Touch – a basic need?
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 10:56a Stu Downes As far as our senses go we take them for granted in everyday life. Touch is something that tells us an amazing amount of information – and generally we take it for granted when we consider heat, texture, shape and relating those to “simple tasks”.
I’ve had a tablet for a number of yeas and have found it great for presentations/ webcasts / diagrams / mind mapping / note taking. Recently I upgrading a tablet (x61) to Windows 7. I have been mightily impressed with the improv [read] Keywords: iphone
microsoft
mobile
office
security
6
Strategy as a motivator
Tue, Jul 14th 2009 3:55p Stu Downes Recently Steve and I have been working on some really interesting work which we’ve had to socialise. What has been really interesting is the responses it has provoked within the wider organisation, and more importantly within the elements of the organisation which would be most impacted. I spoke on web meeting today to one group for whom this would cause change, in my typical interactive mode the tablet pen was out and pen functionality in PowerPoint got overused. New blank s [read] Keywords:
5
Sync or Surf
Sun, May 17th 2009 4:48p Stu Downes I’m looking forward to the day when every web application, both internet and intranet can be used offline. Its not a new request in that Lotus Notes performed this for what seems forever and recently new additions have started to emerge in the form of Google Gears and others.
So why do I ask or suggest we should drive in this direction? I have a simple thought triggered by a recent read (Capture IT, a future workplace for the multi-generational workplace), and I’ll paraphrase:
If [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
application
applications
archive
google
network
6
Influenza Pandemics
Thu, Apr 30th 2009 11:50a Stu Downes Well no doubt by now most organisations are running round ensuring that they are prepared should the present swine flu outbreak become pandemic. Lets hope not. From personal experience here are the things that people tend to not think about when planning:
If childcare facilities close parents won’t get to a normal place of work or be able to work normal hours.
More employees than you think may be called away from work to support statutory authorities due to their involvement in [read] Keywords: desktop
5
A blogger with 2 voices
Fri, Apr 24th 2009 3:50p Stu Downes I now have 2 voices. We have a new internal platform which allows me to blog and use live writer. So when access to C3 is rolled out to all CSC’ers you can go check it out.
The power of blog authoring tools
We’ve had other tools internally where I could have “blogged” through a web interface. I found I couldn’t sustain any input because I love the simple type and click option in live writer (the ability to type and write at times when I may not have access to the web [read] Keywords: collaboration
blogger
blogging
interface
6
Personal productivity – a refresher of my work styles
Fri, Apr 24th 2009 3:50p Stu Downes Personal productivity is an area that I constantly strive to improve on and for those long subscribed here you’ll know I frequently share working practices. Since I took a new role last autumn mine have had to change. I recently had some time off and this system really helped me get back on track. All my tasks are in Remember the Milk and most of the tasks get there through direct messages from twitter (heres how). My mantra for task management now is:
Get everything i [read] Keywords: collaboration
twitter
5
Hidden Gems – only found when you explore
Mon, Apr 20th 2009 6:54a Stu Downes Last Friday Charlie (@chuckstar76) and I caught up in a newly opened cafe at Astley Park. While there is nothing unusual in this, I’m a firm proponent of getting somewhere different and away from the office, what was great was we found a hidden Gem. Not the cafe as that was a bit overpriced, slow service and small portions. However, just round the corner to the cafe (the cafe is actually in the refurbished coach house of an old hall) is Astley Hall.
Its now owned by ou [read] Keywords: collaboration
application
google
office
twitter
5
ROI for collaboration
Mon, Apr 20th 2009 3:53a Stu Downes It was late Friday afternoon. I was looking forward to the weekend. I hadn’t responded to a voicemail from earlier in the day … then I got on the follow-up call, just a quick question. Well it turns out the account director for one of our customers could see huge potential for collaboration and will talk to the customer CFO. Excellent news as always – I love people who bring leads rather than having to create them. The real work here though is that the CFO req [read] Keywords: collaboration
enterprise
3
Several views of the future – the user interface is changing!
Thu, Apr 16th 2009 4:47p Stu Downes Developing a 6th Sense – Link
This video shows a vision of how technology becomes a 6th sense for people in their everyday lives, really interesting to see how this shapes from research process into real technology in the coming years:
Future of Sticky Notes – Link
This for me is a little weaker than 6th sense, however I can see it being really useful for certain use cases and people, the example of people who don’t want to use computers is good. Other examples I can thi [read] Keywords: collaboration
document
notes
application
enterprise
interface
laptop
microsoft
mobile
4
The Bottom Line : Mobile Working
Mon, Feb 9th 2009 5:53p Stu Downes On Saturday BBC Radio 4’s business discussion programme, The Bottom Line, covered the topic of Mobile Working. Listen again here, or subscribe to their podcast. Worth listening to, the main discussion is in the first 10 minutes.
It was an excellent discussion with important points raised around meeting people in person, eye contact, the power of serendipitous conversations in the office, being able to visually assess products (and how that can’t be done remotely).
