Jane McConnell shares concrete numbers on adoption of enterprising blogging. To quote: The figures in this year's report clearly show that senior managers in many large organizations are using blogs to improve communication flow, to break through some of the barriers and silos. However, there is still a lot ...
Blog category: Collaboration
March 3, 2010 by James Robertson
Senior manager blogs and non-blogs
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, Intranets
March 2, 2010 by James Robertson
More advanced steps to a good intranet wiki/blog
Mark Morrell writes about further steps to a good intranet wiki/blog. To quote: In BT anyone can start a blog or create a wiki article internally about their views and opinions and can contribute to other blogs or wiki articles if they wish to. To get started all you ...
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, Intranets, wikis
February 23, 2010 by James Robertson
Future principle: put people at the centre
This future principle explores where intranets should be heading. Previous principles include act proactively, not just reactively, provide universal access and it's more than the intranet. They support two "future scenarios": starting a new job and driving the engine of change. Up to this point, the ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, enterprise experience, future, future principle, Intranets, user experience
February 18, 2010 by James Robertson
Video interview with Sabre on their online social tools
Sabre Holdings is one of the largest travel services businesses in the world, quietly connecting travel agents with airlines, as well as running major sites such as Travelocity. Sabre Town, their enterprise social space, provides a ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, sabre, social tools
February 16, 2010 by James Robertson
Video interview with NYK on wiki-based intranet news
NYK is one of the world's largest shipping and transport firms, with 770 major ships sailing the oceans. In an incredibly competitive market, it is vital to quickly respond to industry changes and competitor moves. To facilitate ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, news, wikis
January 18, 2010 by James Robertson
Social intranet products: am I missing something?
I've been looking at a number of "social" and "enterprise 2.0" intranet solutions recently. (I won't name them, as we maintain strict vendor-neutrality.) These are all intended to be out-of-the-box intranet solutions for medium-sized organisations, and they provide rich social functionality. This includes: team spaces wikis blogs social updates (eg Facebook/Twitter) rich personal profiles home-page "latest updates" ...
Tags: Intranets, social media
December 22, 2009 by James Robertson
The culture of collaboration and what it means for your intranet
Maish Nichani writes about the culture of collaboration, and its relevance when planning projects. To quote: Many organisations are waking up to the fact that collaboration is a key piece of the intranet puzzle. I have spoken to many such people in charge of collaboration in their organisations and what ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
November 23, 2009 by James Robertson
The immense value of expertise location will help drive enterprise social media
Ross Dawson has written about the value of expertise location. To quote: I have been interested in the field of expertise location for over a decade, from back when knowledge managers were building 'corporate yellow pages' and other tools to find the best expertise in the organization. Unless a large organization ...
Tags: expertise location, social media
November 2, 2009 by James Robertson
Organizational collaboration: four foundations – overview
Michael Sampson talks about the four foundations of organisational collaboration. To quote: 1. Summarized Expertise ... Who are the people in your organization, and what are they good at? 2. Correlated Knowledge ... What is known about a particular topic in your organization, and who has demonstrated knowledge in a particular ...
Tags: Collaboration
September 18, 2009 by James Robertson
Using the intranet to access collaboration tools
Collaboration tools are spreading through organisations. Wikis, team spaces and discussion groups are being used in ever-greater numbers. For many staff, this means they are involved in several different collaboration spaces. This might include a project space for their current work, another for a committee they are a member of, as ...
Tags: Collaboration, Intranets
September 8, 2009 by James Robertson
Implementing enterprise micro-messaging with yammer at Océ
Bill Ives reports on the use of Yammer at Océ. To quote: The low barrier to entry helped expand the number of users. The intuitive and attractive interface also helped. Samuel said that there were only about 15 to 20 people using Twitter in the company when he introduced Yammer. ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, twitter, yammer
August 30, 2009 by James Robertson
Collaboration: questions to ask
Staff and business areas often identify a need for collaboration tools, without knowing what the best solution would be. They may have some familiarity with a handful of tools, but not know how others work. As discussed in the earlier article Successful collaboration requires support, there needs to be a ...
