MiramarMike - Blog

Richard (and his fellow editors) over at ReadWriteWeb have popped up their predictions for the Web and I have added mine in the comments - here they are: Online persona/identity will become key to those wanting to grow (Google, Facebook and everyone else) - we will all worry and blog about what it means for the future of the world. Nothing will change. Companies/organisations/agencies IT Departments will struggle with "Enterprise 2.0" infiltrating in as the young 'uns "just do it". The USA Election will change the way politics in that country is fought with the Internet (Web) becoming the primary battle ground. The fall out from this will be substantial and I suspect YouTube/Google will do very well out of it. Mobile web. The battle ground isn't on the "PC" and this will truly become apparent towards the 2nd half of 2008 as more countries implement the ability and make it cost effective for you & I to dump the "PC" and carry

Of course, saying that Google would, could or should enter the sparse online accounting app arena is mere speculation on the part of Read/Write Web columnist but I have to say they make a good case. It's either online accounting OR boosting their health stuff ... that's my prediction. And if it is accounting then Xero is either sitting on the money (!) or they're about to welcome a very smart, determined and integrated player into their sandpit. Oh, one more prediction - I suspect Google is focusing on completely ripping the heart out of Microsoft's expensive and v average Sharepoint ("intranet"/CMS/"portal") offering sometime around mid-2008.

Completing the set - blogs , rss, wikis, social bookmarking

Thursday finished very late (early Friday in fact) and I was finally asleep around 2am. 6am and the alarm had already gone for me to shower and get a bus into town. 7am I was in a CBD cafe drinking loads of coffee whilst eating a hearty breakfast. And why? For the Wellington Agile Barcamp of course ( agile definition ). After 3 months of planning and organising, Sandy, Brian, Mark, Thomas and I finally got to see if the event would be as successful as we'd hoped. It was a big success. The day ran smoothly, the rooms were all full and there was even a healthy contingent at the bar after drinking up the small tab. There were people from Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. We had agile evangelists and those that had heard the word but knew nothing else. There were presentations about the good, the bad and the ugly of agile. People covered the history and future of agile, the fine details of using agile (in all it's forms) and there were presentations that challenged the status

Seems to be the day of "user identity theft" with the following 4 articles (plus mine from a week or so ago) popping into the feeder. With the news that Facebooks "Beacon" program being amended due to privacy concerns ( Google News: facebook beacon ) the whole subject of "online identify" will, I predict, become the dominant conversation during 2008, especially as Google and the like push further into the enterprise with a "life online" delivery of services. Colin Jackson: On the Internet no-one knows you’re a dog Colin the voice of IT-ness on National Radio's Nine To Noon and a few days ago he turned his attention to thorny issue of ID verification, the government and what it means to you and me. ... It’s really getting at the notion that we are anonymous on the Net and that people can’t tell much about you from a screen name or email address. Q: Is that true? A: No, not really. Clever or well-resourced people can tell a lot about you by

[Updated] Social Networking in Plain English added to the set Further to the excellent RSS, Wikis and Social Bookmarking in Plain English those wonderful people at Common Craft have released their 3 minute video ' Blogs in Plain English ' If you want to what a 'blog' is then click the play and learn

A fantastic article, How Web 2.0 evangelists make the Microsoft monopoly stronger by Andrew Orlowski , decrying the 'Web 2.0 cult' ("compared the rise of Web 2.0 enthusiasts to the problem the Police has with Freemasons") and how they are now being used by Microsoft to negate the need for regulation. In a nutshell - we're not a monopoly as the Web is now a platform that anyone can/are using. But I also love how the article uses some cracking phrases about those, like myself, that are Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 evangelists: cult-like relentless self-advancement "Hive Mind" cult/religion web utopians evangelists Emergent People mighty army of JavaScript-typing, buzzword-spouting monkeys happy-go-lucky Digg crowd There is a hint of truth in what is written. Me using the word "evangelist" is a prime example of how I (and those "like me") are on a wee bit of a mission, even if the mission is for the good of all (but not from God) ... then aga

Classic excuses ("reasons why we can't ...") I have experienced included: You're paying us good money to provide a service ... how can we when ...? You can't expect us to honour the SLA we have all worked hard to gain acceptance for!? (rope in 'business' as a potential ally) This will increase our work load by XXX%, who's now gonna pay for that? (fear of unlimited costs) We are professionals, these people don't know what they're doing - is that the sort of organisation you lead? (implant fear of reputation plummeting) If you're happy for us not to support it then go ahead. Also, any repercussions on the wider network/systems can't be supported by us! (implant fear of a meltdown) We understand the need and if you could only wait until February/March we will be able to supply a systems that both meets ALL of the business needs and we are happy complies with our rigorous industry/government standards compliance (wait for ever because it a

