Go and see this picture which is one of the result of the study

http://www.backbonemedia.com/blogsurvey/9-corporate-blogging-cult-divide-diagram.htm

you can also download the pdf full study from

Backbone Media, Inc at http://www.backbonemedia.com.

Worth reading it

here is a copy for my own convinience

I like it!

Rawn Shah is developerWorks' Community Editor focusing on how to develop greater interaction between IBM DeveloperWorks members through the many community services they have such as blogs, forums, user groups, wikis and other services.

I am blogrolling his blog!

Usually, at least it's what we do with our enterprise global program New², we have a contest of the best initiatives for the company program.

This is a good practice because it enables to map what the company has achieved and also provide recognition to the individuals who are the most commited to the company change.

The problem with this setting, is that we are rewarding past efforts and not funding initiative who may make change happen more drastically.

We should have another complementary setting: a directory of just starting initiatives.

How this list of "Promishing initiative for the program" is "managed" and the interaction it may creates (like this people may participate to some of those initiatives, as they are known in a central directory) needs to be carrefully designed.

It should allows for emergence and in the mean time provide the right level of quality the company program is expecting...

A good overview from Jörg Beringer head of xApp at SAP. They recognize key features of collaboration:

• Goal-Directed Collaboration
• Embedded Collaborative Services
• Collaborative Patterns
• Connecting Knowledge

What is the most interesting is the recognition of various Collaboration patterns

• Private networks that reflect the personal relationships of one person to other people
• Work groups that are set up to achieve a common goal
• Communities that consist of a loose association of people sharing one common interest

The article is there

I don't know how far SAP is going on this path to deliver new products and services, but it's worth going to SDN (SAP Developpers Network) knowledge place, one can find integration of:

• Forums
• Blogs (from SAP people and from people outside SAP)
• Documentation about SAP products and services 
• A search capability with a good taxonomy
• I haven't seen collaboration rooms, but it may be there.

You can go there.

They have even implemented an "à la passeport" SSO mechanism.

http://dashtracker.com/

Microsoft Vista is for next year 2006. Google Desktop V2 is available, even if localized version are still in Beta and are not fully bug free.

Other technologies are already available but may have trouble to sustain the race with big competitors like Microsoft, Google and the like.

It’s sure that we are really at the brink of this new technology development. The biggest issue is then about deployment: one could kill this technology if it does not deliver the expected value due to technical issues.

The cost is then not so much on the client technology development making “awarelets”, it’s more about the trust user may loose if we don’t’ bring the expected value.

We should start now to deliver it next year as a pilot.

We have seen the impressive opportunity for this technology. They must be some roadblocks to put aside before being able to deploy such a technology.

I foresee two main issues for the deployment of this new technology:

-          Mindset about collaboration tools

-          Technological limitations

5.1. Mindset roadblock

We are used to our toolset; it’s a change to have this new personal dashboard accepted.

It’s a technology that is going to be on the most upfront of the users: it will bring a fierce race among competitors and will tend to put in the background other user interface that used to have our flavors: the portal technology is an example. The “all user access from a browser” paradigm is aging with this technology and people having bet heavily on it are not going to let it happen…

So basically, we will have to get user acquainted with this new technology and we will need to have our technical groups buy-in. 

5.2. Technological roadblock

They the following issues with this technology:

-          Deployment of a client technology is always a problem, even if most of them are lightweight, they are still one more thing to take care: it’s an issue of support for IT deployment teams: Microsoft Vista will have an advantage compare to others.

-          Support of different platform due to lack of standardization is a source of cost and complexity

-          Network impact is also an issue: awarelets should minimize the workload on network and some server side developments can be needed to achieve that. Some architecture work will be needed in the future to have this technology even more scalable with use of digital broadcasting techniques to optimize network usage.

I am a program manager, responsible for spreading project standards to key accounts customer project stakeholders.

I have a project space where all the stakeholders of my customers are used to share the project information.

I had to push information via email to let people aware of new documents or events. With the awareness applet technology, I don’t need to do that anymore.

Instead, I promote this concept among the stakeholders and they all have on their desktop a small window tracking about the last thing happening there.

I am a product marketing guy and wants my audience be aware of the device under development I am responsible for.

I am going to foster the development of two tools in order to keep updated my audience:

·         An asynchronous web collaboration place, which can be targeting an internal audience or just an information media targeting external audience

·         An awareness applet, may be in various technology, depending on the  technical infrastructure of the targeted audience

I am going to deploy the awareness applet as part of my communication plan. It may be through an email campaign or spreading a feed using the corporate news channel with a download link to the awareness applet.

