Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
THE major force on organisations to change their technology
Technology changes have a dramatic affect on people and therefore groups of people be they communes, communities of corporations.
Within the workplace the change from the "work place" IT environment to the "consumer" IT environment is one akin to boiling water and the frog. Not heard that analogy, here it is from Wikipedia:
The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out.
I am trying to get organisations and particularly IT Departments to see the change in "water temperature".
Forrester Research have just released a report reaching the same conclusions:
"Technology populism is driven by people's needs to interact," says Forrester analyst Matthew Brown. "Today's organisations are increasingly dominated by Generation Xers and Millennials, a workforce that is adept at provisioning its own technology and one that is willing to shun traditional methods of communication. For many employees, the telephone and email are being replaced by text messaging, instant messaging and mobile devices, such as iPhones and BlackBerrys, and social computing tools like Facebook and Wikipedia."
Ok, so the IT Department may have to allow a few more websites through but that's it, surely ... think again:
According to Brown, "One leading technology vendor told Forrester that one of its clients required Sony PlayStation support because many of its younger employees used PlayStations instead of PCs."
The IT Department is slowly moving away from the one stop shop for your IT requirements - you are becoming your own technical support. People want choice, to work in the way they feel more comfortable and to carry on their normal on-line lives without having to conform to organisational boundaries.
Not everyone. Some just want what they're given and get on with it. When that number become the minority (as it surely will) what then for IT Support Desks?
All of this change away from command-and-control is not new of course - compare how you currently work and this video of a typical 1950's office worker:
I think you'll agree that we've been on this road to a more natural workplace for quite some time now!
Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
This posting inspired by the latest Gerry McGovern newsletter - read it for his views We vote. As an example, that's the power of Google search - it uses the concept that web pages with the highest 'vote' get put at the top of page 1. The 'vote' is a weighted one using the number of pages that reference it multiplied by a lot of clever algorithmic type activity - highly technical insight from Google themselves . In essence you voted me top of the "mike riversdale" Google list by linking to me. However, voting is spreading through the web in many more ways than simply linking to pages and I believe the driver is that people are starting to use the tools to group themselves into communities. In the good ol' days before " Web 2.0" (say before mid-2005) there were many informal methods of finding the 'best* content' - we would send emails to our mates pointing out cool sites, read about it from dedicated "Best of the Web ..."
MiramarMike.co.nz is very nearly wired up with equipment and needs one last thing - the laptop. And for those that have given advice, thanks and please bear with me just a little longer :-) Everyone tells me to get an Apple MacBook Pro but it's a darned expensive beastie. Having said that I am willing to pay a little premium for the ease of use over and above Windows Vista and Ubuntu. Also I have a mate currently traveling the US who's willing to pick up a laptop over there but I'm sure how much cheaper they actually are. And so, three questions I'd love some help with: Should I go for an Apple MacBook Pro no matter what (and why?) Should I get my mate to buy the laptop (any make) in the US? If not buy in US where in NZ/Wellington would you recommend? What do you think - leave a comment My calcs. You can edit this spreadsheet with more options at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pmxKow-YfvkpQWjvBfAcpVw
I have been privileged to help create a number of successful barcamps ( Wikipedia ) alongside an ever growing number of committee members here in Wellington over the past few years both public and internally at client sites. I've also attended others around the country which have been mostly awesome but sometimes missing a certain "something". During this time I've managed to crystalise what I believe helps create and facilitate (NOT "run) a successful barcamp - here it is, by all means share it around. Oh, one more thing - barcamps are traditionally held within the realm of the geeks but there's NOTHING about a barcamp that limits it to such an industry and, much like you can hold a traditional conference on any subject under the sun, so you can with a barcamp. What do you need for a barcamp? I've always said you only need the following to get have a barcamp A venue A date A logo People On reflection I should also add, "a need" - dur. The date
It sucks out there in Wellington and around the country at the moment as the Government, tech, and media industries cull roles in wide ranging and sweeping actions. No-one except you know how this feels, and only those close to you can understand the impact, but know this, you will survive. 1: Understand, YOU are not redundant. Your role is being made redundant, you are not. For whatever reason the role you've been filling is deemed no longer viable within the organisation you used to work within. You are not redundant, your role is. This is isn't about you, don't take it personally, this is not a reflection of you. Of course the impact on your life and those you hold close is very personal, but the reason it has happened is not about you. (as a side note, you are not merely your role anyway, you are way more than whatever work thing you were doing) 2: Do not panic! If you can, take time to re-evaluate what you do before shotgunning your CV out to every recruitment agency
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