The discussion [read] Keywords: collaboration
mobile
office
podcast
7
Making PowerPoint operate on 2 or more monitors
Fri, Feb 6th 2009 2:59a Stu Downes For those of us who regularly want to copy and paste information from numerous slide decks into a new deck relying on an open office tool has always been a requirement, and on many locked down corporate builds this isn’t possible (and to be fair what I’m suggesting here may not be possible on heavily locked down machines). A solution exists!! Firstly I have to thank George for sending me the link and thank the Please Make a Note Blog:
Create a new user on your machine
Locate t [read] Keywords: admin
collaboration
desktop
microsoft
office
twitter
vista
5
UK Highways Agency : I love their new traffic information online
Fri, Feb 6th 2009 2:02a Stu Downes Congrats to a government department! (didn’t think I’d say that). Their new service at http://www.traffic-england.co.uk is great, especially their Motorway traffic flow graphs where you can turn on or off various streams of information, here is the M6 close to me when I wrote this:
The only things that aren’t quite there are the interactive map isn’t working at the moment. I was also surprised that the agency hadn’t considered mobile users on smartphones. I fe [read] Keywords: collaboration
mobile
2
Meetings : Remaining Effective
Tue, Feb 3rd 2009 5:50p Stu Downes Like most of the folks reading this I’ll spend a good proportion of my day in remote meetings. Generally these are:
one to one
multi-way audio
multi-way web meeting (some with integrated audio)
Video calls (few)
But more importantly I’ll class those meetings as:
relevant to me for most of the meeting
relevant for some of the meeting
only relevant for a small portion of the meeting
irrelevant
Now hopefully you’ll have sent me an agenda before the meeting so I won’t even attend t [read] Keywords: collaboration
5
Reflection and Contemplation
Wed, Dec 24th 2008 6:52p Stu Downes As we draw to the end of 2008 a quick post to say thanks for reading! Its been a busy year at this end with challenges and changes at work, together with the challenge 2 young boys bring to the equation. Although both bring their own fun and have been immensely satisfying.
The blog is still here, still posting as much as possible, and about 220 of you subscribe via RSS, 3 via email and about 90 hits per day look at content generally from search engines. Most of the search engi [read] Keywords: collaboration
sametime
email
enterprise
google
twitter
pptPlex and 3D camera and Johnny Lee
Tue, Dec 23rd 2008 3:52a Stu Downes I was interested to see this video which I read about on the OfficeLabs blog, the video shows the use of a 3D camera to control and advance a PowerPoint presentation using hand gestures. The PowerPoint had been developed using the pptFlex plugin:
What was more interesting about this what all the way through I was thinking Johnny Lee. Then at the end “kapow” there it was he now holds a position with Microsoft Research in addition to his academic position.
Anyone got a spare Wii contr [read] Keywords: archive
microsoft
8
Seamless Teamwork
Tue, Dec 16th 2008 5:51p Stu Downes Seamless Teamwork
I’ve just finished Michael Sampson’s book "Seamless Teamwork > Using Microsoft SharePoint Technologies to Collaborate, Innovate, and Drive Business in New Ways"
The intended audience is not techies, its business users who need to use SharePoint within their organisation to aid projects, especially where the team are not co-located. Michael gave lots of great advice in terms of forming a team, understanding stakeholder requirements, developing deliverables [read] Keywords: collaboration
document
javascript
consulting
microsoft
sharepoint
wiki
3
New Role
Wed, Dec 10th 2008 7:51p Stu Downes Well those who follow my twitter stream knew this weeks ago (there is a sign of the times). I have a new role, still at CSC. See more on LinkedIn. I’m going to try and continue blogging here but due to the nature of the role its more likely to be general thoughts, tips and opinion rather than posts on my day to day working activities.
Technorati Tags: blogging [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
blogging
linkedin
twitter
4
Top Do not Disturb Sametime Tip
Wed, Dec 10th 2008 7:51p Stu Downes I’ve used this for a while but realised in conversations not many people do. How many times have you wanted to be on Sametime and broadcast a Do Not Disturb except to a select Group. Well you can in 7.5 or above. When logged in go to File-Preferences, select Privacy, enable the function, then find/add names to the list.
Technorati Tags: Sametime,DND [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
sametime
3
Being organised
Fri, Nov 7th 2008 7:51p Stu Downes I find it amazingly important for my stress levels to be able to stay on top of everything I need to do. Even if it means that the list of things I need to do (or delegate) is sometimes overwhelming. I’ve shared previously how I was working with OneNote and Notes for recording tasks while in meetings and then action them from the to-do list in Notes.
Well a new adventure started about a month ago. I’m afraid neither Notes or Outlook worked for me as task management tools. I like [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
lotus
notes
ajax
blackberry
desktop
email
firefox
gadget
google
interface
mobile
outlook
twitter
2
VoiceCon Day 2 - CISCO Keynote
Wed, Oct 15th 2008 8:52p Stu Downes Speaker - Joe Burton, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Unified Communications, Cisco Joe delivered a session which flowed as follows:
Focus on the world is flat, but now crowded, and increasingly the spotlight is on IT to deliver even if it is a non-standard application.
17% of CISCO workforce use Macs, CISCO IT doesn’t support or pay for Macs, consumerisation message.
End points for unified communications are increasing. End points may be anywhere. 2 key drivers are cheap m [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
application
development
unified communications
web 2.0
2
VoiceCon Day 2 - IBM Keynote
Wed, Oct 15th 2008 8:52p Stu Downes David Farrell, Vice President, IBM Software Europe
IBM presented a mixture of slides, demonstration and screen capture:
UC is not a cost saving, its a business value and need to exploit business processes
IBM aim to unify the experience. How do you find and expert, reach an expert, collaborate effectively
Demonstration of screen sharing from within a chat
Demonstration of CISCO Unity for voicemail in Sametime, Quickr plugin, communties plugin
(?Re-?)Announced that Sametime unified telephony a [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
javascript
quickr
sametime
microsoft
network
php
4
VoiceCon Day 2 - Shell Keynote
Wed, Oct 15th 2008 8:52p Stu Downes Johan Krebbers, Group IT Architect, Royal Dutch Shell
Johan gave an excellent overview of Shell’s strategy for their 108,000 employees in 130 countries. Their solution is a Microsoft Office Communication Server infrastructure with other software as shown in the slide below:
80% of teams are globalised, it is not uncommon for people to work anywhere at any time, it is not uncommon for Shell to have significant input in projects from partners and people beyond the enterprise boundary. Th [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
application
enterprise
interface
microsoft
office
php
server
unified communications
3
A Conference Experiment in Note Taking
Wed, Oct 15th 2008 8:52p Stu Downes Steve, Samantha and I have all been at VoiceCon. Its been a good event, the final day being tomorrow. During that time I’ve been experimenting with the best way of note taking and sharing information.
