Lee Bryant

You Should Fire your Web Agency When… They wont build you a Website or Online Strategy which uses off the shelf and Content Management Systems such as Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal. - Lee Bryant

The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based) web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. - Lee Bryant

"In February 2008, Janssen-Cilag Australia & New Zealand launched an internal microblogging platform called Jitter. Combined with our intranet's people search capabilities, this formed an interesting enterprise hybrid of Facebook & Twitter style capabilities. This People Search with Jitter solution received Highly Commended in the 2008 Intranet Innovation Awards. While our intranet wiki JCintra continues to be highly successful, we wanted to keep building our culture of collaboration by capturing and highlighting the flow of ideas. We also wanted to make it easier for our field force to participate and collaborate. This post is an overview of our approach and outlines some of the lessons learned for others to consider as part of their journey." - Lee Bryant

I've often lamented how few schools in the UK use free software, and how difficult it is to break the lock that Microsoft has on the entire educational system. The pathetic state here is highlighted by contrast with Russia, which is making amazing strides in rolling out open source to schools. It began with a few pilot projects, and apparently these have been so successful that the Russian government has now decided to make it the standard for *all* schools: - Lee Bryant

Microsoft has a big lock on the University system as well. The son of a friend of mine has just gone to Cambridge to do computer science and as far as I can see the entire setup is funded by Microsoft. They have a heroin selling model and they like to catch them early. There is a culture in America of commercial exploitation which is great for shareholders but not so good for society. - Robin Yellow

Wow - I've never seen an aerial view of a schnitzel quite that impressive! Jealous you're in Berlin - have a great time... - Antony Mayfield via twhirl

haha - I was hanging above the schnitzel Mission Impossible-stylee to get this shot ;-) - Lee Bryant

via Preoccupations - Lee Bryant

"Like a lot of you, I do the rounds touting social media wares. In my case, more often than not I roll up in front of marketing departments who while they think that what I have to talk about is interesting, they aren’t at all convinced about the immediacy of it. Comments I’ve heard recently from some very intelligent people include “it’s all one big computer game, isn’t it?”, “this is less relevant for us as we’re not cool”, and quite simply, “I hate blogs.” While that makes it a much tougher sell, it also reminds me that the orthodoxy of getting with the social media programme is by no means universally shared - not the impression you’d get if you constantly listen to the echo chamber." - Lee Bryant

How to install Movable Type 4 in a Mamp Pro installation running on Leopard - Lee Bryant

"The trouble is (although not for Microsoft or their certified partners) that IT departments are choosing Sharepoint as the solution to whatever the problem might be, then trying to patch up the deficiencies with widgets, bespoke code, etc. This all takes time and costs money. And it can be very messy." - Lee Bryant

"Our APIs allow you to programmatically access New York Times data for use in your own applications. Our goal is to facilitate a wide range of uses, from custom link lists to complex visualizations. Why just read the news when you can hack it?" - Lee Bryant

""Risk management" is just a fancy term for the cost-benefit tradeoff associated with any security decision. It's what we do when we react to fear, or try to make ourselves feel secure. It's the fight-or-flight reflex that evolved in primitive fish and remains in all vertebrates. It's instinctual, intuitive and fundamental to life, and one of the brain's primary functions." - Lee Bryant

"As traditional enterprise vendors suffer, a panacea for investors and customers is emerging with the nascent enterprise social software industry. Until now, Enterprise 2.0 has sat on the sidelines of the enterprise software industry, seen perhaps as less focused and more predisposed to conversation than action." - Lee Bryant

Here is another of the growing reports on research that indicates enterprise 2.0 is on the rise. Recently Awareness released a report on “Trends and Best Practices in Adopting Web 2.0 in 2008.” It shows that social media initiatives are on are increasing and continue to evolve. There is a focus on the deeper and broader integration of Web 2.0 technologies with other enterprise systems, enabling greater participation from both internal and external audiences. This is consistent with what I am hearing from others sources ((e.g., Forrester, AIIM, Aberdeen, Gilbane, etc.). - Lee Bryant

"Here are some suggestions for ways other companies have used social media tools. Consider how these could apply to your business. Be creative and don't think about what you could do - think about what your customers want. Then determine which social media tools can help you deliver what they want." - Lee Bryant

eBay brilliantly time its most ridiculous acquisition on the day of credit-induced stock market collapse - Lee Bryant

"...A third of the audience also said they use wikis in their law firms. The first example was a Canadian law firm with 100 lawyers and 100 support staff. Prior to the wiki, documents were stored individually in folders on a shared drive with no consistency. People did not attempt to find them there but sent emails to colleagues to find stuff. I have talked with a number of firms where this occurs, There was also no search engine on the old intranet. IT was under staffed with too many projects to fix this issue. So the knowledge management people looked at wikis. They were already using Domino so they choose the Domino wiki for their initial effort. The IT people were happy because it was inside firewall." - Lee Bryant

"In March this year, Cisco launched the ASR 1000 Router Series. No big deal, but for the fact that it was delivered completely via social media. This was apparently Cisco's fifth most successful campaign, and according to the company it has proved to be a turning point for the way Cisco takes products to market: "virtually, virally, and visually." The biggest lesson here is this: Routers aren't sexy. If Cisco can make a router exciting enough for social media, you too can utilize social media to create a buzz about your product or service." - Lee Bryant

"A new study by Universal McCann called When did we start trusting strangers? found that rather than being passive, consumers have taken not only active, but also creative roles in consumerism. In fact, consumers have become true “consum’actors.” The study was base on 17,000 Internet users from 29 countries. The study describes a “new influencer landscape” which is characterized by three significant trends: the rise in social media, the importance of digital friends, and the proliferation of influencer channels. The study also mentions the impact of this phenomenon: an influence economy, the democratization of influence, and the new“super influencer.” - Lee Bryant

"Becta has published major new research into the use of Web 2.0 technologies, such as wikis, blogs and social networking, by children between the ages of 11-16, both in and out of the school environment. The reports found that young learners are prolific users of Web 2.0 technologies in their leisure time but that the use of Web 2.0 in the classroom was limited. The research also found that over half of teachers surveyed believe that Web 2.0 resources should be used more often in the classroom. However, the majority of teachers questioned had never used Web 2.0 applications in lessons, despite being frequent users of technology in their personal and professional lives. Their main concerns involved a lack of time to familiarise themselves with the technology and worries about managing the use of the internet in class." - Lee Bryant

"Web 2.0 is also being promoted as the democratisation of voice, conversation and opinion. It is no longer necessary to be elite or famous, or have a newspaper, TV or production company behind you in order to be heard. The cost of participation is trivial, where anyone can blog, or upload their clip to YouTube, or their photos to Flickr. However, this is not to trivialise the difference between having a digital presence, whether it be a blog or a video clip, and actually being heard. This is where local councils can make a real difference, by utilising Web 2.0 technologies to enable the voice of the community to be heard. This promotes the ideals of citizen empowerment, as endorsed by the recent CLG White Paper 'Communities in control: real people, real power'." - Lee Bryant

"Most Americans feel that companies should have a presence on social media sites, and many feel that they should actively interact with customers through those sites. Those are just some of the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, which said that 93 percent of Americans expect to see companies online where the users are—on social networking and other media sites." - Lee Bryant

"Twitter is my watercooler as I work solo from home (or a local cafe) in Alaska. It is my finger on the pulse of social media and things happening in the Lower 48. It is my way of touching base with friends, acquaintances and people who I’d like to get to know better." - Lee Bryant

Oftentimes, what separates good leaders from bad ones lies is their art of communication. Much has been said about preferred leadership styles which advocate openness, tolerance and active engagement with subordinates. James R. Detert But according to James Detert, Assistant Professor of Management at Cornell University, it’s not enough to just possess good leadership traits. “What my research is suggesting is that that's actually just the starting point. That these behaviours are a necessary but insufficient condition for upward communication from subordinates to their authority figures in most organisations for a set of reasons. “One is that even when leader behaviour is pretty positive for open communication, often organisational systems or structures are not positive,” explains Detert, who spoke to INSEAD Knowledge on the sidelines of the first INSEAD-Wharton Research Conference on Leadership. - Lee Bryant

"Almost everyone licenses SharePoint at some level within their organization, almost everyone already uses legacy ECM systems. Almost no-one is planning replace these legacy systems with SharePoint." - Lee Bryant

"Are you tempted by the idea of Twitter inside the firewall? For true Twitter junkies, it may be nearly irresistible. And, now, we're hearing about some new Twitter-clones that are designed to operate within enterprises. However, before you start pushing this as the next big thing for law firm knowledge management, consider the following: What existing workflow or tool will Twitter replace or enhance within your law firm?" - Lee Bryant

btw... this coming week we are releasing a micro-blogging feature in PagesPlus... - Paolo Valdemarin

cool! - Lee Bryant

"Imagine that an organization has deployed a full suite of emergent social software platforms (ESSPs) for its members— blogs, wikis, discussion / Q&A forums, upload facilities for photos and videos and etc., Digg-like utilities to flag and vote on digital content, prediction markets, some kind of enterprise Twitter, and whatever else a ‘full suite’ consists of, now or in the future. And imagine further that the leaders of the organization are sincerely interested in pursuing Enterprise 2.0 and getting their people to actually use the new tools. What would they then do? What would be their smart course(s) of action?" Andrew McAfee on contribution metrics for Enterprise 2.0 and community environments - Lee Bryant

typography is next to Godliness - Lee Bryant

After six years using the same platform and design, the Wall Street Journal online is set to release a major overhaul tomorrow with the goals of improving usability, getting more social, and turning more visitors into paid subscribers. It's a significant milestone in a Dow Jones redesign effort that began before News Corp. took the reins. Over 18 months in the making, the new WSJ.com's most significant feature will be a Journal Community for paid subscribers. "It's more a place for subscribers to connect, exchange ideas, start discussions, etc.," Ashley Huston of WSJ's Corporate Communications told Ars Technica. "They can also ask questions of each other and interact with our reporters and editors." - Lee Bryant

"Last week I was on a panel at Office 2.0 discussing "who owns community?" Organizational Development was just one topic we explored, and ZDnet has a brief video excerpt. In this post, let me clarify my comments." - Lee Bryant