Tags: Collaboration, governance, needs analysis, questions, user research
August 30, 2009 by James Robertson
Mitigating enterprise collaboration risks
There are many perceived and actual risks when collaboration tools are introduced within organisations. This table lists some of the key risks, and outlines options for mitigating or eliminating them. (Thanks to the participants of our 'Succeeding at collaboration' workshops for their input on this list.) RiskOptions for mitigating the risk Inappropriate ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, risks
August 17, 2009 by James Robertson
Social networking on intranets
Jakob Nielsen has also written about social media on intranets. To quote: As people embrace social media in their private lives, they naturally expect to use similar tools within the enterprise. This is especially true for younger workers who use these tools in everyday life. Open communication, collaboration, and content ...
Tags: Intranets, social media, strategy
August 17, 2009 by James Robertson
Social media on a global intranet – how do you choose?
Jane McConnell discusses social media on intranets. To quote: An intranet manager asked me recently how to prioritise ideas about social media for the intranet. They are a global organization and are currently attempting to bring all the local intranets under the same umbrella. They ran a workshop, and lots ...
Tags: Intranets, social media, strategy
August 2, 2009 by James Robertson
Book review: SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration
Michael Sampson's first book, Seamless Teamwork, was a masterpiece of step-by-step instructions for teams using SharePoint. Working from a very practical starting point, it gave teams clear instructions on which elements of SharePoint to use, and how. By design, this book was very much "in the trenches", focusing on getting ...
Tags: Collaboration, roadmap
July 29, 2009 by James Robertson
Yesterday’s collaboration workshop in Canberra
Talk about collaborating on collaboration! I ran the first of our "Succeeding at collaboration" workshops yesterday in Canberra, and discussions were vigorous and insightful from the outset. At some points I could barely get a word in edgeways, which is exactly what you want when so much great experience is ...
Tags: Collaboration, workshops
July 24, 2009 by James Robertson
Launch of social media strategy framework
Ross Dawson has launched another one of his superb diagrams, this one providing a social media strategy framework. To quote: Today we launch our Social Media Strategy Framework. This provides guidance and a frame on how organizations can approach engaging with social media, following in the tradition of our highly ...
Tags: social media
July 22, 2009 by James Robertson
Cutting through the hype of social media
When discussing intranets and related enterprise-level software, it’s easy to get caught up in the technology. There are many features and components, so much whizz-bang functionality. It can be difficult to stay on target and focus on a piece of technology that will simply do a job that needs doing, ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, social media
July 21, 2009 by James Robertson
12 rules for bringing ’social’ to your business
Dion Hinchcliffe has written a post outlining 12 rules for bringing 'social' to your business. To quote: But for most of us to really get strategic value from social business, we'll need to understand the ground rules. In other words, let's ask and answer the tough questions in making this ...
Tags: enterprise, social networking
July 9, 2009 by James Robertson
FOI and implications for collaborative, crowd sourced environments
Matt Hodgson explores FOI implications for collaborative tools within government agencies. To quote: I heard a story recently about a boss who was afraid to use a wiki, even inside the walls, because it didn’t fall under the strict editorial control processes normally required for their conventional paper documents or ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, foi
July 3, 2009 by James Robertson
Collaboration in Australia
Matthew Moore and Keith De La Rue have launched a survey to understand usage of collaboration tools within Australia. To quote: We are researching the use of collaboration tools in Australia. “Collaboration” is a buzz term at the moment, and we want to get behind the hype to discover how ...
Tags: Collaboration, surveys
July 1, 2009 by James Robertson
Insights from the e20 challenges at J&J
Abigail Lewis-Bowen has written about her experiences of enterprise 2.0 at Johnson & Johnson. To quote: Coach Leaders ahead of time about the essence of communicating with these tools: praise the good, ignore the bad, be prepared to accept criticism, and never come across as critical or negative. Doing so ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0
July 1, 2009 by James Robertson
Introducing the Enterprise Wiki Software Guide
Stewart Mader has published a new Enterprise Wiki Software Guide, providing a brief summary on key enterprise wiki tools (both free and commercial). To quote: Choosing the right wiki for your team, project, or organization is essential. The right tool will help catalyze adoption, encourage continued use, and help people ...
