Last week mX newspaper in Melbourne (the city’s largest free newspaper with readership of over 300,000) had a little story on Blogs to conquer the office based on an interview with me. The article was originally intended to cover the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 Executive Briefing which was run last Thursday in Melbourne, though the final article just covered some of the forthcoming shifts in the workplace (slightly mangled in the journalistic process).
Hopefully these kinds of messages will eventually filter through this kind of mass audience to help accelerate these trends. Full text of the article below, or click on the image for a scan of the article.
Blogs to conquer the office
Blogs, wikis and social networks are the future of the Australian workplace.
Organisations which block employee access will be punished for their lack of vision within five years.
And email, which transformed workplaces late last century, will be a thing of the past.
Futurist Ross Dawson, chairman of Future Exploration Network, said companies embracing Web 2.0 – interactive internet use and web-based applications – would result in unrecognisable workplaces within five years.
Graduates and tech-savvy workers were bringing blogs, virtual worlds and social networks into the workplace, which improved communication, efficiency and productivity, Dawson said.
“I am not saying that if you use blogs you will be more successful, but those organisations that try to avoid any use of Web 2.0 in their organisations are going to find it far more difficult to attract talented people and to be competitive,” Dawson said.
At the expense of email, blogs and wikis are becoming popular methods of project management.
“If you use a blog or a wiki, (anyone) can update the most recent info and, at a glance, can see what has been done most recently by who and be updated using RSS (web feed Really Simple Syndication),” he said.
Changing gears – onto the future of influence and new ventures!
By Ross DawsonMy readers will have seen a massive focus on Enterprise 2.0 in this blog for the last few months, as I have been preparing, promoting and running the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum in Sydney and Enterprise 2.0 Executive Briefing in Melbourne, and writing and publishing Implementing Enterprise 2.0, which is rapidly becoming the reference in the field. Moving forward I will continue to be deeply involved in Enterprise 2.0 through my client work, and will also be releasing a lot more content from the report.
However I am now in the process of shifting gears. Last year I realized that a large proportion of my interests could be encapsulated in two key themes:
The future of the enterprise
The future of influence
The first examines how organizations will evolve and what they must do to be successful in an intensely complex and competitive world. The second looks at how messages disseminate when traditional media is being trumped by social media. Together they bring together the inside and the outside, the twin domains in which open communication is transforming business and society.
Having focused deeply for a while on the future of the enterprise, for the next period my attention will shift significantly to the future of influence.
I have studied and worked on influence networks for much of the last decade. Among other activities, I wrote about influence networks in Chapter 6 of Living Networks and published what was then the first detailed study of influence networks in B2B marketing: How Technology Purchasing Decisions are Really Made. However so far I haven’t written up most of my ongoing research and work in the space.
Read more →
Launch of Implementing Enterprise 2.0 Framework
By Ross DawsonA centrepiece of our recently launched Implementing Enterprise 2.0 report is an Implementing Enterprise 2.0 Framework. Click on the image below to download the Implementing Enterprise 2.0 Framework pdf, which includes references to the relevant chapters for each of the action steps. Some of the chapters referred to are available for download from the Implementing Enterprise 2.0 downloads page.
The central aspect of the framework is that it is iterative. Where you begin on the cycle depends on your organization. Some will begin in the upper left domain of Understanding Drivers, by understanding the drivers. Others will start in the lower right domain of Supporting Initiatives by identifying and supporting existing initiatives that people have begun of their own initiative.
Read more →
Launch of Implementing Enterprise 2.0: using software versioning for books
By Ross DawsonWe have just launched our Implementing Enterprise 2.0 report, encapsulating in a neat package (almost) all you need to know to create massive value with Enterprise 2.0 technologies and approaches in your organization.
Our www.ImplementingEnterprise2.com website includes a number of free chapters and resources, which I’ll feature in more detail here later, as well as ordering information.
