Portals and KM

Painting of Shrimp Po-Boy - Dressed

Here is a "24" x 30" acrylic painting of a shrimp po-boy I ate in New Orleans in June. It was served dressed, which means lettuce, tomato, etc. I passed on the pickles. 

Danny and Matisse – Great 60s Story

Here is a great book about the 60s, Danny and Matisse, by my friend Don Lesser provided in episodes as a blog series. The central character is Danny Loeb, potter and deli cook, who is working at Deli House the summer after graduation from college in Buffalo. At the start of the book, he has received a wedding invitation from his former love, nicknamed Matisse. His best friend John Lerner is moving ever larger amounts of pot and there is a new waitress, Christine. The imagine on the left is one of the many illustrations from the story. This one marks Christine's entrance. 

The book starts with this entry: Providing Nourishment. The latest one is at the top of the Home page.  You can subscribe by email. I recommend this as you get a nice gift to read whenever a new episode comes out. The Episode List will allow you to select a specific episode. The tag cloud in the sidebar may help you find episodes of specific interest to you.

Don writes in the behind the scenes section, “Danny & Matisse is not a memoir. Some of the events in this story happened. Many did not. And many events happened much differently than they appear here. The same is true for the characters. Danny & Matisse is a love story… Since this is the world of story, I have taken some liberties with names and places. Partially, this is to remove the story from the “real” world and place it more in the realm of myth. Partially, it is to have a little fun.”

There are links to related music.  The story certainly relates to my youth in the 60s. I recommend it and hope you find it as addictive as I did. 

 

My Fast Forward Posts for July 2011

Here is the monthly listing of my Fast Forward blog posts. I find it helps me with an archive and hopefully is also useful to you. There is a separate category for these summaries in my right side column on this blog. There will be more in August.

Comprehensive Record of Enterprise 2.0 Boston Coverage June 2011

Promoting Collaborative Innovation at MIX

World’s Big Data to Grow 50X Bigger in Next Decade

Designing the Collaborative Enterprise

Making Sense of the Mobile Workforce

Digital Distractions and the Workplace

 

Deb Lavoy on Promoting the Purpose Driven Organization and Designing the Collaborative Enterprise

I recently spoke with Deb Lavoy, Director of Product Marketing for Digital and Social Media at OpenText, about enterprise design in the 21^st century.  She began by noting that we are moving from a mechanistic model for organizations to a more human model. I could not agree more. People are much more than machines and it is time to leave Fred Taylor behind. 

Deb mentioned that a key differentiator is employee motivation. I have recently seen research to support her position. For example, a study by consulting firm Blessing White found only 33 percent of North American workers engaged in their jobs. Further research has shown that low engagement levels have a proven negative impact on business performance. That would make sense. A study from HR consultancy Towers Watson found that organizations with high employee engagement had a 19 percent increase in operating income versus a 32 percent drop for companies with low levels of engagement.

Deb said that one way to create engagement is with a clear sense of purpose for the organization. This was part of her keynote at the recent Boston Enterprise 2.0 Conference. She said that in the firms she has worked with she have found one single predictor of success. It is a sense of purpose. Even the best people are not successful without a sense of purpose.

Deb expanded on this is a recent blog post, The Pursuit of (Organizational) Purpose. She notes that, ”in a purpose driven organization, every conversation, every meeting is infused with “how do we get better at making this important difference” The company is creating value faster than its taking it out of the market. The purpose acts as the primary criteria for decision-making. Without a purpose, there is only the balance sheet and politics… People become competitive, self-protective kingdom builders.” I have certainly seen this dysfunctional behavior many times. I have also seen the power of a shared sense of purpose. Once you experience this you do not want to go back.

OpenText has created a website to promote this concept. There is a speaker series and they are sponsoring a Prize for Purpose-Driven Business to acknowledge teams and individuals who show innovation and dedication to the pursuit and achievement of organizational purpose. The prize is $10,000 to the charity of the winner’s choice. The winner will be judged by the speakers in their series.

Deb went on to discuss three types of collaboration. First there is creative collaboration that is intended to create something. It could be a product team, a legal team, a team responsible for an RFP, or a marketing launch. There is a specific goal in mind and this goal requires more than what an individual can provide. In a blog post on the topic Deb explains that with this type of collaboration, “what we need to do to encourage such collaboration is make it easy for teams to form, communicate, get organized, contribute, aggregate and iterate on work.”

The second type is connective collaboration that “refers to connecting with a broader community – the organization as a whole, or even more broadly than that… The goal of this type of collaboration is to connect dots – find expertise and resources as you need them.” There are different requirements here as connective collaboration “requires a broad, loosely connected community that can maintain awareness of activity, and ideally, technology that helps them find, discover or get pinged about relevant information, resources, insight and expertise - that they may or may not have been aware of – elsewhere in the system.”  This is where monitoring systems and activity streams can create an ambient awareness and help you follow the pulse of the organization.

Third, there is compounding collaboration which is designed is to “ensure that whatever our endeavor, we are leveraging, to the greatest extent possible, the work that has been done already.” This was one of the goals of knowledge management and now we have much better tools for this purpose.  I was involved in a number of these initiatives in the 1990s and wish we had today’s tools at that time.

Deb notes that compounding collaboration is much more than collecting documents. I could not agree more. The documents frequently become out of date as soon as they written, and even when still current, they require a greater context of what people did than is usually recorded.  As Deb notes in old school KM efforts failed because the documentation was separate form the work. I would agree but only add that not all 1990s KM went down this path. All of the successful ones that I observed where process aligned and work centric. The new tools make it easier to be work centric and add the additional dimension of being people centric.

This people centric capability, along with the flexibility of the new social tools, allows the technology to support how people work rather than having people conform to the structure imposed by the technology as we experienced with traditional enterprise apps.

I found that looking at collaboration through these three types is very useful as there are different goals and different uses of tools within each type. Within Enterprise 2.0 all three types need to be supported. 

 

Review of The Social Marketing Funnel

I recently looked at a useful new book, The Social Marketing Funnel: Driving Business Value with Social Marketing. It is sponsored by Awareness and available as a free download. The book begins with some interesting stats. Inc. reported in a 2009 study that 91% of Inc. 500 companies use social media as part of their marketing mix1. A second study found that 72% of marketers reported closing more business as a result of social media efforts and 52% reported lead generation benefits with social media.

At the same time, they note that, “measuring and tying social media efforts to true benefits and ROI continues to elude many marketers…Most marketers struggle to identify, capture, and leverage the myriad social conversations related to their brands.” The sets up the purpose of the book: to “help CMOs and social media strategists think about organizing and optimizing social marketing in the context of building a Social Funnel” and provide the steps and best practices to get the most value from social media investments. They define a Social Funnel as “a dynamic collection of consumer activity across social media channels, which sits on top of the traditional marketing and sales funnel.” To provide context to this effort, Awareness looked at close of 100 businesses of all sizes from multiple industries (some managed by the brands themselves and some by agencies). They also talked with some industry experts.

To create your Social Funnel you need to first identify and capture consumer conversation across a variety of social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Then you need a CRM tool that handles social media (aka SCRM) to aggregate the data and mine it for insights. This effort needs to be integrates with your traditional marketing and sales efforts and your CRM tool. This makes a lot of sense but the book notes that only 6% of companies report doing this integration.  The report predicts a growth in this integration and I would agree.

They offer five steps to building and managing your social funnel. You first manage and grow your social reach. This is defined as “the total number of social profiles a brand has collected across all social media platforms with brand presence.”  Then you monitor the relevant social conversations and manage your social content as a result of this monitoring.  You also practice good SEO as part of this management and measure and analyze the relevant social activity around your brand.  There are useful tips for each step.

In a related 2010 study Awareness asked over 300 companies about what they did with their social media monitoring. The results: 78% - Identify and respond to customer service issues, 64% - Identify individuals looking for my product or service, 38% - Identify individuals who influence sales of my product/service, and 17% - Identify behaviors associated with people who are likely to buy our product or service. However, this was mostly informal as only 18% had a formal tracking process.  Cleary there is a need for more effort here.