Tags: Collaboration, wikis
June 22, 2009 by James Robertson
SharePoint roadmap for collaboration: Michael’s second book
Michael Sampson has pre-announced his new book called SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration. To quote: SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration is the indispensable guide for the CIO and IT department about what to do after installing the software. This book takes everything that I teach in my SharePoint Roadmap workshop -- about ...
Tags: Collaboration, teams
June 17, 2009 by James Robertson
Why businesses don’t collaborate – new research report
Stewart Mader has published some research into why businesses don’t collaborate. To quote: Many businesses think they collaborate. But content professionals today are tugged in multiple directions, and expected to multi-task their way through an increasing amount of work with the help of software tools designed to make them more ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0
June 16, 2009 by James Robertson
Five wiki gardening tips
Matt Wiseley has written about wiki gardening. To quote: I wrote a few months ago about keeping the chaff out of your site with a regular Wiki Spring Cleaning. This is just one in a set of activities often referred to as Wiki Gardening. Now that it is actually ...
Tags: Collaboration, wikis
June 16, 2009 by James Robertson
When it comes to enterprise 2.0, every vendor wants to own the user
Interest in enterprise 2.0 and collaboration remains high within organisations, despite the economic downturn. The range of tools in the marketplace is growing, and capabilities are improving. So far, all good. The challenge is, however, to work out where to fit these tools in the enterprise landscape. Most organisations have a ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
June 11, 2009 by James Robertson
JetBlue’s test group helps enterprise wiki adoption
Stewart Mader writes about a case study of wiki use in JetBlue. To quote: The software selected provided a vehicle for JetBlue faculty to talk to one another, not just about process improvements in learning & development, but also to share photos from family vacations, weddings and birthdays. The thinking ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, wikis
June 4, 2009 by James Robertson
A case study of enterprise wiki usage
Matthew C. Clarke has published an extensive enterprise wiki case study, covering the work done at CorVu. To quote: CorVu produces software that assists other enterprises to implement their strategy and to track their performance against that strategy over time. CorVu has a variety of channels for making its internal ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, wikis
June 3, 2009 by James Robertson
Steps to a good intranet wiki/blog
Mark Morrell has written a post on 5 simple steps to a good intranet wiki/blog. To quote: While talking to people after presenting ‘Adding value to your intranet - Intranet governance at BT‘ at Intranätdagarna 2009 in Stockholm last week it made me realise some simple steps could help an ...
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets, wikis
May 8, 2009 by James Robertson
Collaboration anti-culture: can It get any worse?
Michael Sampson has written about cultural barriers to collaboration, giving a real-life example. To quote: "Collaboration" will fail at your firm, because of lack of freedom. Eg, you two are hand-slapped for going to talk to other people at head office (talk!). Collaborative activity doesn't flourish in tightly controlled environments ...
Tags: Collaboration, culture
May 4, 2009 by James Robertson
Being social at work: which communications model to adopt for the enterprise?
Matthew Hodgson has written a post on communications models for enterprise 2.0. To quote: Web 2.0 technology presents the modern organisation with a plethora of means for communicating new information to staff. While some of us are now running to install wikis and blogs as a vehicle to achieve enterprise ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, social networking
April 28, 2009 by James Robertson
Moderating internal discussion forums, blogs and other social media
When starting intranet-based online discussions in an organisation, whether they are forums, blogs, comments on articles, or internal Twitter-style tools, how should you go about moderating them and maintaining their effectiveness? Where do you begin with writing policies and guidelines on use? Should you even monitor the discussions at all? ...
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, discussion forums, governance, moderation, social media
April 27, 2009 by James Robertson
Visualization: Wikis in the enterprise
Ross Dawson posts a nice visualisation of wikis in the enterprise. To quote: Today we are continuing our series of visual representations of social media tools inside organizations, taken from our Implementing Enterprise 2.0 report. The diagram below was used in the chapter on wikis in the enterprise, to ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, wikis
April 24, 2009 by James Robertson
10 tips for a successful wiki
James Everett has written a post outlining 10 tips for a successful wiki. To quote: There are dozens of different wikis, from free open source models to commercial enterprise packages. Use your list of criteria to research the available options and evaluate each to see how it fits your team. ...
