Posts

Showing posts from August, 2009

The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

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

10 Tips For Hosting On-line Discussions

An excellent set of tips gleaned from a number of clients that are dipping their toes into the "online/real-time discussions" (think whole company same time IM and/or blogging). Ensure someone guides the group towards its purpose. What is the outcome we want to achieve? Help create a sense of community at the beginning - introduce fellow members, introduce the topic (include some of your thoughts) and encourage people to share their thoughts Acknowledge contributions and support discussions with further questions (eg how to achieve this etc) Stimulate/throw open discussions. Manage what's 'lost in translation': its much easier for things to be misinterpreted on-line - assume goodwill/positive intent in the first instance to avoid triggering conflicts check out assumptions being made in the discussion Inclusion – appeal to both common ground and diversity e.g. "has anyone had any experiences/thoughts that have been similar/different?" 'Moderating'

Is Your Intranet Full Of Broken Lego?

Here's one of the most awesome analogies I've heard for a while about "semantic web" ( huh? ) from an old TED Talk given by Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning : XML is like the nubs* on top of Lego bricks that help you join it all together And the nubs of a Lego brick is great example as they are standard in size, everyone knows how to use them and they are ubiquitous. Taking that analogy a little further, I think that when we want to use information from a website or, more importantly to those within the walls of an organisation, the Intranet we experience: PDF/Flash/Silverlight - completely created toy, no Lego involved, it is what it is and there's not much anyone can do about it Bad HTML - a toy made out of specific/customised Lego bricks that aren't much good for anything except that one toy HTML - A box of Lego with instructions for 3 or 4 toys but you'll need a lot of skills to build your own creation XML - basic building blocks that can be pu

Yes, I Am Going - NZ Open Govt Data Barcamp and Hackfest

I'm going are you? FREE: Saturday 29th August: Barcamp - registration 9:15am+ / sessions 10am-5pm National Library of New Zealand (70 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, 6011, Wellington - map FREE: Sunday 30th August: Hackfest - registration 10am+ / into 10:30am-4pm Southern Cross Bar (35-39 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro, 6011, Wellington - map Sign up at http://open.org.nz/barcamp Get your own website badge at http://groups.google.co.nz/group/nzopengovtbarcamp/web/yes-i-am-going---code-to-add-to-your-website