One of the key aspects of the report is that it is versioned. Version 1.1, available on Amazon.com, includes just a few small fixes from the 1.0 version that we produced for a limited audience. Now we can get down to the more significant modifications that will eventually see this as a highly refined and revised version 2.0, 3.0 and beyond.
That evolution will be largely based on feedback from readers. We will soon introduce a feedback forum on the report website to gather suggestions and input, though we’re always keen to get ideas in any format.
Read more →
mX newspaper: Blogs to conquer the office – prepare for the workplace of the future
By Ross DawsonHopefully these kinds of messages will eventually filter through this kind of mass audience to help accelerate these trends. Full text of the article below, or click on the image for a scan of the article.
Blogs to conquer the office
Blogs, wikis and social networks are the future of the Australian workplace.
Organisations which block employee access will be punished for their lack of vision within five years.
And email, which transformed workplaces late last century, will be a thing of the past.
Futurist Ross Dawson, chairman of Future Exploration Network, said companies embracing Web 2.0 – interactive internet use and web-based applications – would result in unrecognisable workplaces within five years.
Graduates and tech-savvy workers were bringing blogs, virtual worlds and social networks into the workplace, which improved communication, efficiency and productivity, Dawson said.
“I am not saying that if you use blogs you will be more successful, but those organisations that try to avoid any use of Web 2.0 in their organisations are going to find it far more difficult to attract talented people and to be competitive,” Dawson said.
At the expense of email, blogs and wikis are becoming popular methods of project management.
“If you use a blog or a wiki, (anyone) can update the most recent info and, at a glance, can see what has been done most recently by who and be updated using RSS (web feed Really Simple Syndication),” he said.
The future of museums: the shift from expert curators to facilitators of participation
By Ross DawsonYesterday as a prelude to the Transformations in Scientific and Cultural Communication conference I’m speaking at today, the Directors of Australia and New Zealand’s largest museums and libraries gathered for a boardroom session. I joined the group to give a presentation on social media in organizations and was very interested to hear their perspectives.
The general tenor of the afternoon was examining the rapidly changing environment, perhaps most notably changed expectations from audiences in how they interact with exhibits and content.
One of the directors commented that institutions that are often over a century old and perhaps by definition embedded in tradition can find it hard to change. However in the course of the afternoon I saw some fantastic examples of what is being done by museums today. It made me think that perhaps the underlying mindset of (some) museum directors is one of engaging people, and thus seeing the openness of the web as being an opportunity to fulfill their role of ‘democratizing knowledge’ .
Read more →
Summary of Twitter stream from Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum
By Ross DawsonAt Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum last week the event hit #1 on Twitter globally, reflecting both the frantic Twitter activity at the event and the degree of interest and discussion from people following the event on Twitter around the world.
If you want the full richness of the discussion on the day, go to the complete Twitter stream for #e2ef. To make it a bit more accessible, we’ve created a quick summary of around 250 of the most interesting and useful Twitters on the day, sorted by topic. Apologies if we missed out your favorite tweets in our scan!
The Twitter summary is divided into categories:
* OVERALL COMMENTS
* ABOUT TWITTER
* IMPLEMENTING ENTERPRISE 2.0 REPORT
* CASE STUDIES
* JP RANGASWAMI
* IBM
* SOCIAL NETWORKS PANEL
* DAVID BACKLEY
* WORKSHOPS
* ROSS DAWSON
* CLOSING PANEL
OVERALL COMMENTS
chieftech: hat tip to @rossdawson for the facilities – wifi and power available at each table! #e2ef
PRIANational: Thanks to @rossdawson and the team for the enterprise 2.0 conference was fantastic… #e2ef
trib: @jkerrstevens you’d be enjoying #e2ef if you were here
GWhiteOz: #e2ef this event is a good reminder why it’s important to still do things in person and not sitting behind a screen
LeslieCBarry: Excellent day at #e2ef – thought provoking, great speakers and loads of food for thought. Well one, Ross and team!