There is much more in the book as I have just skimmed over the headlines and I recommend it to anyone interesting in making their social media marketing more effective.  They conclude: “Remember, your Social Funnel is a strategic business investment – treat it with the same rigor, dedication, and governance you treat your other strategic investments.” This is good advice for any initiative and one that is most often ignored when the effort is around a hot new topic such as social media. 

 

Traction Releases TeamPage Attivio Plus and Social Enterprise Web

I have covered Traction Software a number of times (for example, Traction Team Page 5.1 Moves Forward with Project Management Capabilities and Traction Introduces New Capabilities and Partners with Team Page 4.2). At E2.0 Boston 2011 Traction announced two major new capabilities. TeamPage Attivio Plus extends permission-aware search and faceted navigation to external Sharepoint, Documentum, File server, Exchange and other sources, fused with TeamPage content. Social Enterprise Web allows you to discover, discuss, tag, task and use external documents or database records discovered by search or selected with a TeamPage badge (a "Like" button for collaboration). This brings content of external "Systems of Record" into the TeamPage fabric for collaboration and action tracking using.

TeamPage Attivio Plus uses Attivio's AIE technology to provide unified information access spanning sources with deep content analysis. Internal TeamPage content and external source hits are shown as merged results in time or relevance order. Here is a sample of TeamPage Attivio Plus search results.

You can also use TeamPage's faceted navigation to drill down by selected source just as you currently can drill down by author, tag, key phrase, sentiment, etc. All external and internal search hits and faceted navigation are permission-aware, automatically showing just what each person has permission to see. External sources and access rules can be continuously and incrementally indexed, or updated on a specified schedule.

Social Enterprise Web is an integrated search and badging capability. With it TeamPage gains the capability to tag, discuss, task and share pages, documents and database records from external as well as internal sources. For example, a suggestion found in a customer email stored in Exchange, an issue with a new drug application filed in Documentum, or a comment on a legacy document stored in SharePoint, Lotus Notes, or the S: drive of a file server can be discovered, tagged, discussed, and tasked for follow-up action in TeamPage.

Here is an example of sharing a page (a weather report) from the Web on TeamPage.

Here is the shared item appearing on the Activity feed.

Using search as a lever to span silos and system of record makes their native content addressible and actionable in place without import or conversion. This is similar to the way search loosely couples content across many sources on the public Web, but focused on a business intranet. TeamPage adds: consistent authentication; permissioned-aware integrated search fusing TeamPage content and activity across external sources; indexing of siloed systems to share and use records that have no native Web interface; and indexing of tags, discussion and tasks in context to provide activity based navigation and search across all sources. For example, a content hit in a Word document stored in Documentum shows TeamPage tags, comments and tasks relating to that document

I also like what they are doing with Activity Streams as I think this is one of the most important features of an Enterprise 2.0 platform. Traction TeamPage 5.2 introduced new activity dashboards to make it simple to zoom into project activity streams to see related task status, edits, and discussion automatically drawn from the flow of collaborative work in any TeamPage space or context. TeamPage users also can zoom out to get a broad view spanning business activities using notification, faceted content navigation and search.

This directly addresses a problem that has generated a lot of recent discussion: How will people be able to cope with activity streams that contain lots of detail - important for broad awareness - without feeling overwhelmed and loosing valuable signals in the flow? Activity dashboards extend Traction TeamPage's ability to tag or task any page, post, status or comment on any item seen or created in the flow of collaborative work and communication. TeamPage has always considered things at the detail level with their permission levels. This approach to handling Activity Stream information is consistent with their design principles and shows how collaboration and action tracking can be embeded in the flow of work while avoiding overload.

 

Review of Business Goes Virtual

I recently received a review copy of Business Goes Virtual: Realizing the Value of Collaboration, Social and Virtual Strategies by John P. Girard, Cindy Gordon, and JoAnn L. Girard.  I have known Cindy for some time and we have done work together on several occasions, including several writing efforts so I had high expectations for this work. The book argues that after some false starts, four critical enablers have converged to make virtual business opportunities a reality: social technology, visionary leadership, an increasing recognition of the value of a collaboration culture, plus virtual worlds. They define virtual business as follows: “A virtual business provides innovative solutions to new and traditional business challenges by exploiting social technology, leadership, and collaboration in both the real and virtual words.”

The book examines four virtual business strategies that are showing promise. The “any place, any time” strategy provides high quality service 24/7 through bypassing traditional geographic challenges. The “people know best” strategy looks at crowd-sourcing the wisdom of every-day people. The “everyone has a stake” strategy allows organizations to take advantage of their stakeholders’ views. Finally, the “real in the virtual world” strategy enables real businesses to sell their wares in the virtual world.

The book provides case examples and best practices. They look at both successes and failures in this new market and make some bets on the future. They conclude that virtual business is here to stay and firms need to develop a strategy to take advantage of this new market or risk their demise.

One strong example is the transformation from printed books to e-books. I am reading a virtual version of their book now. The authors report that on Christmas Day 2009, consumers purchased more Kindle books than physical books through Amazon, a virtual store itself. Now the iPad is booming with Apple selling more tablets than PCs both in terms of volume and revenue – and the iPad is much cheaper. It takes e-reading to new heights and provides connectivity to so many other possibilities. For example, it becomes that much easier to sharing insights from what you are reading or look up related information from other sources.  Publishers who recognize this trend will be in position to ride the new wave and those that do not will be ridden over.

This new world will change many things including jobs. The authors note that many of the top jobs of 2010 did not exist in 2004. We are now faced with preparing our children for jobs that do yet exist and to solve problems that are yet unknown.  This uncertainty has always been the case to some extent but it has become a much stronger factor.  I saw from another source that in 1986 75% of the knowledge that a worker needed was stored in workers’ heads but by 2006, that number was estimated to be 9%. We need new ways of providing the remaining 81% and the virtual world opens up an opportunity for this also through social software.  

It is nice that at least some of the challenges brought forward with the virtual world can also be addressed through it and the new technologies that have enabled it. The authors provide a useful chapter on these new technologies including social networks, blogs, microblogs, and wikis. I was interested to see that Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2010 Report on American bloggers found that 81% have been blogging more than 2 years and 11% say blogging is their primary income source. I am currently one of those in the latter group.  Supporting their growth predictions is that fact that most of their usage stats for most tools have now been surpassed.

Of course it is more than technology and they cover the leadership necessary to go forward in the virtual world.  They found a variety of leadership styles to work including both transformational and transactional. They provide a series of stories written by a diverse group of successful virtual business leaders.

The book covers much more including the power of sharing, the four strategies mentioned above, and where the future may take us. I recommend it to anyone who wants to make sense of today’s business world and the opportunities and risks it provides. 

 

Images of Martha's Vineyard: Oak Bluffs

Here are scenes from Oak Bluffs, one of great towns in Martha's Vineyard.  Like yesterday's images, these were taken in May as I like to go when the Vineyard is quieter and you have greater beach access. 

                  

 

Images of Martha's Vineyard: Edgartown

Here are more images for my recent trip to Martha's Vineyard. Edgartown is the main town in MV. These were taken in May as I like to go when the Vineyard is quieter and you have greater beach access. 

                                          


 

 

 

Two New Free Darwin Editions™ - Covering the Murdoch News Organization’s Scandal and the US Debt Crisis

The Darwin Awareness Engine™ helps users track Web and Enterprise 2.0 events, uncover emerging trends and gain faster understanding of complex issues. To demonstrate the value of this new way to present time-sensitive and contextual information, we have dedicated a two new Darwin Edition to stories getting a lot of coverage at the moment. First, there is a Darwin Edition covering information relating to the ever growing stories around Rupert Murdoch’s news empire as it confronts the phone hacking scandal and its aftershocks. Second, a separate Darwin Edition is covering news around the US Debt Ceiling Crisis.

In these editions, we present recent news, blogs and social media mentioning this topic.  As with all editions we are acting as reporters here and allowing all sides of the issue to come through.  We picked the Murdoch scandal and the Debt Ceiling Crisis as they represent a focused and constantly changing topics with the likely emergence of unanticipated news.