Tags: Collaboration, wikis
April 14, 2009 by James Robertson
New report: Governance and support for SharePoint team sites
I'm pleased to announce the release of our latest report: Governance and support for SharePoint team sitesA best practice case study Microsoft SharePoint is now rapidly spreading through organisations. In terms of team collaboration, this is meeting a very real need. If unmanaged, however, this explosive growth will generate ...
Tags: Collaboration, governance, team
April 6, 2009 by James Robertson
Reviewing intranet-based collaboration setups
Maish Nichani has provided a set of guidelines to review intranet-based collaboration, building on our Intranet Review Toolkit. To quote: The ability to form groups and collaborate on the intranet is key to making the intranet a place for ‘doing work’. A well-planned collaboration setup allows staff to use the ...
Tags: Collaboration, Intranets
March 26, 2009 by James Robertson
Video: Use a wiki to plan meeting agendas, record minutes
Stewart Mader has posted a video that discusses using wikis for meetings. To quote: A wiki can help your team make meetings shorter and more focused. How? By letting everyone track progress of projects and action items online, so they can focus meetings on just the items that need in-person ...
Tags: Collaboration, wikis
March 23, 2009 by James Robertson
No collaboration without communications
Organisations are rushing to jump on board the web 2.0 bandwagon, which seem to offer a collection of affordable tools to collaborate and share knowledge. While many organisations are currently experimenting with social media tools, strong successes are still relatively rare. Consider the following scenario: an organisation introduces collaboration by piloting ...
Tags: Collaboration, communication, culture, Intranets
March 23, 2009 by James Robertson
Integrating social tools with the EUMETSAT intranet
In 2008, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) won a commendation in the Intranet Innovation Awards. Their AJAX-based ‘Intranet Newsflash’ delivered quick bulletins of news and critical messages to users, regardless of the page on display. EUMETSAT’S intranet innovation doesn’t end there, however. A wiki for new ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, forums, Intranets, wikis
March 18, 2009 by James Robertson
UX design for collaboration 2.0
Matthew C. Clarke has written an article on designing "collaboration 2.0". To quote: I want to start this discussion by proposing a model for collaboration1 that links the various elements of collaboration, comment on the so-called “collaboration software” currently available, and make some tentative suggestions about IA and UX requirements ...
Tags: Collaboration
March 17, 2009 by James Robertson
We need to find the business value in collaboration
Managing collaboration takes a lot of work. Rolling out the tools is easy, whether it's team spaces, wikis or blogs. To ensure that they are successful is another matter. If collaboration is to succeed across the enterprise, organisations will need to appoint at least one full time person (probably two) ...
Tags: Collaboration
March 11, 2009 by James Robertson
Where should collaboration sit?
Jane McConnell asks the question: where should collaboration sit? To quote: I recommend placing collaboration within the intranet landscape. That's to say, making the intranet the front door into collaborative spaces (even if they are built on a different technology). This reinforces the role of the intranet as a business ...
Tags: Collaboration, Intranets
March 4, 2009 by James Robertson
Collaboration and social media terminology?
Terminology is always muddy in emerging fields, particularly where product innovation outstrips theoretical thinking. This is very much the case in the spaces of "collaboration" and "social media". While this is hard to avoid, it's extremely problematic. Very different approaches and tools are lumped together, people discover they aren't talking about ...
Tags: Collaboration, social software
February 26, 2009 by James Robertson
What would you put in corporate Twitter usage guidelines?
Martin Belam asks: what would you put in corporate Twitter usage guidelines? To quote: When blogging became a popular activity for both employees and employers, it wasn't long before companies were formulating corporate blogging policies. As Twitter grows and grows, and can't seem to keep out of the UK media ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, twitter
February 11, 2009 by James Robertson
Tools for remote teams to keep in touch
As working lives get busier and more flexible work options open up, a way to keep in touch with remote colleagues is needed. Colleagues might be working from home, in a different state or 'on the road'. Feeling part of a team It is difficult to replicate 'water-cooler' chat with remote staff ...
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, remote teams, twitter, wikis
February 6, 2009 by James Robertson
Untangling collaboration spaces
An all-too-common scenario: Collaboration spaces, such as wikis or SharePoint team areas, have multiplied across the organisation. Now numbering in the thousands, some are hugely successful but many are not. Confusion and pain has oustripped the value offered by the collaboration spaces, and things may be getting worse not better. How to ...