Read more →
Why GFC explains everything (to Australians)
By Ross DawsonThis morning an email from a client mentioned the GFC. Earlier this week another client was talking about the GEC (which has the advantage that you can pronounce it, while GFC has to be spelled out).
When this morning I Twittered about how we have a new acronym that doesn’t need to be explained, I got some interesting responses. @ITSinsider in America said that she had heard it before from someone else in Australia. An Australian initially thought I meant Geelong Football Club, so googled it to find out.
Which gives very interesting results…
If you Google “GFC” in Australia the #3 result is a newspaper story Tough week ends in talk of ‘GFC’, dated from October last year, with four of the top 10 results referring to the planet’s economic woes, including three newspaper headlines.
If you Google “GFC” in the US, aside from a #5 entry from Wikipedia which includes various acronyms including the contemporary one, the first entry which refers to GFC in this way is at #45.
So are Australians particularly acronym-crazy? Are we in the vanguard of what will be a global trend to summarize the state of the world as GFC?
Of course the very best thing about GFC is that it is an easy explanation for everything, in three easy letters. It was all getting very complicated for a while. Now it’s simple again – yay!
Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum: media coverage and commentary round-up
By Ross DawsonA quick review of of media coverage and commentary on the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum yesterday. Let me know if there’s anything missing here.
Computerworld: Social networking in business: plan less for less pain
Coverage of the social networking panel at the Enterprise 2.0 Forum
ITNews: Westpac reality check on Web 2.0
Review of comments on Westpac’s technology initiatives
National Business Review: Westpac pulls plug on virtual reality training
Comments on Westpac’s use of Second Life and online initiatives
The Metaverse Journal: Enterprise 2.0 and virtual worlds and a free discussion paper download
Discussion of the Forum and insights and content from the virtual worlds in the enterprise workshop
Social Media and Cultural Communication: Here at Enterprise 2.0
Notes on the day from Angelina Russo
Brad Howarth: Live from Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2009
More from Enterprise 2.0 Executive Foum 2009
Reporting on the morning sessions at the event.
Innotecture: Playing Nice: Developing Guidelines and Policies for Social Software Use
Detailed content from the event workshop run by Matt Moore
mab397: A summary of points tweeted from Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum
Des Walsh: Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum Cover it Live
Complete event coverage including Twitter feeds and Des’s commentary
[UPDATE – ADDITIONAL COVERAGE]
Kate Carruthers 1: Key enablers for Enterprise 2.0
Thoughts from the Forum on five key issues for organizations implementing Enterprise 2.0.
Kate Carruthers 2: 5 Key issues for Enteprise 2.0
List of top 10 enablers for Enterprise 2.0 based on content and conversations at the Forum
Des Walsh: Perfect Setting for Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum
Review of the Forum including announcement of forthcoming interviews with presenters.
If you want to get more details on the event and responses, definitely check out the complete Twitter stream for #e2ef, which was for a period yesterday the most active topic on Twitter globally.
Profiting from Technology Trends: Keynote at National Growth Summit
By Ross DawsonTomorrow morning I am delivering a keynote at the National Growth Summit, looking at how fast-growing companies can tap technology trends to build growth and opportunities.
The presentation is below (usual caveats – this is not intended as a stand-alone presentation but to accompany my speech). I’ll write more about this soon, but now I must get to bed – it was a long (though fun!) day at Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum today.
Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum #1 on Twitter today
By Ross DawsonBack from a fabulous day at Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum. I don’t have time for a full debrief now as I have to finish preparing for my keynote at theNational Growth Summit tomorrow.
Certainly a highlight of today was the Twitter activity at the conference, with by some measures the event reaching #1 on Twitter activity globally, and with other services reporting us as #2 trending Twitter topic.
Certainly the best single place to explore the distilled insights from the day is the Twitter stream for #e2ef, with over 1000 tweets, mainly of what participants found most useful and valuable from the speakers and interactive sessions.
More reflections and reporting from the day, including a distillation of some of Twitter stream, coming soon.