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

Day two did not disappoint.

The day two presentations and case studies further strengthened many of the messages from the previous day by providing participants with interactive sessions, round table discussions, collaboration exercises and viewing the use of social media in real-world examples.

Discussions and activities today focused on:

• managing cultural and organisational change,
• engaging and getting results from stakeholders,
• examining content development and management in the Web 2.0 space,
• internal communication methods and their role in an organisation
• the benefits of virtual teams
• brand management, IP, copyright and information channels in the world of Web 2.0

Probably the highlight of the day for me was the RSS presentation. Understanding RSS and the benefits it can offer to an organisation was a hot topic. A simple and effective form of publishing news alerts to “subscribed” individuals both internally and externally. As I know a bit about RSS feeds I was primarily interested in the implementation and management of the application that drives RSS from an operational perspective. During the course of this presentation, I asked questions to get a sense of what the technology and resourcing implications could be for an organisation. The feedback from those questions provided me with a strong place to start gathering momentum for an RSS revolution in the organisation I work for! Cool!

All up a very beneficial, informative and successful conference.

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.

What is blogging about?

Hey there bloggers.

I'm new to the world of blogging and until recently never understood the attraction. I've just finished the second day of an inspirational conference that discussed at length, collaboration in the world of web 2.0 and all that the term suggests. Fascinating stuff..... really!

Now a few short months ago you would have received a glazed and vacant expression on my face if you had said to me something like, "do you have a blog?". But with very little effort I've taken the giant step (for me) of starting my own blog!

In my role as web content coordinator for a government organisation I was given the fairly broad scope of finding out about Web 2.0 technologies and how we can use them to enhance communications. Having no idea at all on where to start, I Googled.... and googled..... and googled. I've come across some great information, some hype with little substance and some very difficult-to-understand stuff!

There is a labyrinth of information out there. I needed to put it into context which is where my attendance at the conference, aptly named Collaboration in the world of Web 2.0, comes in. As I said before, it was inspirational! Not only that, the presentations were useful and informative, but above all, it was a fun two days. Seriously!

Now having the context in which to apply my new found knowledge I've also experienced something of a "lightbulb" moment which has led me to seek out more.....

So here I am, writing on my very first blog. This is fun... and it strangely fulfils my dreams of becoming a published author... funny that!

Until next time, ka kite ano (see you later)!