Tags: Collaboration
January 12, 2009 by James Robertson
CoPs 101
Kim Sbarcea has pointed to some very useful introductory resources on communities of practice. To quote: Once again, I find myself in need of explaining CoPs (communities of practice) to people I’m working with. I’ve been working with CoPs since 2002 in the same organisation. There’s been the usual ups ...
Tags: Collaboration, communities of practice, Knowledge management
January 9, 2009 by James Robertson
Social computing behind the firewall – best buy’s video case study
George Dearing has posted a link to a video case study of Blue Shirt Nation, the social networking initiative at Best Buy in the US. To quote: With all the talk about the inability to show demonstrable ROI in social computing, it’s refreshing to see a company lay out the ...
January 8, 2009 by James Robertson
Five common collaboration tool errors
Matt Moore has written about five common collaboration tool errors. To quote: The New New Thing Error. Deciding to deploy something because it is new rather than based on its merits to meet your purpose (N.B. You do have a purpose don't you?) Warning Sign:"One of our directors read about ...
Tags: Collaboration
January 7, 2009 by James Robertson
Trends that will affect enterprise collaboration
Shawn Callahan lists six trends that will affect enterprise collaboration. To quote: Increased complexity. The world is getting more connected in all sorts of ways. We know more people, we visit more people, organisations are partnering, flights are increasing, information networks are getting more joined up and so it goes. ...
Tags: Collaboration
December 4, 2008 by James Robertson
Worst practices for managing wikis in organizations
The Wikis in Organizations team has written a post on a few wiki worst practices. To quote: Instead of doing what others do best, try avoiding what others do worst. It is much more harder to follow best practices than to stay away from worst practices. With respect to managing ...
Tags: wikis
November 19, 2008 by James Robertson
Is there a groundswell of demand for collaboration tools in your agency?
Craig Thomler asks: is there a groundswell of demand for collaboration tools in your agency? To quote: In my travels and conversations with peers I've become aware that many of them are seeing needs emerging within organisations for better collaboration tools - people are seeking better and more cost-effective ways ...
Tags: Collaboration
November 18, 2008 by James Robertson
Three tiers of collaboration
There are many elements of collaboration, and we often encounter the "blind men and the elephant problem". We're all talking about collaboration, but we're actually discussing different parts of the animal. Some people are referring to technology when they talk about collaboration, others are looking at the "collaborative culture" within organisations, ...
Tags: Collaboration, Knowledge management, model
November 17, 2008 by James Robertson
The beginnings of a theory of participation
Stuart French has outlined the beginnings of a theory of participation. To quote: Below is my first try at mapping the interactions between these concepts and uses the actual labels used by the participants in the study. There is minimal theory in this framework. Each link is based on evidence ...
Tags: Collaboration
November 10, 2008 by James Robertson
A brief guide to successful virtual teams
James Dellow has posted an article on successful virtual teams. To quote: While it might not be recognised, in many organisations collaborating together as part of a virtual project team or a remote workgroup (where the staff are not co-located with each other, including tele-workers) is a normal fact of ...
Tags: teams
November 5, 2008 by James Robertson
Collaboration framework
Shawn Callahan has outlined a collaboration framework, providing a practical process and describing the necessary business environment. To quote: Organisations need simple ways to create a common understanding about what needs to be done. Our collaboration framework aims to provide two perspectives: the dashed oval represents the collaboration environment—the container ...
Tags: Collaboration
November 4, 2008 by James Robertson
Do collaborative online groups need to be successful?
Craig Thomler asks the question: do collaborative online groups need to be successful? To quote: My personal experience of collaborative communities over more than ten years of operating and participating in them is that they all ebb and flow over time. Often only a few individuals are required at their ...
Tags: Collaboration
November 3, 2008 by James Robertson
Time for a reality check
Richard Dennison writes about the need for a reality check on social media tools. To quote: I’m reading an increasing amount of stuff taking swipes at social media along the lines of … it was all just hype … it’s not delivering what it promised etc. I guess it was ...