Users can observe the emergence of topics of interest, and with a mouse-over and click, see the Web events that relate with the selection.  This makes awareness and discovery much faster than managing alerts, search queries, or browsing through countless news/blogs/social web sites.

Try our Murdoch Hacking Scandal Edition and our US Debt Ceiling Crisis Edition. Let us know what you think. See our post: Darwin Awareness Engine™ Edition Series: Part One – Explanation and Instructions for more about the series and how to make the most of it. Here is a screen from the Murdoch Hacking Scandal Edition.

Here is one from the US Debt Ceiling Crisis Edition.

With these Editions you can either look at the general buzz from these sites or choose attractors to focus on specific topics of interest. The default shows you what has happened in the target content sources in the last hour. You can expand it to the last two hours, 24 hours and even last 200 hours. You can focus on the more formal sources or the informal ones (bloggers) or look across both. Again, details instructions can be found in our post on instructions.

We hope that you find these Darwin Editions useful and will certainly appreciate any feedback. Please contact us at feedback@DarwinEco.com.  

 

Twitter Use Keeps Expanding

A new Pew Report stated that 13% of online adults use Twitter, and half of Twitter users access the service on a cell phone. This is a significant increase from the 8% of online adults who said they were Twitter users the first time Pew asked about Twitter adoption in November 2010. Different groups a have varying adoption rates. The study found that 25% of online African Americans now use Twitter, 19% of Hispanics, compared with 9% of non-Hispanic whites to use the Pew terms.

There are age differences as well. As reported, the number of 30-49 year olds who use the service has doubled since late 2010—from 7% of such users in November to 14% in May 2011. This growth trend is more pronounced among 25-34 year olds—Twitter use for this group roughly doubled between November 2010 and May 2011, from 9% to 19%. At the same time among the youngest adults (those ages 18-24) Twitter usage as stable at 16 – 18 %. Twitter use in the 55 -64 age group also doubled from 4% to 8% during this same time period.  Even the over 65 age group went from 4% to 6%.

The new data is recent as the results are based on telephone interviews conducted by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International from April 26 to May 22, 2011, among a sample of 2,277 adults, age 18 and older. They had about a 12% response rate.

If you want to monitor what is being discussed on Twitter, our business partner Twortex uses the Darwin Ecosystem technology to look at conversations on Twitter. It is free. 

 

 

NewsGator Enhances its Social Sites 2010 Platform for SharePoint

NewsGator recently launched Social Sites 2010 2.0, the next version of their flagship enterprise social computing software. Among other things, the new release includes enhanced community capabilities, architectures, and reporting functionality. NewsGator has also announced a new video module for Social Sites that supports enterprise learning initiatives and multimedia sharing. I have covered NewsGator on several occasions before (see NewsGator Gets More Mobile and Ramps Up Activity Streams and Analytics and NewsGator Offers Social Sites ™: A Comprehensive Enterprise Social Networking Suite). I recently spoke with Brian Kellner about their new offerings.

NewsGator is built to sit on top of SharePoint as a managed service application and does not operate independent of it. This still leaves them a majority of the market. They make SharePoint more social which is a very useful task. Brian showed me a useful architectural diagram as he explained the various components of the offering. I am providing it below and then I will walk through the different sections.

At the top are additional modules that can be added on to the core functions. Several of these additional (‘value added” in their terms) capabilities are new. I will start with the core features and then discuss the value added capabilities.

In my view the Activity Stream is one of the major components of an enterprise 2.0 platform so I am staring here. In NewsGator’s case it collects a continuous flow of events, content, and activities to provide users with relevant and timely information. You can filter all of these events including those from SharePoint, external social media streams (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn), and other internal and third-party applications. The Activity Stream can be embedded in multiple places, which is a key feature from my perspective. Here is a sample Activity Stream.

Microblogging is one of the feeds into the Activity Stream. It provides embeddable threaded discussions that allow for various interactions including ability to comment, answer, share, rate, vote, and mark for follow-up. Other features include:  IM, and other third-party integrations, auto-updates based on user actions, two-way email integration, and notifications and digests.

You could also make the case that Profiles are the core feature as they provide a center of focus. NewsGator profile feature jump-starts adoption, participation, contributions, and collaboration with a simple profile-building coach to help your workforce create and maintain individual social profiles — their face to the organization. This is a good move.

Communities establish and cultivate a collaborative setting for your internal and external stakeholders. You can turn SharePoint groups into Social Sites communities of practice for projects and initiatives, or create places for colleagues to connect about common interests and best practices. Templates are available to kick-start your community planning. Converting to any of the NewsGator function from out of the box features is simple as they are Web parts and the change can be made with a mouse click.

Social Insights allow you to measure and track activity by community, type, and user. Easy-to-consume dashboards and monthly activity reports allow you to evaluate user adoption and participation levels. The transparency of an enterprise platform allows for increased metrics so this is a very useful function. The desktop client allows you to participate in the Social Sites environment without being inside the platform.

Brian also went over the new features at the top of the architectural stack. The Video Stream is a new feature that enables employees to quickly post and play videos in their Activity Streams for on-the-fly training, product demos, new concept explanations, customer stories, and other uses. You can see the interface for Video Stream below.

NewsGator just announced Spotlight - a badging, recognition, and expertise discovery module that is driven by measurable participation that allows users to be recognized as subject-matter experts and earn merit-based, electronic badges, while letting organizations quickly locate, recognize and motivate top performers. Here is a sample set of badges, as well as a sample expertise diagram that shows the relationship of people to a topic. The closer you are to the topic core, the more involved you are with the topic.

The Idea Steam provides many of the capabilities for innovation management than a number of standalone tools offer but it is integrated within the total Social Sites platform. You use it to gather, evaluate, nurture, and prioritize fresh, new ideas that can transform your organization. The Idea Stream capability supports the capture of input, feedback, and conversations from your customers, partners, and employees. Ideas can be submitted on the fly via the activity stream or via the Social Sites desktop, email, or mobile clients. The tool can be applied to a specific campaign or attached to a community on an ongoing basis.

NewsGator continues to enable RSS feeds through the News Stream module. This was its original capability and I was a user in 2004 (see my 2004 post - Finally, I’m Scanning the Web through NewsGator).  It allows you to streamline and structure enterprise communications. Integrated, secure social media monitoring from news sites, blogs, wikis, external social streams (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), and enterprise applications are delivered where your employees need them.

I really like the collection of capabilities and they certainly enhance SharePoint. NewsGator has maintained a strong positive relationship with Microsoft so they can anticipate and plan their support for next steps within SharePoint. Since the NewsGator capabilities are Web parts, it is easy to swap out the native SharePoint version of such tools as micro-blogging for the NewsGator version. 

 

Check Out Our Entry for Management Innovation eXchange M-Prize Hack

I recently wrote about the Management Innovation Exchange(MIX) – see Collaborative Innovation at the Management Innovation eXchange (MIX). It is “an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. The premise: while "modern" management is one of humankind's most important inventions, it is now a mature technology that must be reinvented for a new age.”

One of the MIX initiatives is the Harvard Business Review/McKinsey
M-Prize for Management Innovation. There are two types of entries: an instructive case study (a Story) or an experimental design (a Hack).  The goals is to show how Web 2.0 values (including transparency, collaboration, meritocracy, openness, community and self-determination) can help overcome the design limits of Management 1.0—and help to create Management 2.0.

We at Darwin Ecosystem have submitted a Hack entry, Liberating Emerging Knowledge: Overthrowing the Pre-determiners. Here is the summary of our Hack: Many current approaches to finding useful meaning within the massive content in Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 are rooted in Management 1.0 thinking. In contrast, the Awareness Engine™ uses content visualizations modeled on human thought to uncover the unexpected in the Web or the enterprise for better informed management decisions. 

Take a look and let us know what you think. You can comment on it and/or rate it. Your participation will be appreciated. 

