Full Circle Associates

Mike Gotta, of ZDNet's Tech Update penned Social Computing: Getting Ahead of the Blog in April (4/20/04).

He gives a good overview of social computing, offers examples with blogs, but the part that was helpful for me was his list of questions. He takes it beyond blog-praise to the next step -- making it real. Making it real means helping the users/potential users think about how it might work for them. Beyond the fluidity of the early adopters. There are some lovely, thought provoking questions here.

How do blogs add or detract from the overall business model?
How will blogs be positioned versus other communication, collaboration, and information channels?
Will users respond to a “pull” (subscription-based) model?
Will a browser model for reading blogs suffice, or will an e-mail client be preferred by users?
Will blog proliferation lead to just another source of information overload?
To what degree is editorial control and release management required?
How will the time devoted to blog-related activities by employees be valued?
What leadership, communication plans, and reward/incentive programs are necessary to encourage blog adoption and use?
What risk factors do blogs present (e.g., court-ordered discovery, regulatory compliance)?
What rights management situations might arise (e.g., copyright)?
Will blogs become as credible a resource as other sources of company information?
How will blogs be used within business processes as opposed to personal networks?
What are the alignment aspects of blogs (e.g., portals, content, learning, and collaboration tools)?
How do blogs “fit” into existing infrastructure (directory, security, operational management)?
What metrics (e.g., subscription data, page sessions) should be gathered and reported?
Are blogs a premium service for certain external activities (e.g., commerce aspects)?
Are vendors already on-standard and poised to deliver blog tools, or can they deliver the same benefits within existing technology?
What options do emerging vendors, hosted services, or open-source alternatives offer?
What are the archival and records management aspects of blogs?
What storage implications (e.g., backup/restore) will occur, and what limitations around storage allocation per worker (similar to e-mail inboxes) might have to be established?
What content security aspects should be required to protect liability, confidentiality, and intellectual property?
How does all this fit into a social computing strategy?

I'd like to add my questions:

How can we begin to imagine, implement and describe ways for blogs to support not only information sharing, but collaboration?
What are the tools and processes that allow collaboration to progress from the initial catalyst provided by knowledge shared on blogs?

Thoughts? Hit the comment button.

3 Comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi Nancy

I heard your question on the Kolabra Live event and looked up your blog. It looks interesting and I would like to keep track of your blog via my RSS reader. I know blogger-driven blogs have atom syndication, but couldn't find a link anywhere on your blog - could you maybe add a link to the atom feed.

Bye

Martin; 9:48 AM
Nancy White said...: Martin, I've just added the link. Newbie... learning a step at a time. Look just below the blogger link on the right nav bar. If it doesn't work for you, please holler! THANKS!; 10:28 AM
papadavo said...: Gotta's article enriches my understanding of the blogosphere. I have just started use Blogger as a private social networking tool. I use separate blogs for different small groups and am just experimenting.

From initial usage ( May 14th was my first use) I am finding my blog posting a good archive for ongoing interaction with my private blog members, who are invited to join and post as well as comment.

You are a continuous source of useful information, Nancy, and I thank you again for another helpful input.

Are you interested in a professional gig working to help me integrate a developing F2F and virtual community of advisors to an exciting new portal provider startup.

We can talk about this offline via regular email if you would prefer.

My handle of "papadavo" is Blog speak for Dave Davison

cheers; 11:36 PM