How Not To Do SEO | Backbone Magazine

via backbonemag.com

Like the comment about blending SEO with other social media - so that they support and reinforce each other. Kinda like a collaborative engagement at a technical level.

Also: regarding developing SEO strategy before the website is built is definitely the way to go. The world - and by extension - your customers' worlds are changing so rapidly, it makes sense to develop an iterative strategy - that's flexible enough to accommodate what will change, and your customers' response to the changes.

Posted via email from WikiRandy

Open source givers and takers - O'Reilly Radar

Open source givers and takers

Taking without giving isn't the problem. We need better open source contribution metrics.

by Mike Loukides | @mikeloukides | comments: 9

Dana Blankenhorn's recent ZDNet blog points to Accenture's "hockey stick for open source" and notes that while 69 percent of the companies Accenture surveyed plan to increase their open source investment in the next year, only 29 percent plan to contribute back to the open source community. That sounds very plausible. But is it a problem? I'm not so sure.

via radar.oreilly.com

The author's commentary makes sense to me. Even if only 1/3 of companies plan to give back to the community - and do so with energy, commitment and imagination, that gives considerable oomph to the 29%. It's always motivating to be connected with the people that 'do', vs. the people that 'don't'. And, focusing on the metrics that make sense, while doing the work.

Posted via email from WikiRandy

Use Cases for Collaborative Networks

rather than focusing on socialization, one-to-one interactions and individual enrichment, businesses must be concerned with creating an information fabric within their organizations. An information fabric is a federation of content (and behavior) from the multiplicity of data and application silos within the enterprise; such as, ERP, CRM, file servers, email, databases, web-services infrastructures, etc.

By making this information fabric easily editable across groups in a dynamic, secure, auditable, governed and real-time manner individuals can access and organize data into actionable formats that enable decision making, collaboration and reuse.

I foresee these Collaborative Networks being used across entire organizations, but also for specific use cases.

via cmswire.com

Now, if there were a way, or a place to gather these use cases, and have some dialogue about them - that would be most helpful.

Posted via email from WikiRandy

The Importance of Context: Why Enterprise 2.0 Still Fails to Deliver Value

Enterprise 2.0 adoption is being driven by the need to accelerate how we collaborate, by reducing the friction between our systems, applications and human assets. But most vendors have focused almost entirely on improving human to human collaboration with short term fixes, by merely adding more application silos — silos that entirely lack context for the end-user, the business and the stated goals of a given deployment.

via cmswire.com

Ahh, silos - if there's not enough in the workplace, add the Enterprise 2.0 component, and create more of them electronically! So, under the guise of greater communication, the 'solution' is often one of misalignment and miscommunication.

The author goes on to point out that there's a move towards "Collaborative Networks" to solve this problem -. http://ostatic.com/blog/the-future-of-collaborative-networks

Posted via email from WikiRandy

Artbound: New nonprofit initiative launches to create sustainable change through the arts | Markets | CNW GROUP | Canadian Business Online

Artbound: New nonprofit initiative launches to create sustainable change through the arts

via canadianbusiness.com

Creating a new school is great, but hopefully they'll be developing content that is free and open, so that it can be used and repurposed in other locations - my pet OER project WikiEducator.org comes to mind. Also, why limit it to developing countries....how about depressed regions of inner cities in developed countries - and how about sharing practices that work in one area or more, to strengthen and build the whole!....

Posted via email from WikiRandy

Not alone, even in the Alps

via bbc.co.uk

Here's an interesting story, about our connection to the world, and to each other. Even in the far reaches of the Alps, this artist has chosen to insert people-sculptures, to create an even more interesting picture, memorable too!

Posted via email from WikiRandy

Wikinomics – Lessons in collaboration from B.B. King’s

A blues or jazz band—or any ‘jam band’ for that matter—operates using many of the design principles we’d like to see from a collaborative enterprise. Unlike an orchestra, a band is much more fluid in their interpretation of the music. They are able to improvise on the spot, blend sounds, and often play to the mood of the audience. In other words, they innovate, create mash-ups, and are responsive to users.

via wikinomics.com

The metaphor of a jazz or blues ensemble to evoke a collaborative group. Cool. Nice lingo, and a raft of memorable images come to mind.