 

My Favorite Tweets for July 1 - 15 2011

Here is another in a series of posts that provide access to my favorite tweets that contain links to useful information.  Some of these I did to link to things I found useful and others are RTs that I want to save for the same reason. Since Twitter archiving is an oxymoron, I am now going to post my favorite links for the month so they can be easily accessed later.

I spot tested the reduced shortened urls and they all should work. I hope this is also useful for you.  Let me know your favorite tweets for the month.

Also see the Darwineco favorite tweets.

via @eric_andersen: Best comedy take on technology ever? http://j.mp/gtQ0Vs

RT @CommunispaceCEO: Microsoft will open 75 more stores next 3 yrs: like Apple Stores, but with more color: http://gizmo.do/kOIgM

RT @moehlert: “@stevegarfield: Google+ Guide: 15 Tips For Newbies http://tinyurl.com/5t37hpj

Are Scorecards and Metrics Killing Employee Engagement? http://bit.ly/rm8vck

Fears rise in IT circles over new economic downturn http://bit.ly/qohJkx

Facebook, Google At War: IT Can't Stay Antisocial http://bit.ly/oNZ1Cq

The Google+ Cheat Sheet http://on.mash.to/oW38KA

via @dhinchcliffe: Reflections on Social Business Forum 2011 by @hashimfarooq http://ow.ly/5DJCc #socbiz #e20

How the US IRS launched their social media program http://bit.ly/nXxnBS

RT @VMaryAbraham: The Purpose-Driven Organization http://bit.ly/p9e9P1 #Purpose is the competitive edge #KMers

RT @johnt: 3 main reasons people avoid information http://bit.ly/mRvg9g via @rotkapchen

RT @moehlert: “@ashwinsanghi: Top failed futuristic predictions according to TIME. http://tinyurl.com/5rktk4w

RT @rossdawson: RT @oscarberg RT @cvharquail Purpose is Killer App: Why Orgs Need Social Business Tools http://bit.ly/pHgEbw

Study: Google+ population explodes to 10 million http://bit.ly/p145QH

Android Smartphones Used by 35% of U.S. Users: Pew http://bit.ly/qLbsxR

Can you crowdsource health information via Twitter? http://bit.ly/mQ7CM2

Did Google+ Beat Facebook To The First Social Media Water Closet? http://bit.ly/mSNAdp

RT @socialmedia2day: http://su.pr/4j1Prv Why Google+ would be great to use for HealthCare and Pharma firms

Google+ Added $20 Billion To Google’s Market Cap http://tcrn.ch/nyZbBw

Study: US 7th Most Innovative Country In World http://bit.ly/pUboY5 via @CRozwell

AIG’s Advisor Group Kicks Open Door to Social Media For Reps http://bit.ly/pereHJ

RT @VMaryAbraham: Seven Lessons Learned on Social Business http://j.mp/o5mJTN /by @dhinchcliffe #socbiz

Top 5 worries keeping IT pros up at night - staffing http://bit.ly/piBIqU

RT @GeorgeDearing: Twitter's value is roughly $7 Billion [Bloomberg] http://feedly.com/k/qDlU9g

RT @outstart: RT @DavidGurteen: The One Thing That Makes Collaboration Work http://bit.ly/q6vF0x #KM

RT @thebyard: Social Media And Unified Communications: Will They Blend? http://twb.io/jQFUpC #thebyard #e2conf

RT @dhinchcliffe: Case for Competitive Collaboration http://ow.ly/1ulRwq #innovation #socbiz

Facebook Will Launch In-Browser Video Chat Next Week In Partner w Skype http://tcrn.ch/mtJskf maybe

RT @mijori23: 3 Reasons Why Orgs Need to Increase Transparency @oscarberg http://bit.ly/l2spo2

RT @panklam: 2nd post on #e2conf reflections -- lessons learned from KM and lessons yet to learn http://bit.ly/mu3IDc

RT @bduperrin: New post [eng] : Communities and selfishnesses gatherings http://bit.ly/mvXLAF

RT @mijori23: RT @oscarberg Social Business: rhetoric & metrics by @cecildijoux. #socbiz http://wp.me/p58hh-18B

via @elsua Average age Facebook user: 38. Twitter: 39 LinkedIn: 44 RT @jreagan123 http://is.gd/8v0n9N

Twitter Helps Unfinished Book Hit No. 1 http://on.wsj.com/k1BsUQ via @SBoSM

FTC Begins Twitter Antitrust Inquiry http://bloom.bg/keoCgW

RT @SameerPatel: Inching Towards Enterprise 2.0 http://ow.ly/5umjQ by @klintron #socbiz #e2conf #e20

RT @marciamarcia: If only this were just humor! Org Charts Of Major Tech Companies http://read.bi/kVifMU

 

 

 

 

Images of Martha's Vineyard: Vineyard Haven

Here is the second of series of images from a recent trip to Martha's Vineyard. Here is Vineyard Haven, the primary harbor for the ferry from Wood's Hole. 

                                               




 

Images of Martha's Vineyard: Vineyard Haven Ferry

Vineyard Haven is the main ferry harbor for Martha's Vineyard. Here is the ferry arriving. 

                                       








 
 

 

Many Levels of Business Intelligence

Rob Armstrong wrote an interesting post, What do you mean by BI?, on the Smart Data Collective in which he outlines five different levels of business intelligence along with the IT and user requirements for each. First he notes that he “like(s) to read an acronym backwards.  BI is not about business intelligence, it is about having enough intelligence regarding your business that you can make, and take, relevant, timely, and profitable actions.”  We would agree. Here are the five levels with the IT and user requirements for each in Rob’s words.

Level 1: “Basic Canned” Reports: - users have no ability to change the content of the report and receives latest version of pre-determined output. “Highly optimized by IT; Well defined by Users.”

Level 2: “Canned Ad-Hoc” – users target parameterized dimensions for pre-determined and pre-optimized reports. “Highly optimized by IT; users determine “typical” dimension blocks.”

Level 3: “Customized Canned Ad-Hoc” – users can define dimension boundaries and also determine columns or calculations that appear on the report. “Optimized by IT; KPI’s defined by users.”

Level 4: “Create your own” - user have free reign to determine the columns, dimension ranges, and even create new metric calculations limited only by their security access needs. “Users understand SQL processing and creation.  May also create temporary tables or store results.”

Level 5: Data Mining – in prior levels users are asking questions to get answers.  In data mining the “user is asking questions to understand what questions really need to be asked.”  “Users trained in data model and SQL practices.”

Let me add a sixth level:

Awareness Engine™ - users can set and explore topics and subtopics within a targeted set of content sources and discover new content beyond predetermined expectations in real time. There is no requirement for IT to be involved at all as it is a SaaS application. There are no technical requirements for tool use such as data modeling or SQL practices. The more the user knows about the content topics, the better they are able to optimize value from the tool by seeing the important anomalies. 

 

OutStart’s Learning Content Management System Automates Key Components of Content Development

I recently spoke with Mike Gregory about OutStart’s Learning Content Management System (LCMS).  As a disclosure I am helping OutStart with their blog and Twitter efforts. First, I asked Mike to explain the difference between an LMS and LCMS, as I have been familiar with LMS (Learning Management System) for some time. Mike said the similarity of terms can be confusing but there is a real distinction. He used the metaphor of a store for LMS. You can find learning content there and the LMS keeps track of usage. The LMS is the back office tool. A LCMS then is like a factory where content is assembled from component parts. This is different from the traditional artisan approach of hand building learning content one instance at a time. This agility in developing content greatly extends both the efficiency and effectiveness of content creation.

An LCMS provides for automating the development, management, maintenance, delivery and publishing of modular and personalized learning – including online, instructor guides, mobile, assessments and the ability to deliver training in different languages. This allows you to build content once and then easily repurpose it for multiple channels and branding. You create learning objects that can be put together in multiple ways. OutStart’s mobile platform, Hot Lava, is one of the many delivery channels that can be used (see OutStart’s Hot Lava Provides Flexible Mobile Communication Platform).

