Some more interesting highlights from the Connect & Collaborate Conference in NYC:
- The concept of dark blogs
-- weblogs that reside behind corporate firewalls as part of Intranets.
There's a different set of protocols for these from 'public' blogs that
we're just starting to discover.
- The prediction by several
speakers that successful new collaboration applications must be
low-cost and lightweight, and just powerful enough to enable direct,
unmediated communication and ad hoc
community formation. Almost all the vendors exhibiting at this
conference are banking on the exact opposite: very sophisticated,
expensive, multi-functional, fully-integrated 'enterprise'
applications. Who's right?
- Lots of discussion about several social applications breaking new ground:
- Myspace:
A simple way for non-techies to enter the world of social networking.
Ad-laden, not very secure, and just bought, apparently, by the
loathsome right-wing News Corp -- but hugely popular among the
teen-to-20s age group. Fascinating stuff -- seems a legitimate place
for musicians and others targeting this demo to give stuff away to get
known, but also a place of great boasting and ego-salving.
- Facebook:
A social software keyed to your high school or university. Used to make
new friends and reacquaint yourself with old friends from junior
schools. Serves as the equivalent of a business card for students --
"nice to meet you, Facebook me and we'll keep in touch".
- WebHuddle: Open Source webconferencing tool. Cheap, simple, secure. If Robin Good likes it it must be a winner. But we're still a long way from Simple Virtual Presence.
- PacketHop:
Handheld tool for cops and other emergency and safety workers with
collaboration apps, satellite pictures & maps, and proximity
detectors that automatically establish "Mesh networks" with other
PacketHop handholds nearby.
- Remote wireless patient sensors that communicate patient info to care providers even from patients' homes.
- Some
discussion in the hall during breaks about infatuation with
sociometrics and specifically 'social network maps' -- expensive,
detailed, complicated, sometimes intrusive visualizations of who is
connected with whom in your organization, how and how closely. Men seem
to love this stuff, while woman seem to doubt it has enough real value
to justify the cost and enthusiasm it is generating.
- Some
discussion on whether existing public social network apps like LinkedIn
have been ruined by misuse. "Many users of social network tools are
socially autistic". "The more contacts you add to your network the less
the value (social capital) of each contact". "If everyone is a friend,
you have no real friends". "Good salespeople know better than to put
their networks up on LinkedIn".
Tomorrow's post will be about my presentation. |
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