November 3, 2008 by James Robertson
Implementing enterprise 2.0 in the real world
Now that the hype of enterprise 2.0 is starting to settle, it's clear that there are many valuable approaches that can (and should) be put into practice. Intranet and information managers are busy, however, pulled in many directions by different stakeholders. Resources are limited, and senior management visibility is often low. ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
October 28, 2008 by James Robertson
A scenario-based approach to evaluating social software
Tony Byrne has written an article on their scenario-based approach to evaluating social software. To quote: Explicitly or not, different Social Software products target different use cases. Understanding the business scenarios that fit better or worse for the different packages enables you to see deeper into their relative strengths and ...
Tags: Collaboration, social networking
October 27, 2008 by James Robertson
Why web 2.0 doesn’t work in the enterprise (yet)
Allen Huish looks at why web 2.0 doesn't work in the enterprise (yet). To quote: 1. Not enough people in your company understand it You would not believe the number of people who I meet who don't know what a blog is, haven't tried facebook, or used a wiki (although I'd ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets, web 2.0
October 24, 2008 by James Robertson
Do public social networks have a place in government offices?
Craig Thomler asks: do public social networks have a place in government offices? To quote: With these mediums we put appropriate policies in place, sometimes train people on acceptable conduct and rely on trusting individuals to do the right thing, to act in their own self-interest (continued employment) and back ...
Tags: Collaboration, social networking
October 23, 2008 by James Robertson
Study Confirms Our New “Connectedness” Is A Mixed Blessing
Sarah Perez reports on the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report on connectedness. To quote: To all those who feared that technology pulls people apart, a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project on the American family reveals the opposite is true: today's families are ...
Tags: Collaboration
October 22, 2008 by James Robertson
What makes a Wiki?
Gadgetopia has written a post asking: what makes a wiki? To quote: Way back in the day, when wikis were new and I was messing around with early versions of Twiki (we had to GlueWordsTogether to make links…), wikis had some prety clear differentiators. I agree that the lines between wikis ...
Tags: Collaboration, wikis
October 20, 2008 by James Robertson
Don’t forget external collaborators
Collaboration tools are now being deployed widely within organisations, with a particular focus on team and project collaboration. What is all too often forgotten, however, is that there are potential collaborators outside the organisation as well. Two worlds of collaboration Most of us are now involved in some form of collaboration on the ...
Tags: Collaboration, external, security
October 13, 2008 by James Robertson
Scottrade: Competitor Wiki
This year we held the awards ceremony for the Intranet Innovation Awards at the KMWorld & Intranets conference in San Jose. That gave me an opportunity to hand over more of the trophies in person, which is always ...
Tags: awards, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, scottrade, wikis
October 10, 2008 by James Robertson
Micro-blogging in the enterprise: an idea whose time has come?
Ross Dawson asks whether the time has come for micro-blogging in the enterprise. To quote: So something like Twitter combines elements of the best of both worlds. It’s like email in that it’s broadcast, though you choose who you receive messages from, and you don’t need to read everything. You ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, twitter
October 8, 2008 by James Robertson
British Airways: Crew Community Forums
At the beginning of my recent round-the-world trip, I went straight from touching down at Heathrow to the British Airways head offices nearby. Ignoring 24+ hours of jetlag, it gave me an opportunity to hand over the trophy for ...
Tags: awards, british airways, Collaboration, forums, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets
September 30, 2008 by James Robertson
Best-practice approach to SharePoint team spaces
SharePoint is rapidly spreading through organisations at the moment, and in terms of team collaboration, this is a good thing. There is a very real need to be met, and it will require a mix of tools, including team spaces. That being said, we've argued before that the unmanaged spread of ...
Tags: Collaboration, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, team spaces
September 29, 2008 by James Robertson
Should knowledge workers have enterprise 2.0 ratings?
Andrew McAfee asks: should knowledge workers have enterprise 2.0 ratings? To quote: So one approach would be to graph where everyone stands within the organization along six dimensions: authoring, editing, interacting, tagging, uploading, and positive feedback. A simple radar graph would instantly show were an individual is on each, based ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0
September 23, 2008 by James Robertson
Announcing the winners of the 2008 Intranet Innovation Awards
The winners of this year's Intranet Innovation Awards have now been announced. Global in nature, these awards celebrate new ideas and innovative approaches to the enhancement and delivery of intranets. Uniquely, the awards recognise individual intranet improvements, and not intranets as a whole. The awards are about improving all intranets, ...