Utilizing an LCMS works much like object oriented programming to achieve great efficiencies in learning content creation and updating. This granularity also allows for better search capabilities, as well as better reuse. You create once and publish in many ways.  You update an object and then the content can be automatically updated in the many instances in which it appears. You can build content for documentation then take the same content and add classroom activities and instructor notes for ILT.  You can also take the same content and add simulation activities and quizzes for eLearning.

For all the efficiency gains, the real value is the increased learner focus that this agility permits. One of the main benefits of the modular approach is the ease in which personalized learning can be provided. You can customize learning content by role (e.g., sales vs. technical support) or give a test and them offer personalized content for each individual based on their results. Content can be provided in a variety of modalities and channels to meet individual needs.

To accomplish this learner focus, OutStart’s LCMS supports the entire content life cycle: development, management, maintenance, and delivery. First, you simply develop content once separately from the delivery vehicle so it becomes easy to use the content for different purposes, people, and devices. You can quickly assemble courses for modular material regardless of whether it was developed within the system or imported. The workflow and review processes are streamlined for rapid progress.

All content is tagged and stored in a central repository. This makes updating easy and eliminates the possibility of losing track of content. The ease of access facilitates changes when updates are required. The system also knows all places where a single bit of content is used and allows you to updates all these instances at once. Delivery is then device independent and flexible to support personalization.

The LCMS also works with OutStart’s social software platform, Participate (see OutStart’s Participate Supports the Social Side of Enterprise Work Processes). For example, while in Participate, you can do a search in Evolution to find modularized content for performance support purposes.

OutStart’s LCMS integrates with Microsoft office, enabling the ingestion of SME created or legacy content for reuse and repurposing. It also enables the assembly of a variety of native and external content, including Flash and other media, through a central repository. The LCMS can integrate with a variety of LMS’s, including the LMS that OutStart offers. Other core capabilities include configurable metadata management, review management, workflow, media management, search and re-use, enterprise class security, partitioning, data movement, and integrations. The OutStart LCMS is available as SaaS or On-Premise.

OutStart’s LCMS is well received in the industry and has won eLearning! Magazine's Readership Award for 'Best Learning Content Management System (LCMS)' in each of the last two years, and Brandon Hall's Gold Award for Technology Excellence

 

Corporate Social Media Policies are Advancing

Pam Sahota has provided a useful post, Examples of Corporate Social Media Policies, that actually contained links to 14 examples. While it is always good to look at what others are doing, Pam started with the proper caution that there’s no right policy. Your company needs to find what is right for your culture and needs. Here are a few.

Best Buy has received a lot of press using Twitter for customer service. It has a social media policy in place in order to avoid issues regarding privacy and other topics. Their policy begins with the statement: “If you are an hourly (non-exempt) employee, you may participate in Twelpforce, with your manager’s approval, during your regular work hours. This includes time spent reading the Twelpforce Twitter feed and composing messages sent using the ‘#twelpforce’ hashtag, and all other work related to Twelpforce.” Anything done outside work hours does not count.

Content is broadly defined as “as anything you have placed on your website, blog, microblog, or video sharing account.” By doing this you grant Best Buy “an irrevocable and unrestricted worldwide license to use, modify, reproduce, transmit, display, and distribute the Content (defined below) on Your Site for any purpose whatsoever to the extent permitted by law.” So they can modify as they want which is interesting. You are expected to follow the social media policy that is extensive and has the tagline: “Be smart. Be respectful. Be human.” Those are all good ideas.

You are expected to disclose your affiliation and, at the same time, state this your writing is your opinion. There is a lot more in Best Buy policies and they seem both useful and appropriate.

Pam finds Ford’s policy to be subtle, “human”, and sensible. They feel that that social media follows the same rules (as other communication channels), just in a new playground. You need to use your common sense, beware of privacy issues, play nice and be honest. They seem similar to Best Buy from a quick look. You need to be respectful and aware that what you say is permanent.

General Motors policy states that it likes Charlene Li’s blogger code of ethics and have adapted it for gmblogs.com. They ask bloggers to tell the truth and acknowledge and correct any mistakes promptly. They will not delete comments unless they are spam, off-topic, or defamatory and reply to comments when appropriate as promptly as possible. They will link to online references and original source materials directly. They will disagree with other opinions respectfully. I like the ongoing reference to respect in these policies.

Blog and social media policies have come a long way since I wrote these posts in 2005, Blog-Linked Firings Prompt Calls for Better Policies and What’s On and Off the Record for Bloggers?  This is a good thing. 

 

Complementary Roles of Tablets, Smart Phones, and Television

A recent article by Clayton Morris, Study Reveals Changing Role of iPads, Tablet PCs found that 70 percent of tablet owners and 68 percent of smart phone owners use their devices while watching television. It also reported that 61 percent of eReader owners use their device in bed, while 57 percent of tablet owners and 51 percent of smart phone owners do the same. Now bed is one of the places I watch TV, the other is in my office next to my laptop.

Tablet owners spend more time on their tablets while watching TV than owners of eReaders and smart phones. This makes some sense as tablets will more likely have complementary activities to TV that reading a book and talking on the phone.  Many traditional news organizations and magazines are noticing this trend and providing iPad-optimized versions of their print offering. I think you are also are more likely to reads news and magazines while watching TV than books because of their short segments that can be covered during commercials. At least that is my view. I find I get very restless during ads and need an alternative such as Twitter to occupy me until the TV show, usually sports, returns. 

Clayton writes that TV is the new radio. “When there is no breaking news, people keep it on for background noise, information and entertainment. Gone are the days when a family sits around the tube, collectively focused like a laser on their screens.” Now here is what Don Tapscott calls stacking, “one screen plays something for the whole household, while another sits in the lap, surfing at the individual’s whim.”  He concludes that people are still watching TV, they are just watching it more individually. 

I think there is another point here since this complementary channel is digital and connected to the Web.  It is not simply another channel for individual use in the midst of collective consumption. It brings in interactivity. So we often have old and new media working together. I think that the old media organizations that recognize this will be winners and many already have such the PBS St. Louis affiliate, KETC, where my colleague Rob Paterson did some interesting work as they looked to integrate TV with social media.

Business should take advantage of this to use mobile communications for short messages to their employees providing alerts, reinforcing key strategic or tactical issues, and supplementing learning activities.  Because of the interactivity these digital devices bring organizations can also tap into employee viewpoints.  There is an emerging communication channel that can be creatively mobilized.

 

 

My OutStart Blog Posts May – June 2011

As I mentioned on this blog I am now helping OutStart with their social media efforts as part of the OutStart team. I am one of several people contributing to our OutStart Knowledge Solutions Blog (see: My New Role within OutStart’s Social Media Efforts). I will not be repeating my posts for that blog on this blog. However, about once a month I will post links to my writing there. Here is the second set from mid May through June. I welcome your comments.

Five Myths of Informal Learning

Embracing Complexity in the Enterprise Through Social Learning

Mobile Learning Q&A: Web Apps or Native Apps? – Why Not Both.

Using Social Tools to Open Up Conversations within the Enterprise

A Decade of Always Learning

Mixing Speed with Quality in Learning Content Creation #LCBQ

The Future of Social In Learning

My 2011 Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes: Selling Enterprise Sales Collaboration Up the Chain

My 2011 Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes: Online Communities - A Strategic Imperative

My 2011 Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes: How Do You Measure That?

My 2011 Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes: Business Leadership Roundtable with Andrew McAfee

My 2011 Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes: Got Strategy? How to Capitalize on the Mobile Revolution

 

New Orleans Lives Music Samples May 2011

One of the great joys of going to New Orelans is all the wonderful live music in a wide variety of music styles, most of which originated here or in the country side to the southwest of the city. Below is the same sampling we were able to take in this time and here are my explorations in January 2010, the last time I was there.

Our first night was planned around going to the Mid-City Lanes Rock & Bowl at 3000 S. Carrollton Avenue for Zydeco night. It has become a tradition for us. This time we saw Brian Jack & the Zydeco Gamblers. They have moved to a new larger location after Katrina. They were able to open for a while at their orginal site as they were on the second floor above the damage to the shopping strip they were connected to but the rest of the place was a tear down so I am not surprised they had to move. It was our first time at the new place.  They preserved some of the great mural from the original location. The music was great and, as always, they never seem to take a break from the high energy music.