Option 1 : MindJet MindManager
Failed for me. With structured sessions its not the correct medium. Perhaps for taking notes during unstructured discussions it would be better (I’ll try that tomorrow).
It just didn’t let me take notes against slides and this really was where I [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
notes
taking notes
wiki
4
VoiceCon 2008 - Amsterdam
Tue, Oct 14th 2008 8:51p Stu Downes I’m lucky to be spending the bulk of this week at VoiceCon. Today was tutorials and a round of keynotes. The keynotes were from:
- Eelco Block (KPN)
- Gerhard Otterbach (Siemens)
- Eric Swift (Microsoft)
KPN’s Eelco Block was the platinum sponsor of the event and used the session to inform the audience of the KPN/Getronics offerings, positioning the services they offered and describing their Human 2.0 offering, reflecting the increased nature of remote working and more typical info [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
enterprise
linkedin
microsoft
mobile
profile
wiki
8
VoiceCon 08 Amsterdam - Microsoft OCS Announcement
Tue, Oct 14th 2008 8:51p Stu Downes Microsoft presented and demonstrated Office Communication Server release 2 today at VoiceCon, in tandem they hit the press. Eric Swift announced the new release and the key elements I noted were:
Audio conferencing capabilities from within OCS.
Ability to dial in from any telephone not just OCS attached devices
Communicator client support for video up to high definition quality
Delegation support for telephony (secretary / manager scenarios)
Attendant client allowing for switchboard style cont [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
linkedin
microsoft
office
profile
server
wiki
My tools on the road - what is in my backpack?
Tue, Sep 23rd 2008 2:53a Stu Downes A lot of my work doesn’t rely on a fixed location and as with many of us required me to maximise productivity when on the road. Here are the common things I carry around with me:
Technical bits
BlackBerry 8800, couldn’t be half as effective during travel without this - knocking emails, scheduling tasks and contacting people while waiting for trains, planes etc.
Standard wired headset and bluetooth headset for the Blackberry
X60 Tablet - I’m a real tablet fan as it gives me th [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
lotus
notes
sametime
blackberry
facebook
laptop
mobile
office
server
twitter
wiki
3
War Rooms or Regional Collaboration Centres?
Tue, Sep 23rd 2008 1:51a Stu Downes Jessica wrote earlier this month about some research and her personal experience which suggests that war rooms and reduced face-to-face activities will result in leaders closing war rooms for collaboration.
“We’re wrapping up a project where we’ve been working with a crack team charged with developing a handbook for leaders who have to work in this new way - across organization, culture, timezones - AND with peers. Command and control, obviously, doesn’t cut it in situati [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
Today’s workforce
Wed, Sep 10th 2008 9:01p Stu Downes The September edition of CSC World has some interesting work from colleagues in the areas of:
Behavioural adaptation within cross-cultural virtual teams (pdf)
Managing the multigenerational IT workforce (pdf)
Developing strategies for successful enterprise collaboration (pdf)
The cross-cultural virtual teams article was really interesting to me, I manage a team like that. The article was based on some research carried out by Danielle Anawati (CSC) and Annemieke Craig (Deakin University). Som [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
email
enterprise
2
The Real / Virtual Meeting Debate
Wed, Sep 10th 2008 9:01p Stu Downes Verizon recently estimated that:
“a face-to-face meeting is between five and 35 times more expensive than a virtual meeting”.
Graham responded that by commenting on limitations of virtual meetings:
“With all of these limitations I wonder whether the value of many virtual meetings is so low as to make them more expensive than face-to-face meetings.”
Graham also gave the example that:
“In one particular occasion we were working on a technical problem for over three [read] Keywords: collaboration
document
javascript
2
Worth a read
Sun, Sep 7th 2008 8:50p Stu Downes Stuart French recently commented on a post here. I’d recommend reading his blog if you are interested in reading articles on the blur between collaboration and knowledge management. Here it is.
Technorati Tags: Stuart French [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
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Maslow and Collaboration
Sat, Sep 6th 2008 2:55a Stu Downes Steve has reminded me that he posted here on Maslow with collaboration and I think it compliments my post well.
The point of this being that for example:
people won’t be interested in collaboration when they don’t have a stable PC
people won’t be interested in knowledge management when they are running out of email quota every day
people won’t be effective coaches when they are so overloaded with email that they don’t have time to think
people won’t be interested in sharing when [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
email
virus
2
Collaboration and Motivation
Fri, Sep 5th 2008 8:48p Stu Downes I must credit Phil for starting this train of thought in my head. He had some thoughts around Maslow and collaboration, for those in CSC and customers I’d recommend asking Phil to present his thoughts. But it immediately triggered a thought. Back in 1994 we had a superb lecturer in our final year at uni - a real motivational guy. He had to be! They stuck him in front of all the final year science and engineering undergraduates to give us a semester about management and project manage [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
email
twitter
2
Managing Teams - with collaboration as a core
Fri, Sep 5th 2008 8:48p Stu Downes For many years I’ve managed teams of one form or another. I’m no guru, I’m no expert, but I feel the methods that I use help maintain morale and minimize attrition - cue leavers and morale issues next week My first tasters were real people in a single location. Now its different we are scattered to the corners of the globe, the only physical contact for most involves aviation fuel. The only way to bridge the divide is to use the collaboration techniques and tools we are all fa [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
lotus
sametime
instant messaging
twitter
wiki
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Firefox and Plugins - making my research easier
Fri, Aug 22nd 2008 3:28p Stu Downes After many years I’ve finally started using one browser for 99.9% of my requirements. Yes it happens to be Firefox 3 but thats old news for any readers here, many of you use it, but interestingly NOT a majority here.
