We had a discussion of which collaborative web 2.0 tools would benefit our communication and collaboration whilst working on the assignment. After careful consideration we agreed to use Microsoft Office Live Workspace in order to share documents, work on documents in real time and communicate. As mentioned in a previous blog post this tool can be unreliable. We experienced almost immediate difficulty with editing privileges and access, which is why we decided to use Google Docs. instead where we have been successful at collectively contributing new material on a regular basis. We often edited in the document at the same time, thanks to the real-time editor. It was also beneficial that we could access the document from any computer regardless if we were working at Uni. or at home.

Additional to Google Docs., we established a Facebook group called INN346-group 3. This group is used for communication regarding meetings, questions, suggestions and comments. 

Skype was also used for discussion of topics that needed more attention and was difficult to communicate about in writing. As previously mentioned in blog post I am a fan of Skype, and we used the tool with success in every online meeting. Communicating in real-time was useful as we all tended to feed off of each others’ ideas and solve a few important issues much quicker than we would have been able to via email.

In using the array of web 2 tools to collaborate for this assignment we have collectively agreed that Google Docs. was the most beneficial as this tool actually hosted our assignment and allowed us to have constant acknowledgement of the work of others. Google Docs.  enabled us to make suggestions on each others work, gain insight into the progress of the work and areas of improvement. When many people are working together it can be very confusing to communicate via emails, and therefore Google Docs. is an excellent alternative.

In a previous blog post I mentioned Zoho Writer to be a great collaborative tool. We did not use it in this project because I find it important to be well acquainted with a tool before using it in a project as important as this one.

In the early days (1967) the Six Degrees of separation experiment was the “Small World Experiment” by Stanley Milgram, who was a psychologist at Harvard University. His “Small World Experiment” was supposed to see how people were connected to each other.  The goal for his test subjects was to send an envelope to a stockbroker in Massachusetts only by forwarding it to people they knew that would have more of a chance of possibly knowing the stockbroker. The experiment showed that there only existed six degrees of separation.

The O2 study has found that strangers are more connected than ever before and now the average person is connected by just three degrees of separation instead of six (Techcrunch, 2008). O2 came to this conclusion by asking adults across three different age groups to make contact with random strangers using only using only personal connections.

The O2 research showed that it was Facebook and text messaging that reduced the degrees of separation (Techcrunch, 2008).  According to Jeff Rodrigues, who are a social networking specialist that carried out the research, “what the study has brought to light is that the way we now interact means it’s never been easier to make connections and build networks of contacts” (Techcrunch, 2008).

In 2008 researchers at Microsoft showed that the average chain of contacts between users of Messenger was 6.6 people (Guardian.co.uk,2008). Researchers at Microsoft studied records of 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people in various countries. They found that the average length was 6.6 hops, and that 78 per cent of the pairs could be connected in seven steps or fewer.

In a world of 6.6 billion people, I find these researches a bit hard to believe but at the same time I find it very fascinating.  Of course it is also a prerequisite that people are willing to be connected. If e.g. the CIA tried to connect with Osama Bin Laden “the last couple of people in the chain are not going to be particularly cooperative, even if they could be” (Discovermagazine, 2008).

I believe, that the fact that many people still do not use Skype, can be explained by the theory of network externalities. The theory claims that the value of a network will increase by the number of participants joining the network. Network externalities are what lies behind Metcalfe’s law: “The value of a [...] network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2)” (social media online, 2009).

Total value of network: n x (n-1) = n2 – n

That is, the value that a subscriber of Skype receives increases with the number of subscribers joining the Skype. According to network economics it is demand side economies of scale (as opposed to supply side economies of scale, e.g. Small production cost because of lower unit cost). You could say that demand side economies of scale are the norm in information industries.

As a conclusion: many people are still not on Skype because they cannot grasp the value of it. If you are the only one using Skype in your network, there are no benefits of using Skype, because obvioulsy you need someone to call to. The more people that would join Skype would benefit all subscribers.

