Notes from day one of Collaboration in the world of Web 2.0

So, I thought that I'd retrospectively post my notes from the Collaboration conference I attended this week just to show how inspired I was!

The conference started the day with opening remarks from the conference chairperson Laurel Papworth, an expert in social network strategies and author of silkcharm.blogspot.com.

The day consisted of presentations that covered defining Web 2.0, social networking and media and its role in organisational collaboration, as well as case studies on how three organisations utilize social media, networking and Web 2.0 technologies.

The first two presenters, both university lecturers, presented different perspectives of the evolution or revolution of the web.

For me, the common and perhaps most interesting message to come out of hearing both of these presentations was that Web 2.0 is not simply a thing or a technology in itself, but it is a slogan or catch phrase created to describe a combination of cultural, structural and technological elements that enable collaboration, sharing information and user generated content – and these are just a few examples.

During that day I began to take the view that, in an organisational sense (at least), Web 2.0 and social media is more than just the technology that we use to write blogs, collaborate on Wikis or start a forum, but that a bigger picture that combines various degrees of an organisation's cultural change, adopting a less traditional business model, removing hierarchical structures and dispensing with a silo-based method of knowledge management. This is basically opening up communication channels and implementing a combination of structures and technologies that work best in and support that environment.

The presentations encouraged me to think about the evolution of technology and the relationship with human evolution. As perhaps abstract as it may come across as, the two appeared to be totally inter-related and they drive one another. Web 2.0 has been termed, the second generation of the web, but if we look at the rapid pace of technological evolution, it seems that the 2.0 phenomenon is more of a natural progression in a technological sense, rather than a conscious movement to a new type of communication. One needs the other to evolve, without human evolution there couldn’t be technological evolution. Machines and technology need people.

From the case studies presented, it was obvious that these organisations approached the implementation of the various technologies differently and appropriately for their businesses. Yes, they all encountered, and continue to, opposition and resistance to change however they all have the view that sharing and collaboration is “the way to go” in a forward thinking and progressive organisation. Educating the business, guiding culture change and providing examples of collaboration and knowledge sharing successes seemed to be a recurring theme with at least two of the three.

At the conclusion of day one I was excited and captured by the information being shared and the calibre of the presenters.