The real benefit to me and most other Firefox users is the extensions and plugins. Here are my favourites:
1. Feed subscription:
Firefox allows me to choose the tool I’ll use to subscribe to feeds by clicking on the RSS Icon to the right of the URL:
2. Evernote In [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
firefox
integration
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Tablet Tips : Using Zoom-it to annotate PowerPoint presentations
Wed, Aug 6th 2008 4:48p Stu Downes I regularly have to run powerpoint presentations through web meetings. And we all know the joy that brings. Steve pointed me to zoom-it many months ago. Today though I want to share how I use it with my lenovo tablet. Prior to the conference I run zoom-it and set the options to run annotation using the left arrow:
Note: when you stop presenting you may want to change this back or close zoom-it otherwise everytime you left arrow you realise that annotation has started an [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
microsoft
3
Are you a developer?
Sun, Aug 3rd 2008 4:48p Stu Downes Would you mind spending some time completing a survey for a friend. He is completing a PhD focusing on agile development and wants some developers to complete a survey. You don’t have to be using agile today, any developer is encouraged to complete the survey.
http://ou1211237011.agile-adoption.sgizmo.com
Technorati Tags: Agile [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
development
2
RSS Readers Versus Twitter
Tue, Jul 29th 2008 4:47p Stu Downes Several colleagues have been twittering about how they work with the information flow from RSS and Twitter. Doug states that he uses twitter and the power of the crowd to link to useful content. Charlie is struggling with RSS and Steve says RSS is a daily chore.
RSS Readers: My view
RSS readers offer me the only way I have of keeping up to date with blogs and announcements and I do find the information in the feeds useful. I don’t feel I can go as far as Doug and rely on [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
twitter
2
Collaborative Participation
Fri, Jul 18th 2008 5:23p Stu Downes I saw this request recently, I want "collaboration tools that work". It was one of those quotes that has been niggling at my brain since I read it. In fact I’d say it has really made me reflect on collaboration and the whole meaning behind the word and the technology that helps enable. So instantly given the "make it work" thought I moved into:
Was the technology right?
what solutions were implemented?
how are they used?
who uses them?
why do they use them?
what is [read] Keywords: collaboration
javascript
google
4
iPhone 3G and Blackberry 8800
Mon, Jul 14th 2008 4:44p Stu Downes I’m amazed by Mrs D’s New iPhone. So what does each do best in my opinion:
iPhone 3G
Blackberry 8800
Weaker enterprise integration
Strong enterprise integration
Amazing user interface
Average user interface
Weaker typing experience
Strong keyboard experience
Applications (see below)
Applications (see below)
Things I haven’t yet tried on the iPhone:
Using it as a speakerphone
Bluetooth
Seeing how it copes with phone calls during media playing
Application De [read] Keywords: collaboration
apple
application
applications
blackberry
enterprise
integration
interface
iphone
rim
Vote for Graham at oak-grove.typepad.com
Mon, Jul 7th 2008 3:31a Stu Downes Graham Chastney, a friend and colleague here at CSC, has been short-listed for the Computer Weekly IT Blog awards 2008 in the IT Lifestyle section. Hope you will all vote for him here.
Technorati Tags: Graham Chastney, Blog, Awards, Computer Weekly, Lifestyle [read] Keywords: collaboration
2
In 2020….
Mon, Jul 7th 2008 3:11a Stu Downes David Pollard had an excellent article on his blog recently discussing Knowledge Management in 2020, more importantly the article focuses on the working practices of a number of employees within a fictitious organisation. I’ll focus on one short extract:
"Omni has no formal ‘website’ — just its collection of blogs and its interactive directory of people with their contact information. Since they started these and abandoned the traditional website, readership of thei [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
blogging
microsoft
3
Cultural change and the tools to support it
Wed, Jul 2nd 2008 11:25a Stu Downes Most organisations are looking to see how they can change the way they work:
Patrick Slesinger, director and CIO of Wallem, is working to transition Wallem from being a top-down, command and control directed business to one where transparency unlocks the value of information in Wallem’s systems and delivers the highest levels of customer value.
Via Scott Niessen at Attensa
This is really interesting for me. We will all probably see these changes, and in fact probably are seeing thes [read] Keywords: collaboration
application
enterprise
network
php
4
The Application Clouds Gather
Wed, Jul 2nd 2008 7:08a Stu Downes Interesting review on Google Enterprise blog of Taylor Woodrow’s migration to Google Apps for 1,800 users:
"Taylor Woodrow’s needs are not unique to its particular business. Rob could be talking about the needs of tens of thousands of other companies when he notes that “Our employees can now get in touch with their colleagues easily from whatever location they are working at. The mobility coupled with the speed of roll-out, the lack of requirement for a physical infrastructure [read] Keywords: collaboration
notes
application
development
enterprise
google
mobile
2
A week enjoying reading
Mon, Jun 30th 2008 9:04a Stu Downes Last week I was on holiday. For the first time I decided that I’d take the laptop the ground-rule being that I would avoid email and IM - thus focusing on reading the flow from feeds and twitter. In the week prior I had subscribed to absolutely every feed where I had been linked to from other articles. Well it was great and I learned so much:
How to make your own magnetic whiteboard with paint alone … oh and then you can make it interactive if you wish with one of these
H [read] Keywords: collaboration
lotus
policies
email
laptop
office
skype
twitter
vista
2
The Generation Game
Tue, Jun 24th 2008 10:05a Stu Downes I’ve been reading with interest some recent stirring of the debate around the digital natives starting to enter the enterprise.