[Updated] I have published my "Enterprise 2.0 definition" A set of references to learn about the underlying principles and technologies driving the introduction of "Enterprise 2.0" in organisations. Web 2.0 definition Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived second-generation of Web based communities and hosted services — such as social networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. O'Reilly Media titled a series of conferences around the phrase, and it has since become widely adopted. Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 Enterprise 2.0 definition The use of Web 2.0 technology and ethos within the corporate boundaries. Source: me Enterprise 2.0 is a new enterprising environment which can be differentiated from traditional Enterprise (say, enterprise 1.0). The new enterprising environment use social software in "enterprise" (business)

You're on Facebook, you've got yourself a GMail account and your putting up photo's to Flickr. Or maybe you've merely heard about this new web thingy called social networking * and are wondering why everyone's inviting you to a "book of faces". If you're an old hand at the Interweb or new to the whole shooting match this post aims to give guidance to keeping your online presence ("persona"*) safe and snug within your own control. 1: Reserve your name in all the right places The number of sites that claim to 'be your homepage on the Web' is growing each and every day with current estimates ranging from 110 , 230+ and beyond . And the usage growth is phenomenal with the top twenty sites growing at 11% per month . Research by Rachel Cunliffe states that the top 5 visited sites for the young uns of New Zealand are (social networking sites, incl. online gaming, bolded ): ... for boys taking part: Bebo YouTube Google Miniclip RuneScape .

Again, working my way through my Google starred items I have four articles that talk about 'the future' of a lot of IT related things. The four articles cover the whole range of "IT" starting at the top with an overview of where we're at and where we are potentially going descending all the way down to the future of software development. I see the articles linked together in a happy wee circle, with the large strategic future being driven by the way consumers/organisations want to use the apps which are created by developers which are driven by the large strategic future ... and around we go again. And so, let's start at the the big picture with a look at the evolution of where we were as well as where we might get to... Web 2.0 Explorer: A simple picture of Web evolution This article and the diagram it talks about highlight quite succinctly the challenge for IT Departments have. The move away from 'user' interacting with 'installed application'

I am. A 'friend of Harry' is wonderfully outlined by Lloyd Davis over at Perfect Path blog and I have a sneaking suspicion it is the attitude of "bypass it" that is at the heart of most IT Departments fear of the Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 malarkey. If we (normal, everyday 'users' of computer systems) start to get access to stuff that isn't hosted internally, isn't locked down to one vendor and isn't dependent upon a single user login* then we (the 'user') can suddenly start to "bypass" everything. We can bypass the controls IT Departments have placed upon: WHAT applications can be used WHEN applications can be used WHAT the connections ("information flow") between applications are WHO controls access to the applications and the information For some businesses (I thinking "government" here, in it's widest term) the lack of control of the information flow is probably the scariest. This is a valid business fear/

A wiki is just a website. Check out the wonderful 'Wikis in Plain English' YouTube vid for the low down. Just like any other web site it displays (generally) a lot of text with a few pictures scattered about. It has some basic navigation and is linked to other pages so you can find your way through. But still, in essence, it's just a website. So what's there to be afraid of? Well, it's a website with 3 main differences to your normal intranet*: Anyone (usually) can edit any page Linking to other pages is very VERY easy Navigation/structure is fluid And so a wiki is also a website with an accessible/open to all Content Management System (CMS) that generates instantly publishable web pages. The power of content authorship moves from the few to the many . This is scary. This is, strangely, more scary for the 'many' than the 'few'. The 'few are so glad that they are no longer the bottleneck and that a truck load of work is lifted off their shoulder

With the Web now becoming more and more useful there's no need* for anyone to download, install , upgrade, download, install, uninstall, crash, worry, strife, arrrgh ... you just don't need to. And if you're trapped within the walls of an IT Departments 'security' model you might even dream of the freedom that would come with installing your own useful and productive software. Well jump out/over the whole need. Use the one piece of installed software that comes on every PC, the web browser . Sure you might have to fight your IT Department to get access to sites because of perceived 'security risks' but don't let them beat you down. They should have enough 'security' software (virus detection, stop naughty access and the like) on their internet servers to lower the risk to a business acceptable level ... that's their job. If they don't, ask them why not. Also ask why their perceived lack of ability to do their job means the business canno

Thanks to Ben for passing this on. My view on information as having three core pillars in that it MUST be available, findable and usable is aimed at the day-to-day drudgery of merely working with the stuff. This video takes what 'information' is in the electronic/on-line world and makes a thing of beauty out of it:

Knowledge management, to me, has always been a weird title for an activity that a lot of people are doing within organisations. I think it's now suffering from 'consultant burn' out - try and mention it to anyone and the eyes glaze and the shutters come down . And fair enough. Managing knowledge isn't something that one can actually do and most definitely not with a "system". You can create environments for knowledge to flow, you can encourage people to share, you can even use these new computer fangdangles to assist with both ... but you cannot manage knowledge. Imagine calling a pencil a "Bestseller creation system" ... However, having said that I still see my ultimate goal with an organisation as assisting them around 'knowledge' in order for them to be successful at what they do. It's knowledge that people use day in and day out to make the decisions they make. My focus is in using "Enterprise 2.0" which I totally believe i

An excellent article from Julian at Seradigm, Email is for old people , contends that the young un's use Bebo/Facebook (and the like) just as much as email - it's just another 'messaging' service to get in touch with their mates. He concludes: It started to become clear to me that for these teenagers, email is just another messaging function that they access through a browser. They do some of their messaging in Bebo, and some in Hotmail/YahooMail/Gmail. For them, Bebo and txts are what they use to message their friends, and email is what they use begrudgingly when they have to message old people. When these young people start to come into the workplace the implications of this for corporate IT will be very interesting… (my emphasis) And he's right, it will be interesting . It will also be messy, loud and cost loads of money as old habits meet new habits and one removes the other. I also predict that the most technically savy of these young 'uns* will probably en

Following on the from the E-Government BarCamp earlier this month one of my mates (totally non-Web 2.0 focussed) pointed me towards the Police Act Review Wiki ... e-Government in action. The proof in the pudding will be how much will make it's way through to the revised Act but hey, it's a start. They've certainly garnered a fair amount of coverage from around the world with most leading with a, "Write your own laws" slant. Here's to them and here's to those that follow ...

As some of you have probably gleaned during my scrawls that I have three attributes ('things about something') about any piece of any information be it online, electronic, in a book or scrawled on walls must have. They are that information MUST * be: Available Findable Usable If a piece of information doesn't meet all three then it's probably worthless to the person reading/gathering that information. Classic examples of getting 2 out 3 (is bad) in the online/electronic world plus how it impacts of the worth of the information to the reader ... 1: Findable + Usable Using some document management/records management systems access rights (what you can and cannot see) are respected when you click on an item but not incorporated into how search results are shown and/or lists of documents. For instance, do a search for "upcoming redundancy's" and you might find an entry (findable) which is possibly in the exact format that you want (usable) b

Following on from my Faceforce shows the way with enterprise social networking posting but on closer to home note I have been reading how some (myself included) think Microsoft's SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) isn't really there yet with 'social networking' but it could be for organisations - this comment from Charlene may point the way forward: It is still very, very early in the Facebook and social network application space, and even more so on the enterprise side. I can imagine further initiatives that use widgets to bring Facebook and LinkedIn information into enterprise environments like Microsoft's Sharepoint and IBM's WebSphere . I have to say that Microsoft (or any other enterprise vendor) will probably never "become the Facebook for the enterprise" because of the limited scope of the enterprise. Connections are not only made within the four work walls that surround you and and anything that starts it's life inside the four walls is gonna have

Obviously SalesForce.com (a major CRM player in the SAAS space - how was that for wanky business speak?) needs to be all over the 'social networking' side of 'Web 2.0' as it's the key component to any sort of Client Relationship Management (CRM) - it's all social, right? As Facebook has opened up it's platform allowing others to write and fully integrate such useful applications as Zombie Attack, Pirates and My Favourite Cat What's Yours so SalesForce.com (SFDC) has done the same with it's AppExchange. It was therefore a matter of time before the two met, and now they have in Faceforce Read more about it at: CRM + Social Networking = Faceforce Faceforce kickstarts the social business app movement Here is a screenshot from Jeff that shows the Contact page within Salesforce with the Facebook integration. Note that you can interact with many of the Facebook features -- yes, you can even poke Marc Benioff. The fear of Enterprise 2.0 And so, as SalesF

[Updated with a few more links - at the bottom dear heart] Well, the BarCampWellingtonNZegov was a giggle in many ways! Having spent a good part of Friday afternoon assisting Hannah and Kara with sticking up posters, ensuring WiFi was available and shifting chairs Saturday morning came around a little quick. Of course it started with Meg, progressed directly into England v South Africa before a cab ride into to open up the Fronde Queen's Wharf offices for the un-conference. After much milling, a few coffees and some slight guidance around 70 people plotted an agenda of 5-6 blocks of 4 concurrent sessions during the day. All very easily, no pain, no real hassle and certainly no "You must talk about ...". Post-Its, large pieces of paper and pens ... the best agile equipment in the world. It started brilliantly with a packed out room talking around "what is it that the Government needs to 'enter into' when we talk about "2.0"". Oh, before I con