       
On several afternoons we went to the Gazebo in the French Market where they have live music in an outdoor cafe. It is relaxed venue. there is another outdoor music cafe close by but I find the Gazebo more intimate. We saw Carman Perez and her group once and Jimmy Bean and his group several times. I have several of Jimmy's CDs from prior trips. He does some nice blues. 

                       
Before dinner on Friday, we listened to a bit of jazz by the Alex Bachari Trio at the Columns Hotel, a place my grandmother ran in the 1950s and a great place in the Garden District. It is also a great place to have drinks on the porch and I have stayed here a few times. The two interior shots were taken on an earlier trip at a quieter time. It was packed when we were there. It is located at 3811 Saint Charles Avenue (504) 899-9308

     
After dinner on Friday there was a trip to Tipitina’s for Big Sam’s Funky Nation. He put on a high energy show with a lot of audience engagement. Tipitina’s is located at 501 Naploeon where it meets the levee. In past trips I have often gone to the Cajun Fais Do Do featuring Bruce Daigrepont that happens every Sunday late afternoon into the evening at Tipitina’s (501 Napoleon Avenue). There is a regular group of dancers and I saw many of the same people who were there in 2007 when I last went. The crowd for Big Sam was quite different and seemed to be mostly college students.

       
On Sunday night we night we went to Frenchman Street just outside the Quarter where there are many good clubs. We did window shopping to find good sounds and started at the Spotted Cat (623 Frenchman Street 504-943-3887) to hear Aurora Nealand & The Royal Roses do traditional New Orleans swing jazz to a packed audience.  We can also see the club on a quiet Monday morning the next day.

     
On our way back from Frenchmen Street we got drawn into some nice blues by Andy J Forest at the Balcony Music Club (1331 Decatur Street – 504 -599-7770).

       
It is important to not forget the great street music often available in the French Quarter. Here is a group in Jackson Square and several on Royal Street on a Sunday afternoon.  The two women playing fiddle and guitar are Dorise and Tanya and I brought two of their CDs that make pleasant music to work by and I am listening to them now.

              
After dinner on Monday we went to Bacchanal which is a wine retail shop, a wine bar, a live music venue, a deli, and bistro with guest chefs. It opens at 11 am and usually closes around midnight, seven days a week. They feature live music in the courtyard seven nights a week-weather permitting. We have a chef cooking on the grill six nights a week. Chef Joaquin Rodas is now their official Chef at Bacchanal five nights a week, Tuesday through Saturday. We saw the Jon Freilich Band and had some nice wine. Next time we will eat also. The last picture of the front door is from their web site. 

       

 So much music and so little time. There was much we missed. 

 

 

New Orleans Restaurant Update May 2011

Here is another of many New Orleans restaurant updates. See my restaurant picks by city in the left column of this blog for more going back a number of years and here is my update from January 2010. In my view the city has the best food anywhere but I am biased as this is my hometown and provides the tastes I grew up with. We went to a selection of old school and new school places. They are presented in order of our visits. We found Willie Mae's Scotch House to be the best old school place and Patois to be the best new school. Fortunately, we did a lot of walking to counter all this good food.

We went to Willie Mae's Scotch House right form the airport. Willie Mae Seaton's great-granddaughter Kerry Blackmon took over the kitchen when the Scotch House reopened in 2007 following an extensive post-Katrina repair job. Fried chicken is its most famous and for good reason. The wet-battered chicken with its tight, brittle crust is some of the best I've ever eaten and the main reason the restaurant is the recipient of a James Beard Award. WE will make this a must stop on every trip going forward. It is located at 2401 St Ann St in the Treme (504) 822-9503.

       
Our first dinner was at Mat and Naddies. This was a new place for me and it is highly recommended. It was the second best new school place we visited this time, after Patois but ahead of some very good other ones. It is located at 937 Leonidas St. (504) 861-9600.  It has a new school take on Creole and is near to two places where I used to live so the neighborhood was familiar.

       
On Friday we went to Surrey’s Juice Bar for breakfast.  Now it does have good juice but the rest is not low cal. I had a wonderful shrimp and grits after being tempted by the sausage gravy and biscuits.  Fortunately my wife had the eggs with boudin sausage and biscuits so I got to sample then also. The dish was exceptional and a great way to start the day if you are looking to put on a few pounds. It is located at 1418 Magazine Street (504) 524-3828.

     
Patois is located at Laurel Street near the zoo.  On Friday we ate both lunch and dinner there and it was our favorite place for new school food during the trip that included a lot of wonderful meals. The dish you see is a potato gnocchi with crawfish. We had it for lunch and then again at dinner. We also had the roasted pheasant breast and confit leg and almond crusted Gulf fish, as well as a crispy duck confit salad. 6078 Laurel Street 504.895.9441.

              
Saturday breakfast was at Croissant D’Or in the quieter end of the Quarter. This is a wonderful bakery that I have gone to many times. I had one of their croissants and an almond cake with layers of pastry around almond paste.  It is located at 617 Ursulines Avenue (504) 524-4663.

     
On Saturday we went to Firorella's for lunch, famous for its fried chicken. It is cooked to order and is listed as one of the top ten food things to do in the city. Fiorella’s is located near the French Market at 45 French Market Pl (504) 528-9566. We have gone there on our last three visits.

     

Saturday night we ate at Bayona, an upscale place run by Susan Spicer. It was one of the first new school places. They have their traditional menu of long time favorites and then a large selection of food for the night. The duck was wonderful. This was a repeat and I have her cookbook. It is in the French Quarter at 430 Dauphine Street (504-525-4455). IN addition to the great food they have an excellent wine list. 

Sunday breakfast was at the Le Richelieu Hotel. They have a very nice standard Southern breakfast. 1234 Chartres Street, between Gov. Nicholls and Barracks Streets. The non-food shots are from their web site. 

     
Sunday lunch was at Felix’s for raw oysters, shrimp poboy, and gumbo. It is fine for traditional New Orleans seafood and, unlike the better known place across the street, it has no line. It is located at 739 Iberville Street 504-522-4440.

     
Sunday dinner was at Mr. B’s, an old favorite that serves food that is a cross between old school and new school Creole. The dish you see is a crawfish and tasso ham pasta dish that was excellent with a nice Creole cream sauce. It is in the French Quarter at 201 Royal Street (504) 523-2078. We also had Monday lunch there as we were in the area. They have great gumbo.

   
Monday dinner was at Irene’s, a New Orleans style Italian restaurant. I had a very fresh soft shell crab with almond butter for starter and a nice Drum fish with a wonderful sauce. It is a local favorite and I can see why.  The setting is a classic with great service and the food is excellent. It is located at 539 Saint Philip Street (504) 529-8811.

     
After dinner on Monday we went to Bacchanal which is a wine retail shop, a wine bar, a live music venue, a deli, and bistro with guest chefs. It opens at 11 am and usually closes around midnight, seven days a week. They feature live music in the courtyard seven nights a week-weather permitting. We have a chef cooking on the grill six nights a week. Chef Joaquin Rodas is now their official Chef at Bacchanal five nights a week, Tuesday through Saturday. We saw the Jon Freilich Band at 7PM and had some nice wine. Next time we will eat also. The last picture of the front door is from their web site. 

     
Our last breakfast was at Meals from the Heart Café in the French Market 7100 N. Peters run by Marilyn Doucette and Averill Lazard. It covered in the next photos and is in the stalls with stools and also offers take out. The café focuses on healthy food that still tastes great in the New Orleans tradition such as crab cakes. I highly recommend it. The dishes you see are two great turkey sausages and a cake crab with egg.  It is open from 9AM to 6PM daily. 504-525-1953.

     

 

 

Is the Influence of Search Engine Rankings Over Our Content Access a Good Thing?