As mentioned in a previous blog post I currently use Google Docs but also Microsoft workspace. In my opinion both have flaws. I’m most satisfied with Google Docs, but I think the format is very annoying. Even though you can change text to “normal” or “heading 1” it is not changing the size of the text and fonts correctly. The paragraphs also look a bit weird. Because so many people use OpenOffice or Microsoft Word I would really like to work with a tool that works with the same format. It would also be easier to follow how many pages you have written if the format corresponded to Microsoft Word. But I think it is very positive that team members can work on the same document at the same time and make corrections in real time, so you avoid issues regarding version control. I think we all have experienced problems where you work in a document that is not the newest or you end up with documents that is called “final assignment” followed by “final final assignment” and “ abosulte final assignment” and so on. I have used Microsoft workspace a couple of times, but because I have experienced that many people suddenly cannot access the space, we often decide to use a more reliable tool. But a good thing with Workspace is that you can write comments and questions regarding your work and people within the group will receive a notification regarding your comment. Nevertheless you got to be careful not to post too many comments because that can be a bit confusing between the team members. That being said I still believe Google Docs lack this functionality, because you still have to send a lot of additional e-mails between group members to discuss problems with your work or suggestions to corrections regarding the document you are working on.

I have also tried to use Writeboard, which also gives you the opportunity to write something and share it with others. I’m not particularly pleased with this editor because you cannot directly export it to e.g. word (you would have to “copy and paste” your work) and there are not many functionalities. I think Writeboard is all right to use if you only want to write a draft for a blog or something like that, but not for work like reports where you need to work on format, fonts etc. Nevertheless, a good alternative (if you just work on your own drafts and needs to access it from any computer) would just be to write it in your preferred text processer like a Microsoft Word, and then save it in an online storage like Dropbox. Dropbox gives you the opportunity to access your work from any computer and it is a tool I use extensively. I also use it as a safety back-up for my work, in case something should happen with my computer (God forbid!). You can also give others access to your online storage in Dropbox and use it as a collaborative tool.

Of course all these tools are free to use, so I guess it is not fair to be too critical.

Nevertheless I have just discovered a new tool called Zoho Writer which is an easy online word processer, where you can create documents and share them with others just like Workspace and Google Docs. So far I prefer this tool over the other tools that I have mentioned above.

Zoho Writer also gives you the opportunity to collaborate in real time. But what I like with Zoho Writer is that it has a great toolbar with menu items neatly grouped in context-based tabs and the toolbar has a dropdown menu, quite similar to Microsoft Word. What is really great is “The page view editing” where you can edit in a document and at the same time see the layout for document when printed out. It is also possible to make use of Zoho Writer’s “what you see is what you got” (WYSIWYG) editor for publishing your documents to a blog.

As mentioned this collaborative tool is quite new to me so I have not played so much with it yet. Maybe there are some disadvantages I have not discovered yet, but so far I think it is the best collaborative tool out there.

Nowadays we all live in social networks of friends, family, collegues, fellow students, acquaintances etc. and everyone is connected through a friend of a friend.  According to the Milgram experiment theory it can be said that anybody is connected to everybody else (on average) by no more than six degrees of separation (fortunecity, 2009). Due to this well accepted theory web 2.0 tools can be very beneficial to utilize when looking for a job.

There exist major players like Monster, LinkedIn, Facebook and VisiblePath, but these sites are overcrowded hence it could be beneficial to stand out and choose a smaller concept.

Doostang is built upon the belief that over 50% up to 70% of recruiting today is done through the personal network of contacts and a large portion of which is done by email communication (Doostang, 2009). Using your personal network is the most effective way to find the right candidate for a position and to find the perfect job.  Essentially Doostang is an online career community that connects people through personal relationships and affiliations. Members use Doostang to share relevant career opportunities and to interact with one another. According to Doostang (2009) their community eliminates the need to either post a job to an irrelevant audience or to search through the multitude of jobs available on the Internet or newspapers that would be of no interest to you. Doostang provides the infrastructure to connect personal networks together and to create a natural quality filter for recruiting and job searching.