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Wikinomics – Successful approaches to open government

Tools the U.S. Government uses

What applications make the Open Government policy possible? Apps.gov, a homepage hosted by the General Services Administration (GSA), is the online source for the departments to look for appropriate cloud computing applications. Program developers have to negotiate with the GSA to get an entry in this online database. Here is a short overview of some tools used in the Open Government Initiative:

• IdeaScale: The U.S. Government used this platform to generate ideas for the Open Government Plans. IdeaScale facilitates discussions, people can vote and comment on ideas.
• UserVoice: The Department of Housing and Urban Development uses UserVoice to share ideas and discuss those ideas for the department’s strategic plan 2010-2015. In this case, the discussion is separated into different themes. In contrary to IdeaScale, the number of votes is limited.
• VenCorps: The VenCorps platform enables collaborative competitions. The Department of Education uses VenCorps
  for innovation.ed.gov. The advantage of VenCorps is that it already has a big community that uses the platform. Within VenCorps, users can attain a higher reputation by frequent contribution to the community.

via wikinomics.com

Open Government is taking hold, with the availability of resources for citizens to connect with each other, and leverage government services and data.

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Schedule: Social Networks and Collaboration sessions: Gov 2.0 Expo 2010

Schedule: Social Networks and Collaboration sessions

via gov2expo.com

Interesting lineup of social networking and collaboration sessions.

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Entrepreneurs must embrace social media

Two weeks ago, Jagger read a New York Times article by Wealth Matters reporter Paul sullivan on the failings of home-security systems (slow police response and drained alarm batteries that take weeks to replace).

Blogging about that article, he linked to the Times story and noted the situation is worse than sullivan had suggested.

Then he pointed out that his company solves many of those problems -- through alarms that automatically signal Provident when their batteries are low, and its five-minute response guarantee.

Jagger then cited the benefits of "Five-Minute Proofing" -- installing window blocks and deadbolts on your bedroom door, to slow thieves down. and he linked to both a previous blog post and a video he'd made on the subject.

But Jagger didn't stop there. he emailed sullivan about his blog post. so when sullivan wrote a followup article a few days later, he devoted one-third of his story to Jagger's "five-minute fixes" and quoted from his blog post.

Best of all, he mentioned Jagger's response guarantee, giving Provident a huge marketing win for very little effort.

Then, of course, Jagger twittered about the whole thing.

via vancouversun.com

Who says the local newspaper isn't a source of interesting information? These days, the print publications - The Ottawa Citizen - is publishing opinion pieces about the power of social media, to engage customers.

Here's a story about an entrepreneur, who 'enterprisingly' uses social media to get his message out. I've excerpted an interesting trail of activities that he's used to connect with his audience and a larger audience. He's giving a model about how to use these social media services - but it's important to be aware that it takes time, discipline and persistence to work this into one's daily routines.

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Hussaini Hanging Bridge located in Pasu, Pakistan | Atlas Obscura | Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations

via atlasobscura.com

Known as the most dangerous bridge in the world, the Hussaini Hanging Bridge is only one of many precarious rope bridges in Northern Pakistan

When I see this 'bridge', I'm often reminded of the support, or lack of it, that folks in organizations receive during times of transition - whether it be in using a new technology, methodology, or during a merger or acquisition. Is it any wonder that folks head for a safer alternative?

Posted via web from WikiRandy

The Girl Effect - Engaging YouTube Video and Pitch

via highereducationmanagement.wordpress.com

It's a must to hear this with the headphones on. I did, and felt the emotion rising up within me. Ahh, the power of music to evoke emotion, and support a call to action. All too often, we miss that in our pitches.

Also, what's neat about this video, is there's not a single picture, or image of a woman / girl. Someone out there, was quite creative - and better yet, the organization that this is for, was open to this approach. Cool.

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Who should Lead Social Media Integration in Workforce Collaboration? - Chief Learning Officer Network

I think that it's important to support and nurture and encourage leadership behaviour amongst folk in the organization. Certainly, there will be a 'leader' leading the charge - whether this is a single person or a team, depends on the organization's culture. I also know, from experience, that when you go online, another 'culture' forms amongst the folks, and you start to have formal and informal leaders, both on- and offline, at different stages during a project's lifecycle.

via network.clomedia.com

Interesting conversation on Chief Learning Officer Network, about who should lead the charge for integrating social media in workforce collaboration. The webinar content is informative, but what really rocks is the conversations and comments between folks - evolving into quite an engaged learning experience!

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Top Twitter Tools & Applications « Public Sector Marketing 2.0 – Mike Kujawski's blog on strategic marketing & social media engagment

Additional tools I use that require an install:

• TweetDeck –  A must-have client for any serious Twitter user. I have linked it to numerous tools above.
• Seesmic Look – Great real-time popular tweet visualization tool. Look for more of these in the near future as visualization of data begins to take precedence.

via mikekujawski.ca

Great list of Twitter Tools and Applications - be sure to read the comments, as there's useful info there too. Would like to chat with Mike someday.

Posted via web from WikiRandy

Saying hello

WikiRandy Fisher - a nice shot