Every people of my audience have now on there desktop a small window about the product we have under development.

I am a product application engineer and needs to keep track about the community of practice new knowledge, events and people.

In order to keep my knowledge up to date, I need to scan at least three source of information:

·         One ore more external Bulletin board, specific to my region and knowledge domain

·         An internal helping community bulletin board where I can ask question for support on my day-to-day business and also help my peers

·         I participate to one or more community of practice where I participate to various working group to share knowledge about the products I am working with.

I can aggregate the external source of information on a small widow, to keep track of interesting information from the field.

The community of practice core groups provided me with awareness applets so I can keep track of the various activities there and this frees my mailbox with useless alert emails.

I belong to a working group in charge of revising the new comers HR policy.

Since the beginning, our working group leader provided us with an awareness applet and I am current with the working group activity with this small widow on my desktop. I have no useless email from the working group in may mailbox…

3.3. Microsoft Gadgets

Gadgets are going to be implemented in two frameworks:

·         As a sidebar of operating systems, and this will be one of the main innovations for the coming Microsoft vista next generation desktop client. But they are going also to port it to Windows XP

·         As a new client technology for web page: it will be supported by the creation of an extended JavaScript API and certainly will have some impact on the server side

Both technologies are going to support some kind of “awarelet”, but I don’t know if they will be compatible.

The OS based framework is available as preview technology for MSDN subscriber, but is likely to evolve. Some people already ported it to XP but Microsoft said the interfaces are not settled and the concept itself may evolve.

The web based interface may be experienced on-line http://www.live.com/ and one can follow-up the development stage with http://microsoftgadgets.com/Blogs/GadgetNews/Default.aspx.

3.2.  How it works?

What do I have to do to use it on my computer?

1.      You download a framework on your computer (small foot print usually: 500k to 1 or 2 Megs at most but some are bigger...)

2.      You select the “awarelets” you need for your dashboard, usually, you can select some on “awarelets” libraries maintained on-line and issued from the framework user group (as awarelets are “easy” to design)

3.      You setup each awarelet with your personal requirements (for example, if you want to monitor weather condition, you enter the nearest town…)

4.      Awarelets then periodically (fixed or user setting) scan the data source they are linked with, those data sources may be local to the file system and system resources or remote on server on the intranet or internet.

5.      When new data is available, the awarelet display window is refreshed, older data may be forgotten and depending on setting and framework, some alarming may be handled (popup windows and / or  sound and blinking features)

What are the Framework and Awarelets Functions and features?

·         Adding / removing “awarelets” (let’s call awarelets the widgets, gadgets, panels or Klips of the various vendors). May be as simple has clicking on a web link!

·         Common User Interface for display and setup of “awarelets”

·         Useful function, like caching and alarming may also be available

·         Awarelets are based on a mix of declarative code, usually based on xml and some scripting part to allow specific processing

·         Awarelets share some common display and GUI features enforced by the framework

·         Special GUI awarelets needs some c++ or other high level languages, using the framework API. Scripting languages, usually JavaScript is also possible.

·         Awarelets are able to source information from the local file system or from remote servers.

The awarelet has the following features from a user perspective:

·         Setup panels: parameter data sources, alarm setting. For example, for a Google news klip, one can parameter the country news and set some keywords to parameter the search. How to cache data may also be an option

·         A GUI interface capabilities

o       Customizable in order to fit the space requirement of the user.

o       Information presentation of the latest available information.

o       Browsing to go up to the data source, usually through hyper linking.

o       User data input. It can be used for searching some part of the data space

o       Presenting graphical data, for example, the daily evolution of a share quotation.

·         Awarelets categories

o       Aggregation of RSS news feeds

o       Time & Calendar function

o       Email monitoring

o       Web Space monitoring

o       Search engine filtering

o       Share quotation

·         An awarelet periodically scans the data source it is monitoring to keep the GUI in synch with what is happening and to trigger alarms if necessary

Which are available framework capabilities?

3.1. The historical perspective

The first embodiment of awareness software, enabling personal dashboard is Konfabulator (http://www.konfabulator.com) working on the Apple Mac.