On one side, Jason Hiner’s post from TechRepublic:
"What’s going to change
Many users will bring their own equipment (primarily laptops and smartphones)
Users will often select their own apps and tools
More workers will be mobile and will telecommute at least part-time
IT won’t have as much centralized control of resources (unless you’r [read] Keywords: collaboration
policies
application
consulting
enterprise
mobile
security
twitter
virtualization
web 2.0
wiki
2
3 Years on - a reflection
Fri, Jun 20th 2008 3:25p Stu Downes Well a few folks have been talking about wordle.net, a neat little java applet which creates a tag cloud from text you paste into it. Great I though I wonder what would happen if I compared my first blog posts with my recent posts. So here is today what is on my home page today (Collaborative Product Manager):
And here is from when I started this blog (Lotus Collaborative Technical Lead):
The other thing I noticed is that on Monday 23rd this blog is 3 years old. Now while I [read] Keywords: collaboration
lotus
java
tag cloud
2
When video is as common as voice…
Tue, Jun 17th 2008 4:24p Stu Downes Working in a team developing collaborative solutions you won’t be surprised that we spend an awful lot of time “eating our dog food” over the last 2 years. This has resulted in some interesting observations:
My team members in different continents who I have never been able to meet really appreciate the basic ability to see me and relate to me.
Putting on a headset and answering a video call isn’t as natural as answering the telephone for the first few weeks.
You are mo [read] Keywords: collaboration
mobile
network
2
Inside Out - who owns collaboration?
Thu, Jun 12th 2008 4:46p Stu Downes I recently came across Richard’s blog Inside Out. Its one of the problems I find in today’s information rich internet, keeping up to date with the best sources of information [that may be a subject for a future post]. Richard discusses social software and collaboration whilst also sharing his experience within BT. Some of his interesting recent posts include:
Who owns collaboration?
“if it isn’t clear who owns the business requirements for collaboration, the danger is even [read] Keywords: collaboration
enterprise
social software
3
Web 2.0 in the CIA
Wed, Jun 11th 2008 7:11a Stu Downes Excellent video interview from 2 gentlemen who were key in implementing web 2.0 technologies in the CIA notably an application called Intellipedia:
Via Collaboration Loop
Technorati Tags: web2.0, CIA, Blogs, Wiki, Intellipedia [read] Keywords: collaboration
application
web 2.0
web2.0
wiki
5
Daily Bookmarked Links
Wed, Jun 11th 2008 3:10a Stu Downes Useful articles I’ve read today.
Video On-Demand : End User SharePoint
Subscribe to End User SharePoint for the latest Tips and Tricks using MOSS 2007. No geekspeak, just out of the box SharePoint for beginners. Updated daily with videocasts and blog posts, this is an extension of the End User SharePoint training workshops series hosted by End User SharePoint evangelist, Mark Miller.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Tags: sharepoint, training
View all my bookmarks on Ma.gn [read] Keywords: collaboration
sharepoint
3
Deleted post
Tue, Jun 10th 2008 4:31a Stu Downes The observant reader will notice that in the feed you’ll see a post from a social bookmarking site (I’m trying mag.nolia.com). Sadly it formatted terrible on the blog web site so I’ve deleted it. I’ll let you know how my experiment with social bookmarking goes. I did have a delicious account but it had been idle for a while. I’m hoping some of the features I like in magnolia make the experience a long-term one. Watch this space.
Technorati Tags: magnolia, socia [read] Keywords: collaboration
social bookmarking
3
Daily Bookmarked Links
Tue, Jun 10th 2008 3:11a Stu Downes Useful articles I’ve read today.
The (Virtual) Global Office
SHort businessweek article on virtual worlds. Interesting to see some of the names on the list, Unilever was a surprise to me.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Tags: virtual worlds, second life, qwaq, collaboration
BT Web 2.0 adoption case study « Inside out
“While some companies begin the impossible task of shutting out social media tools, at BT we have just completed a web ‘liberalisation’ project t [read] Keywords: collaboration
enterprise
facebook
office
web 2.0
3
IM Reduces Interruptions?
Mon, Jun 9th 2008 4:48a Stu Downes Stowe has an interesting article which references some work from science daily which claims that IM reduces interruptions. Well its a scientific survey and as a scientist by trade of course I believe all peer reviewed articles
To me the work just doesn’t ring true. IM is now my biggest disrupter. At CSC (ps check out the new brand) we’ve had IM for years now. But interestingly I initially saw a decrease in disruption … BUT … I now feel that IM is a disruption to me. [read] Keywords: collaboration
email
integration
twitter
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Meeting Note Taking : Which tools to I use … which tools should I Use?
Fri, Jun 6th 2008 5:31p Stu Downes Am I alone in this dilemma of experimentation? Lets take a common work pattern for a tablet user. How should I best use the device to take notes in meetings or conference sessions?
InkSeine?
InkSeine I don’t find to be a great meeting tool note taker. Its a great research tool as I mentioned in my last blog post. The reason I don’t like InkSeine for meeting notes (and others may disagree) is that it is a notebook, its got no scroll and hence once you’ve filled the screen [read] Keywords: collaboration
lotus
notes
6
InkSeine
Fri, Jun 6th 2008 5:06p Stu Downes Thanks to a meeting about a month ago with Steve I’ve been experimenting with InkSeine, a journal tool for tablet users to use and combine journal with research. The video from MS gives a great overview.