Dick Singer recently wrote the post, Pay Attention to Search Engine Rankings: Top 3 Spots on Google Get 58% of Clicks, on Social Media Today.  He notes that, “Optify (via Searchengine watch) carried out a study, which showed that websites at the top of Google get an average of 36.4% of clicks, those in second place 12.5% and those in third 9.5%.” and adds, “That chimes in with an earlier Chitika study, showing that the no 1 spot on Google gets 34.35% of traffic.   Optify also says that being any further back than page two has no real business value for you at all.” The write works for a social media agency and beleives in SEO.

I am not sure this is a good situation. Now I have to admit that at Darwin Ecosystem we also play the SEO game also. It is a necessity if you want to get your content noticed. If you do a Google search on the term – awareness engine – you will find the Darwin Awareness Engine™ generally in the top six spots. I also turn to Google to find things when I know what I am looking for such as the latest Red Sox game score.

However, this situation means that those who can afford an agency to help them with SEO or possess that skill themselves will get their content on top.  There is a skill between people and content that is not related to the content. This was the situation in the middle ages when scribes controlled the production of content. The printing press opened things up but of course you still needed a printing press or the money to hire one. The Web was supposed to further open things up with user-generated content. To a certain extent it has but you still need to find things and search engine algorithms are the new scribe’s pen that stands between you and the ability to get ideas noticed.

With the Darwin Awareness Engine™ we try to go beyond search engine algorithms to let the content self-organize by using algorithms based on Chaos Theory rather than variations on popularity.  When I want to find useful articles and breaking news in a specific topic, I now turn to the Darwin Awareness Engine™ rather than Google. I use it to find things for my Twitter feed and for this blog and other blogs I write for. That is how I found Dick Singer’s post. I doubt if I would have found it through Google, at least not so easily. 

 

Qontext.com Brings Greater Context to Enterprise Collaboration

When Gartner named Qontext a cool vender in the context-aware computing space they wrote, “one of the holy grails in the collaboration market is the ability to embed collaboration services directly into business processes.” This allows you to “build the collaboration service directly into the business process and make historical collaboration content accessible from the application.” I could not agree more.  I have long been a proponent of this approach going back to building process-aligned knowledge management systems beginning in the early 90s. Now Qontext has taken the approach a step further with its pinning concept. I recently spoke with Samir Ghosh, Qontext, VP, Business Development & Strategy, about their capabilities.

Enterprise 2.0 is about making interactions appropriately transparent and accessible. Qontext has added a new capability to promote this transparency and access. They call it “pinning.” It is somewhat like tagging but different. Instead of putting a tag on an activity, you pin the activity to a record. It is the opposite of categorizing email, for example, where the receiver puts the tag or category on the item.  The pinning is done by the system as content is created to connect it to its context. Once an item is pinned, you can easily go back to the source and see all the accumulated context.

This is a great way to address the content overload issue. As more social content is created within the enterprise through the various tools, there will be a need to filter the fire hose. Qontext takes a different approach by allowing you to view contextually relevant information without having to determine manual filters.

Qontext can integrate or overlay any enterprise app, so this pinning can occur within the app, even across different apps and then viewed inside or outside the apps. Qontext can be integrated with such enterprise apps as salesforce.com, NetSuite, SugarCRM, LeadFormix, HRnet, LeanTaaS and Herald Logic. The integration can be done through a pop-up or directly through the app UI.  Here is a sample screen of Qontext operating inside NetSuite.

Here you can see pinned items in a NetSuite application.

Organizations can also use the Qontext suite as a stand-alone collaboration portal. It has a full suite of collaboration features such as document management, threaded discussions, bookmarks, status updates, video and photo sharing, polls, quizzes, slide sharing, surveys, blogs and wikis that operate in the cloud or on-premises.

Qontext also has an activity stream that goes across applications. I think this is a core feature for enterprise 2.0 apps.  Samir mentioned that Gartner predicts that by 2012 over half of organizations will be using activity streams. With their pinning concept, Qontext complements activity streams in an interesting manner.  Activity streams can provide an awareness of what is happening in the enterprise and pinning can give you better access to the context of these events.  Below is a Qontext activity stream within NetSuite.

Qontext provides a comprehensive collaboration suite. Their pinning concept appears to be an excellent innovation. It will be interesting to see how it gets adopted and how it evolves in both use and capabilities as this adoption occurs. 

 

Making Better Use of Customer Intelligence

Forrester’s Tamara Barber asked the question: Are You Prepared For The Intelligent Enterprise?  She looked at the future of market research and saw a trend and need for increased collaboration between the market insight professionals who go out and proactively collect market research data and those who passively collect transactional and behavioral data.  We applaud this.  She worked with a colleague, Dave Frankland, to look at how these functions best collaborate.  These came up with these findings and suggestions.

First, they found that customer knowledge is an elusive commodity. Often the market insight interviewers and the data analysis teams do not collaborate. As a result, decisions can be based on an incomplete view of the customer. I like to have these two methods work interactively. For example, the data can raise questions to ask customers. The customers can bring up issues to validate with data.

Second, the old roles of market research and database marketing actually miss the mark. Tamara and Dave fell that these roles are stuck in their own vicious cycles because they tend to focus on traditional methods and channels, making them less relevant to the business. This is where new approaches can come to play in useful ways.

Third, the greater alignment of these roles can drive business value. While this “alignment” is much easier said than done, when done right a “more adaptive insights function emerges that can drive more efficient marketing and in the end help grow the bottom line.” I think this can best occur through the interactive exchange and validation I mentioned in connection with their first finding. I have seen this first hand in research on internal employee capabilities and interests and I am sure it will work with customers. 

 

Forrester's Five Stages of Social Media Maturity

Forrester has released a new report, Accelerating Your Social Maturity: How To Move From Social Experimentation To Business Transformation. You can also find it as a new chapter in the updated paperback version of the Groundswell book. Sean Corcoran said that, “the biggest insight that came from this research is that, no matter what industry your company is in, what geographies you reside in, or what audience you’re targeting, large organizations tend to go through common stages of change as they adopt and use social technologies for business.” They wee able to place all the companies they interviewed into 5 categories on a progression.

First, there are the Laggards (aka the dormant stage). Forrester estimates that 20% of companies are currently not using any social media. This is a very small number when you think the reverse that 80% are users.

Next comes the testing stage. They write that while most companies are using social media, it tends to start organically in pockets. They describe this stage as “distributed chaos.” To move beyond it, they “recommend that a senior interactive marketer step up to play the role of “shepherd” to help coordinate efforts across the organization.” I would add that another smart move is to begin to monitor the effects of your efforts, as well as what others are saying about you in social media.

Then there is the coordinating stage where management recognizes the risks and rewards of social media. They “begin to put the resources and governance in place to create consistency across the organization, from “distributed chaos” to a more centralized approach.” Let’s hope they do not over manage it to block the  individual initiative that social media supports.

The scaling and optimizing stage occurs when firms “have already coordinated their social organization and are now focusing on optimizing their social media activities – from improved processes to more advanced metrics to integration with other marketing activity.” Monitoring impact is essential here.

Finally the innovators are truly empowering their employees. At this stage, “all relevant employees have been trained and empowered to use social media – essentially “organized distribution” – though centers of excellence are still needed.” Forrester writes that only a few companies, such as Zappos, have even just entered this stage but they expect many more to follow over the course of the next year.

This final stage is where an easy to use social media awareness tool, such as the Darwin Awareness Engine™ can have a real impact. The simplicity of the interface makes it accessible to a broad range of employees in different roles. It is designed to aggregate content from multiple sources, including social media. It can significantly reduce the time spent gathering new information to gain awareness about what matters to them making monitoring more manageable.

 

 

 

My App Gap Posts for June 2010

Here are my AppGap posts for June. I am also writing in another Corante blog, FastForward (see right side bar for links), The AppGap posts began toward the end of January 2008.  Here, I am primarily doing product commentaries with a few other things thrown in. Below are the ones for June. There will be more in July.

