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Showing posts from August, 2007

1 reason not to worry about file formats

1: No-one cares OK, that's not true - there are whole departments, organisations and esteemed bodies that care, take a lot of time and effort to generate, publicise and ... well, other standards stuff. But in the real world no-one cares as everyone just wants to work with the information - it's the message not the medium. I know you could argue that the general unwashed don't care because it's all being taken care of by departments, organisations and esteemed bodies. I don't buy that. People would use whatever works for them without "standards" being imposed. The internet is glued together by "standards" that have evolved because people want to do something not because someone in a room came up with a standard. Problem first, then solution - not the other way around. So what's the problem these two standards are trying to solve? As I see it they are: Interoperability Future proofing Interoper... the first one (sorry, bugger of a word to t

4 ways of being productive DESPITE the organisation and how YOU can help

Was looking at the "Knowledge Worker 2.0" slide show * and these 4 facts were thrown up half way. I think they highlight how all of us struggle, day-in and day-out, to be productive within organisations: 70% of Folksonomy are not in Taxonomy : Jennifer Trant on Steve.museum project 86% of workers use an unsupported tool at work to boost productivity : Zen and the Art of Rogue Employee Management, Yankee Group, 2007 75% of workers in big (1001+ employees) companies rely on each other, not management, to solve problems ... 37% ignore company rules because they have a better way to get things done : The Informal Organisation, Katzenbach Partners, July 2007 SAP has nearly 9,000,000 people involved in its community helping each other develop solutions and solve problems around SAP products. In any one month, over 10 per cent actively participate by posting : Mike Prosceno, Vice President, Global Communications, SAP (Social Media Today Podcast, 18 April 2007) (full slide share

Google's CEO defines "Web 3.0"

He doesn't really because, as he correctly points out, "Web 2.0" is a marketing term and therefore "Web 3.0" is the same. He does, however, paint a picture of how computing may be in the next generation: Small, customisable and fast applications that are spread a la "viral marketing" Apps that run on any device (he mentions PC and mobile phones) The data held in the cloud (internet) Apps are "pieced together" This is, in essence, how I live my life online - I store my content up in the cloud and use whatever app I like. However, it's not quite there as I still have use a whole app to, say, process words (Google Docs) whereas I should be able to use a bit here (enter text) and bit there (spell check) and another bit to store it. The apps I use only run via the Web ... I suspect Eric Schmidt is implying that the browser will become the "operating system" of the future and everything will be browser-based on many types of devices.

3 computer acronyms explained so you can fight the geeks in your IT Department

Web 2.0 = SAAS = RIA* As a service to all my loyal non-geek users that have these things foisted upon them by loving and caring IT Departments here's my take on what they are! Web 2.0 ( Wikipedia ) This is the granddaddy of modern computer acronyms and as such has changed from it's initial meaning (geek related) to now encapsulate a wider and non-technology specific definition. I now define it as: An approach to collaboration/connectedness based upon a spirit of openness, sharing and participation incorporating people, culture and the Web generating collective intelligence* by utilising the power of the network edges**. It is loosely connected with technologies such as blogs, RSS, wiki's and tagging. * Collective intelligence - the true power of crowds, community or ya mates ** Network edges - the power has always been at the end of the network (those that actually create/do the work) and this approach shifts the 'control' from the centre out. Example - letti

Microformats - is this the semantic web coming out of the closet?

Google Maps now uses microformats (specfically hCard ). "What the hell are you talking about Mike?" ... I'm talking about the next fing to make you all go, "Ooooh, clever!" The Web today ... it's just a bunch of pages that you, I and the guy behind you can read. If it's a particularly modern site then you might be able to write to it as well (leave a comment on this blog, upload your pictures you get the deal). And that's it. Nothing more, nothing less - read and maybe write . The semantic web takes it the next step . It not only lets you, I and the girl by you read stuff but the semantic web will be in a format that, da da daaaa, computers can read ! Yep, all those SciFi movies are gonna come true. In essence - not only will you be able to read a web page that contains an address and know it's an address but so will your browser (currently it's just letters and words, could be a recipe for soufflé). Once browsers* and other software unde