I am finding this tool amazingly powerful as a research tool. I think it will work better with multiple monitors which all operate with touch technology. The UI looks very similar to some of the images we’ve seen released for windows 7. My only concern is sharing research inf [read] Keywords: collaboration
microsoft
3
May 2008 Web 2.0 Survey
Thu, May 29th 2008 4:27a Stu Downes eWeek publised a survey recently (PDF available here) from IT professionals around web 2.0 in the enterprise.
Blogs and wikis remain the most commont technologies but RSS (not clear what they mean by RSS) is a close third:
It made some interesting reading:
“According to Forrester …. by 2013 investment in customer facing web 2.0 technology will outstrip spending on internal collaboration technology”. You can see this from the results of the survey relating to audience:
[read] Keywords: collaboration
applications
enterprise
php
web 2.0
2
New English Law and Blogging
Tue, May 27th 2008 5:22p Stu Downes I regularly read Mrs D’s magazine from the Chartered Institute of Marketers. Its really interesting the crossover between collaboration and the technologies they discuss there. Anyhow, without wibbling on the “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007” came into force here on May 28th. The review of the legislation by Anna Montes of Osborne Clark suggested that it would now be illegal in England to:
Positively review your own products on a peer review web sit [read] Keywords: agent
collaboration
blogging
email
wiki
6
Enterprise RSS Day of action
Wed, Apr 23rd 2008 4:03a Stu Downes Well the day has come that James has worked so hard towards - the enterprise rss day of action
Will you be talking to anyone about RSS today? For those CSCer’s reading this my small contribution is a short webcast with my thoughts …. see my profile page in the wiki. I’ll post it here soon (just didn’t have time to upload it to a videocast site last night).
Technorati Tags: Enterprise RSS, RSS [read] Keywords: collaboration
enterprise
profile
wiki
Why use RSS in the enterprise?
Mon, Apr 7th 2008 3:43p Stu Downes Scott responded to my recent post on enterprise RSS with a good comparison of my writing compared to that of a more business focused writer. My post was really a rallying call for IT organisations to sing the benefits. Scott has done a good job of reminding me of the main focus - information. Now I’d like to expand on the thoughts about information made in his post and Craig’s post.
Information, and more importantly knowledge, and the application of that information and knowledge [read] Keywords: collaboration
, application
, enterprise
, office
, php
4
Screen real estate - and sidebars!
Mon, Apr 7th 2008 3:10p Stu Downes How subtle design changes can impact the success of a new product came to me graphically this week with Notes 8. One thing that has concerned me is the screen real estate requirements for the client, especially as I’m an “X” tablet user, as in X’tra small at 1024×768 pixels when just using the tablet.
In Notes 8 with the sidebar opened using a release 7 mail template, a scenario many people will face during an enterprise upgrade (at least for a period of time) the e [read] Keywords: collaboration
, ibm
, lotus
, notes
, template
, email
, enterprise
, mobile
, server
3
Enterprise RSS Day : Why Don’t you use Enterprise RSS?
Tue, Apr 1st 2008 4:40p Stu Downes So I’m doing my best to promote the enterprise RSS day but one thing niggles me. I haven’t seen people beating my door down to architect enterprise RSS capability over the last 12 months. Why could that be? I have a few theories:
People don’t get it?
I do regularly talk to IT folks from both within CSC and our customers and of those folks you find a huge dipole of opinion in terms of understanding what RSS is and its uses. From folks who say “R S what”, to folks [read] Keywords: collaboration
, application
, email
, enterprise
, integration
, profile
7
Group Persistent Chat is Coming
Tue, Mar 25th 2008 5:55p Stu Downes OK so its been around for years in various products but finally we are seeing it emerge into the enterprise software landscape through Sametime Advanced and I’m sure something is coming along soon following Microsoft’s purchase of Parlano.
On the IBM front Adam can tell you more about this in much better detail than I (link). From my perspective the importance of the IBM announcement is that it is linked with the concept of persistent chat for communities. This is the most powerfu [read] Keywords: collaboration
, ibm
, sametime
, community
, enterprise
, microsoft
, twitter
4
Enterprise RSS Day
Tue, Mar 25th 2008 4:29p Stu Downes James is organising an enterprise RSS day of action (April 24th). To learn more visit the event wiki.
Steve picked out the best description of the day:
“The purpose of the Enterprise RSS Day of Action on the Thursday 24th April is to help raise awareness for the potential for Enterprise RSS. This wiki will provide Enterprise RSS champions with materials and information they can use to run their own awareness campaigns inside their own organisations.”
Any of the readers who are half [read] Keywords: collaboration
, enterprise
, wiki
5
A plea to vendors - images
Tue, Mar 25th 2008 4:22p Stu Downes Could all vendors have a URL for bloggers (www.mycompany.com/forblogggers) where we can find images and other information which we can freely reproduce data and images without fear of breaking copyright (especially for images). Am I the only person who finds it difficult at times to publish posts with suitable images?
Technorati tags: Images, Bloggers, Vendors [read] Keywords: collaboration
3
Video Conferencing - its changed you know
Tue, Mar 25th 2008 4:19p Stu Downes Although I can’t publish the images here this series of images give an excellent representation of business, home and alternative uses of video in communications and meetings. (hat tip Chase)
Technorati tags: Video, Conferencing, Dining, At Home, Video Conferencing [read] Keywords: collaboration
3
Reflecting on Video Conferencing
Fri, Mar 21st 2008 8:15a Stu Downes Steve commented recently on desktop video conferencing and whether it is ready for prime time. I regularly talk to enterprise customers about video conferencing. One of the main issues I come across is everyone, almost without fail, has unused video conferencing equipment in the corner of a meeting room somewhere in their offices. These folks embraced video conferencing but soon fell out of love.