With konfabulator, one is able to add small widgets on the Apple Mac desktop. A widget may be provide display and processing for

·         Time & Date: a clock, a calendar…

·         News Feed: aggregate RRS news feed…

·         System Utilities: Disk space and computer monitoring…

·         Sight & sound etc…

Those widgets have declarative XML based part and have a programmatic part based on JavaScript.

Apple Mac included an analog framework to its latest version OS 7.

Konfabulator is now a free Yahoo product which runs on Mac and PC.

Another company, Serence created a more extensive framework, named Klipfolio (http://www.serence.com/site.php ), including a more sophisticated GUI framework plus alarming function and also a cache mechanism. As with Konfabulator, the Klips (the widgets for Serence) are also defined with a XML header and some JavaScript part. Serence KlipFolio runs on Windows. Serence business model is to tune its tool to fortunes companies. GE is likely to use the Serence framework.

Today, the knowledge worker uses the following tools in his office environment:

·         Real time communication (Audio & net conferencing, instant messaging, emailing)

·         The Enterprise Asynchronous information space (Shared information spaces, intranet information media, forums and bulletin board…)

·         The public, internet based, information space

·         Personal productivity tools (Word processors, Spreadsheet, Presentations…) with document spreading into the storage unit of his personal computer

The main issue faced by the knowledge worker is the spread spectrum of human interfaces and the variability of behavior they have, which is totally independent from the importance for him.

At the same moment, a very important document, which may have a drastic impact on his activities, may be stored on a shared space but its awareness is going to be distracted by an email which is going to be just another spam consuming its precious time. And he may discover the important document one week latter or even never…

May be worth, this knowledge worker mail box is so over fill that he is not able to manage this tool anymore and he loose usage of this communication media.

Another way to think about your mailbox decease is to see it as your mobile or fixed handset: imagine you receive as many phone calls than you have emails!

Not only today knowledge worker is overwhelmed by information and he barely can do anything there, that’s our world, but he is also overwhelmed by the communication tools the enterprise put at his disposal. He becomes distracted by the communication environment he has to cope with.

Communication tools tend to become a source of inefficiency as opposed to the original goal.

There is a gap between what drives knowledge worker attention and what he needs for being an efficient actor of the various communities of the enterprise.

A personal dashboard is a tool providing monitoring and scanning capabilities to the knowledge worker.

Quantum leaps progress in scientific or technical domains has ever been made possible when the appropriate observation tooling has emerged.

For example, the microscope enabled huge progress in the medical domain, either for diagnostic of human disease than for research as soon as it has been introduced into practitioner offices and labs.

A knowledge worker nowadays can legitimately dream to use personal observation tooling which enables him:

·         To have a synthetic and just-in-time representation of the various knowledge sources built by the working communities  he is participating

·         To scan the various information sources which enables him to create the knowledge context necessary for his learning and professional experience

·         To Search for documents, news, events or people

A personal dashboard helps the knowledge worker to structure its short term activity (day to week span). Providing the appropriate information at the right time and the right pace, it’s a productivity tool that helps him structure its various action plans.

To be efficient, a personal dashboard has to be designed into the regular office tooling of the knowledge worker.

Dashboard concept is on the radar screen since more than a decade now. But the first implementations have addressed more key performance indicators than the live matter for the knowledge worker.

New software technology is now coming and supported by major players (Apple, Microsoft and Google…) and the concept of real-time awareness software has been matured by smaller companies like Serence for example.

Those are the new entrants to make it happen seriously: there is a true window of opportunity!

I am writing a Green Paper on the impact of this "new" coming sidebar technology to collaboration...

1. Enhancing collaboration with personal dashboards
2. Issues faced by the knowledge worker with today communication tools
3. Emerging next generation awareness software
4. Use cases and benefits of this new asset
5. Obstacles and the key success factors for personal dashboards
6. When this will happen?

"Un concepteur sait qu'il a atteind la perfection, non pas quand il n'a plus rien à ajouter, mais quand il n'a plus rien a enlever" - St Ex

Une phrase trouvée sur le web et attribuée à St Exupéry. Je n'ai pas vérifié, mais en tout cas je partage...

Not in the Blog sphere but a guy who says about himself:

"Theoretically, my work focuses on social learning systems.
I am trying to understand the connection between knowledge, community, learning, and identity. The basic idea is that human knowing is fundamentally a social act. This simple observation has profound implications for the way we think of and attempt to support learning."

So... 

Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration 2015:

From collection to ... connection

Value proposition for KM 2015