The Doostang’s network offers immediate access to relevant people and opportunities through shared friends. It is untraditional that tens of thousands of people are on Doostang just to help. By being a member and connecting people who are looking for a job you are also building your own network on Doostang. In doing so, you are making more opportunities available for yourself and your friends down the line should you ever need to change your job or look for a great candidate.
Doostang encourages its users to share opportunities with friends by posting any interesting jobs that are received on Doostang. Collaborating will create more job opportunities than those that currently exist. It is possible to create groups to interact with members from your school, company, or with similar interests. In forums you can post questions, suggestions, and answers, and engage the community in meaningful discussion.

In regards to job seeking attaching a great resume to the application is important. There exist a lot of good software tools for writing a good resume. A top ten review can be found here . Additional to these there exist a lot that are free to download.

I am still quite new to blogging and I must admit that I still have some concern about putting my thoughts into writing for the world to see. Nevertheless I am fascinated that blogs offer the opportunity to say whatever you want in your own words without any opportunity for misquotes, editing, media bias, etc.

In Australia -as far as I am informed- (pls correct me if Im wrong) there is no legal right to free speech which is present in for example Denmark. A good example of this free speech was the 12 satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammed published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that caused outrage across the Muslim World.

In Australia there seems to be three criteria that need to be established in order for something to be defamatory; the information must be published, the ‘victim’ must be identifiable and the meaning of the words must be clear and must be defamatory. But what about these criteria in relation to blogs? In blogs there is no editing and it often happens that people write something where they don’t take the time to get all the facts right. I just think it is fascinating that it seems more legitimate to defame people in blogs than in for example newspapers. This is even more interesting when you take into account that many readers believe that the information contained in blogs is more reliable than the print news media. I think this issue is quite interesting especially because the use of blogs only seems to increase in the foreseeable future.

In my research for assessment item 2, I stumbled upon an interesting web 2.0 tool for bands called SellaBand.

Sellaband provides an alternative to the traditional music industry. The basic idea is to create a platform that empowers artists to record their next album, funded by their fans. The idea came from the frustration of hearing the same artists always on the radio, while so many talented artists remain unnoticed by the traditional music industry. It works like this:

Artists upload their music and profile. Music lovers find artists they like and believe in. $10.00 (plus transaction/administration costs) buys them a piece of the action. And this will make them a ‘Believer’ of the artist. The artist goes to the studio to record an album. Fans get an exclusive CD sent to their home.

SellaBand is able to support artists through the community and use it’s economies of scale to put together some very interesting deals, however the artists are responsible for the albums success and their own career.

It can be quite rewarding to become a Believer in an artist on SellaBand. the financial component, as every Part (A Part is a declaration of faith in the artist and their music) gives you a share of the net revenue of the music sales. This share is equally divided by the number of Parts an artist has, divided by either 5,000 ($50,000) or 10,000 ($100,000). And by buying a specific number of Parts you can also earn on the publishing revenue.

I think Sellaband is a very interesting idea challenging the traditional music industry, which I really think is needed. By using SellaBand it’s possible for music fans to decide who gets to the studio to record a new album.

Stop Twittering and avoid being robbed, says insurers. It has been revealed that people who regularly update their status on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are at higher risk of getting robbed. Because users post updates regarding holiday plans the criminals can read exactly when they plan to be away from home. It is easy to get even more information, e.g. by using tools like Google Street View. Some even post their telephone no. on social network sites or showing of new expensive purchases on Facebook, which again makes it even easier for  burglars to plan their next housebreaking.

Many leading companies have already discovered the benefits of blogging, as examples are McDonalds, P&G and IBM. For many this has been a major paradigm shift. A list of blogs 500 companies that have a business blog can be found here.
But it is not the technology alone that provides value. It is not enough to just implement a web 2.0 technology. Employees need to be taught how to utilize and benefit from it. You can read more about this in one of my previous blog posts named It is more than just technology which also include an example of the dental solutions provider Nobel Biocare who successfully implemented a wiki software among the firm’s two dozen support staff.