I now try to talk to these same people about the benefits of modern day desktop video solut [read] Keywords: collaboration
, application
, desktop
, enterprise
CSC and IDC Collaboration Webcast
Tue, Feb 26th 2008 4:54a Stu Downes “What you need to know to make collaboration succeed in your business” with IDC’s Mark Levitt, Program VP for Collaborative Computing and the Enterprise, and my manager Christine Silva, Director, CSC Collaborative Market Solutions.
Register here http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=103497&s=1&k=F6FD6AD509F6DBCEC2CCF2D6C679AB48
Thursday 28th February
8:30am PST / 11:30am EST / 4:30pm GMT
Technorati Tags: CSC, IDC, Collaboration, Webcast [read] Keywords: collaboration
, enterprise
Networking woes resolved
Tue, Feb 12th 2008 4:36p Stu Downes I had been having some serious issues with my wireless networking at home. Despite all my best efforts I couldn’t resolve the download and upload speed issues. I was seeing modem speeds! This was after I had moved my wireless router downstairs away from the bedrooms … kids etc. I didn’t want all those wifi signals quite as strong up here. Well Mrs D was really impressed by this degradation in performance, so much so that budget approval was given to purchase some Netgear XE [read] Keywords: collaboration
, network
, networking
, password
, wifi
, wireless
3
RSS In Notes Debate
Tue, Feb 12th 2008 4:49a Stu Downes Mary Beth Raven has posted information about moving RSS reading capabilities into the mail file in Notes (article). There is a great debate in the comment thread. My views as I have commented there are:
“Now I am of 2 minds here. To answer the specific question I prefer #2 [the image I have pasted in this post]. I’d also hope that the data can be locally cached and not required to be stored in the mail servers, however the subscriptions I would like to replicate round. In terms of [read] Keywords: collaboration
, lotus
, notes
, template
, email
3
Michael Sampson on SharePoint 2007
Tue, Feb 12th 2008 4:09a Stu Downes Michael has published a paper on SharePoint 2007, a summary can be downloaded free, must purchase the full report. I’d also be interested in papers from Michael on competitors products.
Technorati Tags: Michael Sampson, SharePoint, 7 Pillars, WhitePaper [read] Keywords: collaboration
, sharepoint
3
Virtual Teams, few posts, and a Collaborative Enterprise Solution
Wed, Feb 6th 2008 4:15p Stu Downes Well you haven’t seen many posts here for which I apologise. The reason is we have all been heads down finalising and releasing CSC Collaborative Enterprise solution. OK so that URL doesn’t show much but for CSC customers, CSCers, well anyone interested to be fair please contact me [sdownes @ csc.com] and we can take you through the portfolio.
Since release I’ve been thinking more about virtual teams, partly through customer interest, and partly because my team is growing an [read] Keywords: collaboration
, blogging
, enterprise
5
Notes Compacting
Mon, Jan 21st 2008 4:31a Stu Downes I’ve been asked a number of times by people who use Notes about databases with not too many documents in them yet lots of space consumed. This is particularly important when trying to free up space with low quotas imposed. The problem comes down to the fact that with local replicas the indexes created to allow notes to open views and folders quickly may not get discarded if they are unused. Hence if you have lots of folders your mail file size may grow to a point where documents only fo [read] Keywords: collaboration
, lotus
, notes
, notes client
5
More thoughts on Twitter / Microblogging
Wed, Jan 16th 2008 4:06a Stu Downes While fitting some doors to a bookshelf last night my mind wandered to twitter, don’t ask he how! The thought was that we are using twitter with our colleagues to replace the general verbal announcements we’d all have when co-located. “Just nipping for lunch”, “Going for a coffee, anyone else” - the sentences not aimed at anyone in particular but the people you sit near. Now I still do that but the people I sit near when in the office aren’t from my t [read] Keywords: collaboration
, office
, twitter
3
Microblogging
Tue, Jan 15th 2008 9:36a Stu Downes Microblogging using twitter has become part of my daily life quicker and more effectively than Instant Messaging did. The key benefits to me are:
The social nature of following tweets
Its much quicker than blogging and I can do it from all my devices without issue
The clients are good, I recently moved 100% to twhirl
No comment spam to manage
I can integrate my tweets with my facebook status
You can understand the following much better than you can with IM status messages:
Location
Mood
Histo [read] Keywords: collaboration
, blogging
, enterprise
, facebook
, instant messaging
, twitter
2
Interesting Month …
Sat, Jan 12th 2008 5:19p Stu Downes In the collaborative world January is usually an interesting month. Lotusphere is guaranteed to produce interesting announcements. Microsoft normally make an announcement around this time of year also so it’ll be interesting to see what that is (hope it isn’t simply a migration tool). We will have to wait and see. Yet again I’ve failed to get to Lotusphere, this time I have a collaborative excuse. We’ve been working hard on packaging a suite of collaborative solution [read] Keywords: collaboration
, lotusphere
, microsoft
2
Digital Migrants
Sat, Jan 12th 2008 12:35p Stu Downes I’m beginning to wonder whether at some point soon we’ll start to see digital migration within the UK and the wider world. As more and more content is streamed over the Internet the speed of connection will be key. In my personal circumstance you can see that compared to friends I have one of the slowest speeds (you’ll guess that Darren and I live within a mile of each other).
My results do make me question whether in a few years time my household, particularly the kids, wi [read] Keywords: collaboration
2
This feature of FeedDemon made me smile
Thu, Jan 10th 2008 5:54a Stu Downes This message greeted me after importing my feeds from GoogleReader :-) Its actually quite useful but I’d probably scan my “most important” feeds before utilising this feature.
