David Tebbutt in The Register

Think of social computing as a platform upon which people can collaborate in ad hoc groups, where they can share their expertise with others, possibly strangers, and where the by-products of their activities automatically add to the wealth of retained corporate knowledge. Sounds like knowledge management doesn't it? Well, it's not. There's none of the coercive aspects of that particular discipline. And, before you ask, it's much more free-form and less centrally-directed than groupware. In fact, social computing is a curious mix of top-down initiation and bottom-up implementation.

Via Neville Hobson [tags]social, web2.0, explanation[/tags]

Okay okay, I've teased you enough. Exactly what is it that I'm going to be doing when I leave Mercer ? Well, I am extraordinarily happy to be able to announce that in early September I will become a Headshifter, or is that Headshiftee...hmm, maybe Headshiftette ! Yup - I'm joining the Headshift crew, and am thrilled about it. Why Headshift ? Well, they're doing a lot of cool stuff that other people are just talking about, and by the sounds of things doing it very well indeed. They've got a great set of projects, lots and lots of interesting work, and are a smart, creative and passionate bunch of people. Oh - and they got bunnies :) What's not to like ? I'm really looking forward to it, and just hope I can make a decent contribution. So - now you know...let the festivities begin ! [tags]headshift[/tags]

Ray Lane:

The bright guy in product design, triple degree from the best university, is going to expect, at 25 years of age, to see this technology in place. And if he's told, "Well, you gotta use Windows, you can't use blogs or wikis or instant messaging any of that stuff," he'll say, "Well, why do I want to work here?" Young people are not going to go where these tools are restricted.

Now, I'm not particularly cool, nor am I young anymore. But I totally agree - and it's one of the reasons (but not the only one, or even the main one) why I've resigned from my current job, and will soon be moving to pastures new.

PS - this isn't a dig (well, not a bitter and serious one !) against my current company, as they're by no means the only company doing this, or even the worst - just a recognition that for many people, environment (social, physical, virtual) is important, and also that even though some of these tools can be regarded as social (instant messaging is something that springs to mind), the boundaries between social and business are fuzzy. Some of my friends are potential collaborators, clients or suppliers. Some are just friends. But if a company has no problem with asking an employee to work late, or read a proposal over a weekend, how can that company turn around and hinder social contacts during work hours ?

[tags]corporate, culture, social, tools[/tags]

I've previously blogged about Quicksilver equivalents for Windows, and came to the conclusion that Launchy would probably do everything an "average" user needed. 4 months later, I can confirm this to be true. I've got Launchy installed on every Windows PC I use, and what a time/life saver it is - no more digging through multiple nested menu options, trying to remember whether I'd classified a program as a utility, or an accessory, or a development tool, or maybe it's just in one of those 30 new folders created since I last cleaned up my Start Menu navigation structure. Nope, that's not how I play these days...Ctrl-space, type a couple of letters, arrow down or return, and that's your application launched. It's so useful, and has saved me so much time I've even ponied up and donated to the author. Oh - and the source code is available as well. A great example, from real life, of the limitations of a hierarchical classification system, with its rigid insistence on single dimension classification. [tags]quicksilver, launchy, classification, taxonomy[/tags]

Got a preview invite for Vox, and spent 10 minutes or so playing with it yesterday. Vox is SixApart's community oriented blogging platform - think Yahoo 360 / MSN Spaces / MySpace rather than Typepad or Movable Type. To be honest, I'm not really sure I'm in the target demographic, but I can see the value in aggregating posts, comments and other content from your community or neighbourhood. Vox seems to have most of the expected functionality - flickr, amazon, youtube integration (although it would be good to see other sites such as del.icio.us and last.fm being slotted in). But I don't think that functionality (beyond a base level which Vox reaches) is necessarily a key predictor for success - it's more about your network ("friends" in old-skool slang) - getting them onto the same platform, and actively participating (or at least reading) is key. Crowded space, with most of the major players having an offering. But, as with the instant messaging space, none of them really work with each other - I'm wondering if there's an opportunity for someone to create (and excuse the clumsy / incorrect terminology) a "meta-community" site that glue the various platforms together and show an aggregated view of one's community across the different platforms ? [PS - I seem to have some invites - does anyone who knows me / reads this blog want one ? Let me know.] [tags]vox, communities, social[/tags]

Videos of many or all of the talks given by invited experts at Google are available on Google Video. Lots of good stuff for all - well, some ! Highlights from the first couple of pages (out of 7) include:

• 15 views of a node link graph - an information visualisation portfolio
• Evaluating Similarity Measures: A Large-Scale Study in Orkut Social Network(below)
• The Science and Art of User Experience at Google
• Building Large Systems at Google
• Computers vs Common Sense
• Structuring Personal Information When Everything Can be Saved and Searched

Via EdTechPost [tags]video, techtalks, google[/tags]