Learning Conversations

My role often tends to be that of interpreter - helping IT people understand HR/Learning specialists and vice versa. This often means I'm involved in discussions about choosing and using software, particularly social software, often known as web 2.0.

HR and Learning & Development see web 2.0 tools in use around the world, connecting people and ideas, and want to make that happen inside their organisation. The IT team see risks, loss of intellectual property and bandwidth hogging. Gross generalisations, I know. But they'll do for now.

So, here are my top 10 tips for choosing and using software that will help both groups - and their senior managers - achieve their goals.

1. Know your audience. Will they readily adopt social software? Are they already active on Facebook/Myspace/Bebo? Do they do social bookmarking with Diigo or Del.icio.us? Are they consumers or producers of information? Do they Twitter? Do they have blogs? Would they know a mashup from their RSS? What can you offer inside the organisation that they can't get outside it?
2. Find the people that are actively involved in these networks to put together a web 2.0 policy for your organisation. Most corporate policies will be similar. Tony Karrer's collection would be a good place to start. Even the US Navy has a web 2.0 policy.
3. You will never compete with Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Diigo, Ning etc. Don't even bother. Instead, get them working for you. Sell the benefits of participation. Not just those to the organisation, but those to the individual. Give permission - but, whatever you do, don't make them mandatory!
4. Learn the capabilities of the free tools like Ning, Wikispaces and Google docs. They are more secure & private than many people realise.
5. Discover for yourself the benefits of working outside of the porous pyramid. Join a group on Ning that is in your area of interest. Search for blogs about your specialism and collect them using an RSS reader. Perhaps even start your own learning log.
6. Have a NetSafe campaign inside the organisation - focussing on the implications of not keeping your blog / facebook entries / Flickr photos under control. Not just organisational implications, but personal ones.
7. Start small. Stay under the radar for as long as possible. Let usage grow organically - virally even. A big bang launch will often just lead to unsustainable expectations, and long term negativity.
8. Collaborative tools, such as wikis and forums need a common factor - a reason for being there, and a reason to contribute. Learn from those that are successful: Wikipedia, Pfizerpedia, Manager-Tools, Moodle.org. Consider what makes them so special, amongst the many thousands of "failed" collaborative networks & forums. Understand what helps and hinders adoption. Creating a space for networking is fine, but how will you stimulate people to actually do that networking. Learn from conferences - they don't just land people in a room and let them get on with it. They provide stimuli of one sort or another.
9. Consider how important the data in the social networks is to your people, and to your organisation. This blog is hosted by me, at my expense, because it's my data, and I want it under my control, not my employers. That's why I also don't host it on a free service - however good it might be. Free services are great if the risk to the business is minimal if the service stops. If that risk is great, then think about spending some money, perhaps even bringing it in-house.
10. If you are looking to source real software, and spend real money, then start by looking at some of the open source tools like Elgg - social network/blog/CPD portfolio, b2evolution - multi-user blogging, Scuttle - social bookmarking, Gregarius - RSS aggregator, Dim Dim - virtual meetings.

Three final points - just to wrap up...

• Whatever you do, get your IT team on board, so they're aware of what you're doing and understand what you're trying to achieve.
• Always think about it from your user's perspective. On the web, if it's too hard, people will lose interest and go to something else.
• Don't be afraid to get help. The technology's the easy bit. It's making it work for you that's far, far harder.

I leave you with this short presentation, from the Slideshare presentation-sharing site, on web 2.0 in the Enterprise: