Today we had an article in the BBC News  - HP Intel, Yahoo in cloud Tie-up. Cloud computing is coming of age, and the research firm Gartner has dubbed it as influential as e-business. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7531352.stm  

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This is the way of the future in our lives as we know it. Back in the mid to late 90's we did see a spate of broadcasts to launch new software products. Not sure if many of you got to see Bill Gates Launch NT but it was a similcast and we all stood in awe. Well we can do that on our desktop now and with the advent of VOIP and Open Source technologies like DimDim we can do it for free.

http://www.dimdim.com/aboutus/dimdim_blog.html

We obviously need to get used to the Social implications which are brought about by such mediums and we will trip up along the way. No one needs to be ashamed not to have used a particular technology. I often do broadcasts to board rooms where the organisers have never done this before. I have a standard e-mail template which I now send out which sets out step by step what needs to be in the room. Often its still better to dial into countries where the broadband is not that broad so to speak and only use the Internet for the presentation but that will all change in the future.

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The more I think about it the more I feel that mass confusion is entering Facebook. The term "Social Networking" in my mind conjures up a concept of friends getting together. Correct me please if you don't feel the same? I still feel that in order to reduce confusion we should split this phrase into two:

Friendly Social Networking        and     

Collaborative Business Networking 

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Having been born and brought up in South Africa before moving to the UK, USA and now Australia I realise what an impact Culture can have on relationships and the spatial proximity associated with these. In some societies two people speaking to each other may stand very close together which in another society would be considered invasion of ones space. More bluntly this would relate to invasion of privacy. With online communities we still need to take this particular aspect of relationships from the physical world into account. Try and imagine you are in a room with the members of the community. Online proximity is related to everything from the formality you use in addressing the others to the way you sign off. I for instance used to find it rude to sign off simply using the first letter of your name. Now I find that in certain methods of digital communication like a Wiki I have no problem with this as I know all participants really well and its grown on me.

 What works for some might not work for others and I would love to hear your take on this?

This is a wonderful article published in the CIO Enterprise online. Its about a guy I found on my Linkedin network Stephen Collins who has the message spot on.

Thank you Steven!

Link to original : http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;1127599955

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On Friday the 11th of July we held our first Workshop in Cairns :

Multimedia Communication / Networking and Collaborative technology

We covered a multitude of topics from Web 2.0 and the new Enterprise to how they Y Generation is perceived and how best to work with them.

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Here is a video of Don Tapscott being interviewed on his new book called Wikinomics. I was lucky enough to see him as a keynote speaker at a conference back in the 90's where he stood up and told everyone that in 10 years time more people would have digital cameras than 35mm film cameras. Nearly the whole room laughed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF0k6dEm0zQ

 Take a look and please do comment on his viewpoint.

This was a letter I was replying to recently with regards to the definitions and uses of different online networks. Let me know what you think? 

Firstly what is digital networking? Its simply a way of communicating via the Internet.

New public digital forums have sprung up over the last 10 years but just like Alexander Graham Bell had to wait until quite a few people had a phone before his invention started to work for him, there had to be a critical mass of people who knew about these digital forums before they became popular. Now here is where I can directly address your concerns. Let us say that once we all had a phone and all the phone lines were in place and we were all calling each other merrily chatting each day suddenly someone who was very popular and rather powerful set up an entirely new copper wire phone network and it started to take off. Some of your friends signed up for this new network and stopped using the old one. Those people now couldn't call you as there were now two separate physical copper lines and you started to lose touch with them and it seamed the world was going a little mad. They then started to post you letters (they can't call you) asking you to come across to their new network. Well that it what is happening in the digital forum space. This is the deluge of invitations you get from ex-colleagues, friends, family people who you thought had left Australia and were now in Guatemala who all of a sudden have an e-mail in your in box saying in a very often formal manner:

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How about meshing a Wiki with a Blog and visa versa?

Take a look at what Social Text a US based company are doing:

Click on this to see the Video

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I was recently lucky enough to attend a business development workshop given by the esteemed Gabi Plumm who is a Key note speaker and has developed a number of her own workshops.

 I asked her the following question: "Could you give me an example of where you have developed a product effectively through collaboration?"

Thank you Gabi for your wonderful reply:

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