries of that original firewall!
• Changing to a culture of sharing: This specific topic of the conversation between both of them was also amongst my favourites, because it surely touches on a subject that has been around for a long long while, way before Social Computing entered the enterprise. It is a subject very much related to the well known motto “Knowledge is power” where knowledge workers, for a good number of years have been hoarding their knowledge, because that gives them a (false) sense of becoming indispensable, when eventually we are all starting to come to terms with the fact that it is actually quite the opposite: “Knowledge SHARED is power“.

  How long can you remain the gatekeeper of the knowledge you have, before it is widely spread throughout your networks? Do you still think you are in control? Do you think you have always been in control of your knowledge?

Those are some of the rather thought-provoking and enlightening conversations that transpire throughout the entire interview on what are some of the remaining challenges left for Enterprise 2.0 to take over. And, much more importantly, what are some of the tremendous opportunities awaiting out there those businesses who are willing to dive into a new world of interactions amongst knowledge workers to help them increase their own productivity and, as a result of that, become smarter at what they do: share their knowledge and collaborate.

Like I said, if you have a bit over 17 minutes to spare, this would be one interview you would not want to miss out! So much to learn, absorb, apply … and enjoy. I surely did!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, Oliver Marks, Open Enterprise 2.0, oe20, oe2.0, Stowe Boyd, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Boston, E2.0, E20conf, Social Software Adoption, Business Value, Benefits, Enterprise 2.0 Blog, Knowledge Workers, Econolypse, Return on Investment, ROI, Change Management, Culture, Social Web, Dion Hinchcliffe, Success Stories, Case Studies, Business Cases, Anecdote, Storytelling, Narrative, Firewall, Dave Snowden, Ad-hoc Collaboration, Culture of Sharing, Knowledge Is Power, Knowledge Shared Is Power, Hoarding Knowledge, Work Smarter