Qontext.com Provides Greater Context to Enterprise Collaboration

Software Announcements at the Boston Enterprise 2.0 Conference

OutStart’s Learning Content Management System Automates Key Aspects of Content Development

NewsGator Enhances its Social Sites 2010 Platform

Adobe Announces Comprehensive Customer Experience Management Platform

Traction Introduces TeamPage Attivio Plus and Social Enterprise Web

 

Images of New Orleans 2011: Upper French Quarter

Here is the last in my 2011 series on New Orleans. I am ending with the most well known tourist area, the part of the French Quarter near Canal Street and the river.  It includes the party sections of Bourbon Street, the upscale shopping areas of Royal and Chartres, and the mix of shopping and eating on Decatur. Well known places seen below include Arnaud's, Pat O'Brien's, Galatorie's, Acme Oyster House, and Johnny's Po-Boys. These were mostly taken on a Sunday afternoon. There are street musicians, restaurants, stores, and much more I did not record.

Here is a summary of images from my last trip in January 2010 when I provided a more extensive coverage of New Orleans neighborhoods. 

                                                             

 

Images of New Orleans 2011: Lower French Quarter

Here is another in my series on New Orleans images 2011. This post covers the part of the French Quarter away from Canal Street. This is the quieter and more residential part of the French Quarter. It includes Dauphine and Burgundy, the streets on the lake side of Bourbon, as well as the part of the Quarter away from Canal Street and by Esplanade.  There are some clubs and eating places, such as s Fiorella’s and Coops Place, that are less tourist oriented than what you find in the upper French Quarter including my favorite bakery, Crossiant  D' Or that you can see below. You can also see a taxi with a film truck in front of it as a Nicholas Cage movie, Medallion, was being filmed. 

Here is a summary of images from my last trip in January 2010 when I provided a more extensive coverage of New Orleans neighborhoods. 

                                                                   

My Favorite Tweets for June 15 - 30 2011

Here is another in a series of posts that provide access to my favorite tweets that contain links to useful information.  Some of these I did to link to things I found useful and others are RTs that I want to save for the same reason. Since Twitter archiving is an oxymoron, I am now going to post my favorite links for the month so they can be easily accessed later.

I spot tested the reduced shortened urls and they all should work. I hope this is also useful for you.  Let me know your favorite tweets for the month.

Also see the Darwineco favorite tweets.

NYT: We Have to Fix E-Mail http://nyti.ms/jtHRhl right @elsua

News Corporation Sells #MySpace for $545M less than paid for it http://nyti.ms/mDLyAi

In a shift, firms say U.S. will lead IT growth http://bit.ly/lUzSJA

53% Execs Believe They Must Adopt Social Business Or Risk Falling Behind http://tcrn.ch/m7ewm9

Americans turn away from landlines http://bit.ly/mMYNF9 #mobile

RT @lizstrauss: Well wriiten piece from The Atlantic http://lnkd.in/UW-bzw #facebook

RT @dpontefract: FYI @BillIves; Learning 'Tetrad' I was referring to at #e2conf is here http://t.co/CxkGuvR > great to meet you

via @eric_andersen: great preview - Google's new social network Google+ by @dannysullivan: http://j.mp/kGGQ9l

Twitter For Newsrooms!? Twitter *Is* A Newsroom http://tcrn.ch/jkWmYf

More Americans buying e-readers than tablets, study says http://bit.ly/lf7PoR

RT @sympmarc: RT @markbower: Over-50s flock to social networks http://ow.ly/1u9IJr FB growth 84% in May, Twitter 96%, LinkedIn 57%

RT @Patrick_Davey: 5 #Facebook Pages with a Touch of Design Genius http://ow.ly/1u9358

RT @DearingGroup: Microsoft puts Office in cloud, confronts Google http://reut.rs/mzubwW | #cloudcomputing

RT @ChatterBachs: When to use Twitter by @geoffliving http://ow.ly/5rq3Q via @kamichat #nonprofit

via @rotkapchen: From @rawn #e2conf perspectives that covers #owork http://onforb.es/j7NW9x

via @dhinchcliffe: Enterprise 2.0 Boston 2011: Performance, Passion and People http://ow.ly/5r20Q #e20 #socbiz

RT @igotan: Any article w smiling @elsua + @BillIves picture is great one! Wrap Up #e2conf by @meganmurray http://bit.ly/knRtJs > honored

via @socialmedia2day: Interesting social media stats. from Jeff Esposito. http://fb.me/XsfZWZxD

RT @webtechman: RT @lammiia @praxics Social Science of Designing for Desired Behaviors http://bit.ly/kNLSJI #socbiz

Network multiplier effect: serendipity is back? by @joemckendrick http://bit.ly/jO9e9P

Company approved by FTC to track and report all our social media acts to potential employers http://bit.ly/jd2tgU

RT @dhinchcliffe: Studying link economy by @jeffjarvis http://ow.ly/5qApy One of most important aspects of digital business

Older Web Users Catching up with Youth on Social Media Participation http://bit.ly/i1DolU #e2conf

RT @mor_trisha: Excellent #e2conf summary by @steveelmore http://t.co/SWtIhttp

RT @jimworth full #e2conf conference tweetlog available in PDF http://is.gd/8cx1j2 with blog posts + more

RT @sympmarc: At lunch today, @BillIves & I agreed age doesn't determine social media ability. http://ow.ly/1u3ZkV

Tone of Voice: Imitate How Your Members Interact http://bit.ly/jk2mUX

The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace http://buswk.co/lfQkQa

Trolls – Anonymity – A Better Web? http://bit.ly/lVcH5K good points by @robpatrob

RT @igotan: Emanuele Quintarelli's notes for E 2.0 Conf 2011 Day 3 @absolutesubzero http://bit.ly/iXDdfz #e2conf

RT @Sadalit: Social Tidbits & Wrap-Up of E 2.0 Boston 2011 Conf #e2conf http://bit.ly/kbzLYb

RT @socialmedia2day: Jennifer Jones cites research "Grandparents Are Using Social... http://fb.me/11HkI4HxY #e2conf

RT @VMaryAbraham: How PARC wants to reinvent the Internet http://j.mp/lTbDlz

RT @VMaryAbraham: How Do You Measure That? http://bit.ly/kj7eCV @Rawn #e2conf #metrics

Pentagon Gets Cyberwar Guidelines http://abcn.ws/mfj3tp #e2conf

RT @VMaryAbraham: Making Your Strategy More Relevant http://j.mp/kICgFj

Google to scan 250,000 old British Library books http://cnet.co/klzkZV

RT @Gartner_inc: Social Media Best Practices: IT Strategies... http://gtnr.it/kSG95Z #e2conf

RT @SmartDataCo: Key Trends in Cloud Computing – Mid-2011 Update http://goo.gl/fb/6CrBR #data

Enabling collaboration with open APIs http://zd.net/kauSUv by @dhinchcliffe

Check out Harvard Business Review/McKinsey M-Prize for Management Innovation http://bit.ly/m8lbEQ

RT @dweinberger: argument for loosening copyright to save our nation + marriages :) http://is.gd/FsY3A0 via @eua

 

RT @outstart: Driving Adoption of Social Collaboration Tools by @MFauscette. http://bit.ly/k9mtfy

Bruins join Patriots (2001, 2003 and 2004), Red Sox (2004 and 2007) + Celtics (2008) as World Champs #Boston

Social Democracy: White House Learns To Listen http://bit.ly/k3zWOm

from @robpatrob Barak Obama (BO) will be on Twitter Personally in Election http://bit.ly/kmClPW

RT @DavidGurteen: Blog Post: Open and transparent? http://bit.ly/ipGHzp #KM

RT @SmartDataCo: Key Trends in Cloud Computing – Mid-2011 Update http://goo.gl/fb/6CrBR #data

RT @ASGilchrist: Read my review @darwineco Awareness Engine right now! and tell a friend... http://bit.ly/iDctKF >thx

Social Networking Accounts for 1 of Every 6 Minutes Spent Online http://on.mash.to/m7FYVW

RT @fgossieaux: It is human nature to cooperate with strangers (New Scientist) http://bit.ly/lWeKg8

Mixing Speed with Quality in Learning Content Creation #LCBQ http://bit.ly/eIqZht