Technorati Tags: FeedDemon, Panic Button [read] Keywords: collaboration
4
Newsgator clients are now free
Thu, Jan 10th 2008 3:08a Stu Downes Newsgator yesterday announced that their clients can now be downloaded and used without fee. Some more thoughts from Mike Gotta who thinks IBM should acquire Newsgator and discusses whether Microsoft may move for them. Frankly I’m surprised both IBM and Microsoft still have no capability in the Enterprise RSS space beyond some basic client integration.
My work renders the incumbent feed readers in IE7, Outlook 2007 and Notes 8 unusable - they simply do not give a rich enough experience. [read] Keywords: collaboration
, ibm
, notes
, enterprise
, google
, integration
, microsoft
, outlook
2
Joining Conference Calls and other automated solutions with a BlackBerry
Wed, Jan 9th 2008 4:36p Stu Downes I had moaned to Steve about the fact that joining conference calls was a pain as unlike his Treo there was no automated way of storing the post connection numbers. Well apparently a way does exist. Best described here.
“When dialing a phone number that contains a pause, the handheld will pause for two seconds before dialing the remaining numbers. When dialing a phone number that contains a wait, the handheld displays a Dial Extension screen prompting you to either dial the remaining numb [read] Keywords: collaboration
, blackberry
2
Steve’s Podcast Listening
Sat, Dec 15th 2007 9:41a Stu Downes My friend and colleague Steve Richards is sharing his listening to as an rss feed here. Well worth a look, well listen really! Thanks Steve.
Technorati Tags: steve richards, podcasts [read] Keywords: collaboration
, podcast
2
Forrester on Collaboration Adoption in 2008
Sat, Dec 15th 2007 9:30a Stu Downes Interesting quotes from CIO.com coverage:
“About half of IT decision makers at companies with 1,000 employees or more expect to implement a formal collaboration technology strategy in 2008″
“Of 1,017 IT decision makers in North America and Europe surveyed, 15 percent identified implementing a collaboration strategy as a “critical priority” and 34 percent deemed it a “priority.” A third, 33 percent, said collaboration “was not a priority” whil [read] Keywords: collaboration
, ibm
, enterprise
, google
, microsoft
, social software
5
A few more feeds
Mon, Dec 10th 2007 2:11p Stu Downes I’ve added a two new feeds:
My twitters (status updates, what I’m doing and microposts from twitter)
My shared items (best reads from other blogs)
They complement the unchanged feeds for:
Full articles
Comments [the wordpress template I’m using also has feeds for comments in each article]
I’m also trying to make some of the text colours on the website more pleasing to the eye … but its a big CSS file so please be patient!
Technorati tags: feeds [read] Keywords: collaboration
, template
, css
, twitter
2
Unconsciously Collaborative
Sun, Dec 9th 2007 3:28p Stu Downes When attending a recent non-work training course a trainer used a great description of a path of learning from unconsciously incompetent, to consciously incompetent, to consciously competent and finally achieving unconscious competence. I loved the image this journey impressed on me and wondered about how this was true for collaboration.
This isn’t a simple journey for any of us as there are many inputs which influence our journey to unconscious collaboration. I think the key [read] Keywords: collaboration
8
SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool
Thu, Dec 6th 2007 1:49a Stu Downes Arrived today via Microsoft Connections. Here was the email:
We are delighted to announce the immediate availability of the SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool.
The SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool is a set of free models of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) which allow you to explore the necessary infrastructure based on usage requirements. This tool uses the System Center Capacity Planner 2007 (SCCP) as an engine to provide for data [read] Keywords: collaboration
, connect
, connections
, email
, microsoft
, office
, server
, sharepoint
Productive Action Recording : OneNote and Lotus Notes
Wed, Dec 5th 2007 2:55p Stu Downes As many regular readers will be aware I’m now a tablet PC junkie. My main meeting note tool is now OneNote. In most meetings there will be actions, either for me personally or my team. Here is how I record my meeting notes and actions.
Take copious notes
I try to take a lot of notes during a meeting. I always use 2 screens, one for slides / web meeting spaces etc. and the second is my tablet in writing mode. I always create new notes in the unfiled notes area [read] Keywords: collaboration
, lotus
, notes
, outlook
5
Sametime Connect 8 Client
Tue, Dec 4th 2007 11:17p Stu Downes A quick post here just to say that the Sametime 8 Client which I’ve been using for a few days now is much quicker than the 7.5.1 client. The improved screen capture / annotation tool is also nice to see [make note to test on extended monitors], personally I use SnagIT but for most this functionality will be very useful.
Technorati Tags: Sametime, 8, Connect [read] Keywords: collaboration
, connect
, sametime
2
Meetings, productive meetings, tools and techniques
Tue, Dec 4th 2007 2:49p Stu Downes Following on from my last post I’d like to spend some time discussing meetings. Meetings for me make up a high proportion of my working day.
My Meetings
They are a combination of:
meetings with people I’m working with on collaborative solutions
team meetings or 1-to-1 meetings with team members
meetings informing colleagues in other teams about what we are doing
meetings with colleagues about new business or business expansion
meetings with customers
In terms of the ty [read] Keywords: collaboration
, notes
2
Which tools do I use most to collaborate?
Sun, Dec 2nd 2007 3:03p Stu Downes Its the time of year to reflect so I hope to find time to write several posts which show how I collaborate. I hope this will help others and also hope to read how you work also. I thought I’d start with a table showing the tools I use in the order I think I use them. In this post I have concentrated on the top 5 technologies but will definitely post information about how I collaborate within meetings in more detail:
Position
Collaboration Tool
My Views on that tool
1 [read] Keywords: collaboration
, document
, community
, email
, enterprise
, instant message
, instant messaging
, wiki