Tags: awards, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, winners
September 10, 2008 by James Robertson
Wikis Not Word! Gaining adoption through psychological warfare
Seth Gottleib has written an unusual post on building wiki adoption through psychological warfare. To quote: Your company has a perfectly good wiki but your (otherwise intelligent) co-workers insist on emailing you Microsoft Word documents to review. Your gentle guidance has been ignored. Your snarky comments have been equally ineffective. ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, wikis
September 8, 2008 by James Robertson
Seven personal skills for effective collaboration
Shawn Callahan has outlined seven personal skills for effective collaboration. To quote: It's easy to talk about what collaboration is or is not or the types of collaboration. What's difficult is to change your practices (read behaviours) to improve your chances of an effective collaboration. Here are seven personal ...
Tags: Collaboration
September 5, 2008 by James Robertson
Blogs no longer equal conversations?
Alex Manchester has questioned what blogs mean, in the context of today's usage. To quote: For me these days a blog is little more than a sophisticated, easy-to-use website platform. A place where an individual or a department/function can have their own site quickly and easily. Simplistic that may be, ...
Tags: blogs
August 28, 2008 by James Robertson
Collaboration: leading by example
Collaboration: by stealth or by design, to a few or to all, in some form or other organisations are getting into it. Those that do, realise that there is more to collaborating than the mere introduction of tools. There is undoubtedly a large amount of online chatting, blogging and social networking ...
Tags: blogs, case studies, Collaboration, wikis, wwf
August 28, 2008 by James Robertson
Two uses for wikis
Wikis are gaining rapid adoption with organisations at present, driven in part by the very visible success of Wikipedia, and other similar sites. While organisations are still learning how to use wikis in practice, it is clear that they can offer considerable benefits. Wikis can be used in many different ways, and ...
Tags: Collaboration, Intranets, wikis
August 28, 2008 by James Robertson
Close team spaces when projects end
Establishing team spaces for projects can be one of the most productive uses of collaboration tools. Projects have a lot of information to share between team members (and beyond), and collaboration can provide new ways of meeting this need. Projects are also nicely ‘bounded’, with a defined membership (the project team), ...
Tags: Collaboration, projects, team spaces
August 22, 2008 by James Robertson
5 effective wiki uses and how companies benefit from them
Stewart Mader outlines five uses for a wiki within organisations. To quote: Red Ant, a Sydney, Australia based Web design and development firm, uses a wiki as the main collaboration hub for employees and customers. I asked Ben Still, managing director, how they use wikis: “First, a designer makes a ...
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August 6, 2008 by James Robertson
Using social media (Ning) to manage a social project – KETC and the mortgage crisis
Rob Paterson shares an interesting case study of using social media to support a social project. To quote: To do all of this we have to work across the silos -- the TV production people have to work with Outreach -- who has to work with Marketing - who has ...
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August 2, 2008 by James Robertson
Ten tips for succeeding at collaboration (+ audio)
view presentation (tags: blogs sharepoint wikis openpublish08) I gave a presentation ...
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July 30, 2008 by James Robertson
Why most branded communities fail
Tony Byrne has written about the challenges of establishing white-label social networks, drawing on recent Deloitte research. To quote: We also found that there are several different ways to build, foster, and take advantage of communities, but (as Deloitte observes), each approach takes active care and feeding. Budget your schedule ...
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July 29, 2008 by James Robertson
Intranets and social networking
Gale Langseth has written about social networking and intranets. To quote: For most businesses, though, any social networking seems to be too much. As soon as you start mentioning blogs and wikis to upper management, the backpedaling starts: "We can't do that, because people wouldn't get any work done." Explanations ...
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July 8, 2008 by James Robertson
Recreate or integrate … that is the question?
Richard Dennison has asked whether it is better to recreate or integrate web 2.0 services within the organisation. To quote: The balance between recreating and integrating I think is going to be what makes or breaks our internal social media tools in the future. We need to give it ...
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July 7, 2008 by James Robertson
Integrating social media into a web content strategy
Britt Parrott has written an article on integrating social media into a web content strategy. To quote: Any individual or organization that sells products or offers services should value open communication as a goal. If your client or company does not have an existing communications plan, or even a mission ...
