ASIST 2007 Notes: My Corporate Blogs and Wikis Presentation
Here is the outline of the presentation I gave at the ASIST Annual Meeting on Wednesday, October 24, 2007. Tasked with discussing corporate blogs and wikis, I talked about some recent developments in those areas and used Renesys’ use of two blogs and an internal wiki to illustrate what people can do with wikis.
Compared to a lot of organizations in which librarians work, Renesys is not the norm. A small tech company, most of my coworkers are not afraid of trying new technology and are probably more tech savvy than an average person in corporate America when it comes to using Web 2.0 tools. When I came on board, they were already using blogs, wikis, IRC (Internet relay chat), among other technologies. Unlike many of you, I played absolutely no role in getting the organization to adopt, install, and begin using blogs and wikis.
Earlier, I posted notes about the panel. Fellow panelists Jack Vinson and Jordan Frank have posted their presentations, too.
Corporate Blogs and Wikis
Jessica Baumgart
Renesys
Blogs and Wikis in the Corporate World
ASIST Annual Meeting
October 24, 2007
Blogs
Raise your hand if …
- You blog — 5-10 hands out of an audience of about 50
- Your organization has a weblog — 5-10 hands
- You blog for an organization — ~5 hands
- You use a corporate blog — 10-15 hands
What’s new with corporate blogs?
- Early adopter phase seems to be over
- Not as many corporations are using blogs as expected
- Those who blog are still ahead of the game
- Rich, my cowriter here on the scratchpad, sent me a link to an article with interesting stats about corporate blogging and how fewer large companies are using weblogs than what people expected years ago
Why Renesys Blogs
- We have two blogs: one for the data side and company as a whole and one for Babbledog, the chat side
- Reach users
- Build community
- Give us a face
- It’s hip and expected
- Members of the team can blog
- Incentive to blog
- Making blogging a priority
- Building an audience
- Marketing the blog
- WordPress
Wikis
Raise your hand if …
- You use a wiki — more hands went up than those who blog: 10-15
- Your organization has a wiki — 10-15 hands
- You maintain a wiki for your organization — about 5 hands
- You use a corporate wiki — about 10-15 hands again
What’s new with corporate wikis?
- Many are internal
- More wiki platforms, more variety
- Growth is slower than weblogs
Why Renesys Wikis
- Communicate in a spread out company
- Knowledge management
- Keep everyone’s thoughts organized
- Share information and files
- See what others do
Renesys’ Wiki
- Every full-time employee can contribute
- Directory information
- Sections for the major projects
- Personal pages
- Meeting minutes
- Anyone can make pages for anything
- TWiki
Challenges
- Incentive to contribute to and use the wiki
- Making wiki maintenance a priority
- Sharing wiki maintenance
Words of Wisdom
- Pick the right tool for the job
- Make sure the tool has a clear purpose and people understand what it is and why the organization is using it
- Make sure people know how to use it
Thank you!
In my notes about the panel, I discussed some of the questions I received after speaking. I didn’t talk about moderator Christina Pikas’ inquiry about how my blogging is different on the BabbleBlog. I answered that I can be racier there. The company doesn’t mind if I link to materials that might be offensive to some folks, could possibly be sexual in nature, or might contain swear words. I tend to refrain from those kinds of things in this space in an attempt to keep this space safe for work and neutral on certain “issues we shouldn’t discuss in the workplace.” Those concerns aren’t ones we keep in mind when writing for the BabbleBlog.
November 11th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Recently, Professor Andrew McAfee of Harvard Business School shared his thoughts on use of Web 2.0 technologies in a large Enterprise. He started off by differentiating between a co-worker and a colleague. The employees that form ties are colleagues, rest are only co-workers. Colleagues are the one who actually help you achieve your goals.
Professor McAfee then divided these “ties” and relationship into four categories:
1. Strong Ties;
2. Weak Ties;
3. Potential Ties;
4. No Ties.
He then went into details of how various Enterprise 2.0 technologies can strengthen these ties.
Summary of where each Web 2.0 technology can help:
1. Wikis - Strong ties are already formed - e.g. a group working on a document;
2. Social Networking Software - Weak Ties - help you get information from a Weaker ties;
3. Blogs - Potential Ties - Helps you convert a potential/weak ties into a actual ties;
4. Prediction Markets - Helps in areas where there are no ties; Making decision using Collective Intelligence.
Read the entire Blog post with all the interesting details and recommendations at:
How to Hit the Enterprise 2.0 Bullseye