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July 4, 2008 by James Robertson
How would you start out sourcing social networking tools?
Craig Thomler has written a post about choosing social networking tools. To quote: I apply some fairly rigorous criteria. Any system must: Meet W3C, Federal, Department and Agency web standards Support at least AA accessibility (and preferably AAA) Meet our ICT requirements for interoperability, stability, bandwidth use and technology platform Integrate with our identification ...
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June 20, 2008 by James Robertson
Enterprise social networking has landed in BT
Richard Dennison has written about the newly-launched social networking tools in BT. To quote: Top left is the normal friends functionality … only we call them contacts because it would never do to have friends at work … this also displays a newsfeed of your contacts’ current activities or ...
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June 2, 2008 by James Robertson
Video: Social Media in Plain English
The Common Craft folks have created another of their marvelous videos, this one explaining social media in simple terms. Forward this video (and previous releases) to those just getting started in this space...
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May 21, 2008 by James Robertson
21 days of wiki adoption
Stewart Mader has published a series of videos covering 21 days of wiki adoption. To quote: Your competitors are using wikis. Your customers are using wikis. So are other employees in your organization. You need to use wikis too. It’s where your future is. And I’ll show you how.
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May 20, 2008 by James Robertson
Running a brainstorm session in virtual space
Michael Sampson has written an article on virtual brainstorming sessions. To quote: Be very clear that brainstorming rules apply. If the brainstorming work is being run through a wiki page, write clearly at the top of the page, "Brainstorming Rules Apply", and create a link to the page in the ...
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May 13, 2008 by James Robertson
Sage advice on wiki adoption: keys to success
Stewart Mader has written about keys to wiki adoption. To quote: Meetings are an especially good place to start. Plan agendas using a wiki, then record minutes & notes, and action items. Between meetings, you can update the status of items, and this sets the stage for deeper wiki uses, ...
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May 9, 2008 by James Robertson
Enterprise social tools: components for success
Thomas Vander Wal has written about achieving success with enterprise social tools. To quote: Social tools require much more than just the tools for their implementation to be successful. Tool selection is tough as no tool is doing everything well and they all are focussing on niche areas. But, as ...
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April 30, 2008 by James Robertson
Making collaboration work
I was co-facilitating the Intranet Leadership Forum workshop in Melbourne today, and we started the day with a discussion around collaboration. We covered a variety of questions, but one key topic was: how do we make collaboration work well? In five minutes the group had brainstormed the following list: involve key ...
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April 28, 2008 by James Robertson
Collaboration tools: STAGS
Matt Moore has published his STAGS model for collaboration tools. To quote: I've been thinking about different collaboration tools for various groups recently and I was pondering on some of the different factors you need to consider and I came up with this (click to enlarge).
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April 4, 2008 by James Robertson
Getting to know collective and collaborative
Thomas Vander Wal has written an article that differentiates between collective and collaborative. To quote: One of the things that has been a little bothersome in the last year or two and has been the lack of understanding between the difference between two terms, collaborative and collective. The two terms ...
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March 13, 2008 by James Robertson
Community of practice success story
Mark Schenk has written a post on a case study from Rio Tinto on their community of practices. To quote: Rio Tinto has made a short video on one of the stories and this is publicly available on their website. Well worth checking out and using as an example of ...
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February 18, 2008 by James Robertson
The trouble with web 2.0
Alexander Wilms has written an article on the trouble with web 2.0, from an enterprise context. To quote: We have seen that there are differences between the Web and corporate environments. While the Web is a deregulated environment, with millions of users contributing and easy access to data, corporations have ...
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February 7, 2008 by James Robertson
What’s my scene — user roles and needs in social computing
Matthew Hodgson has written an article on user roles in social computing. To quote: Do you allow people to comment, review, rate and ask questions on your website's articles? If you do, you'll be enjoying the fact that your own users are helping others know what information is valuable on ...
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January 29, 2008 by James Robertson
Trend map for 2008 and beyond
Nowandnext.com and Future Exploration Network have created a trend map for 2008 and beyond, covering key aspects of the online and physical worlds. To quote: While last year’s map was based on the London tube map, the 2008 map is derived from Shanghai’s underground routes. Limited to just five lines, ...
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