beatnic - just wondering

Bill Ives at FastForward blog writes about how the software company Serena has adopted Facebook as its corporate intranet.

They’re using it to take their 800 global employees through a big change programme. They’ve created a few custom apps that staff can use in their private network on Facebook. Apparently it’s boosted staff morale.

This is good news. Not because Facebook is the answer, but because it’s getting people thinking about the possibilities of intranets and moving the conversation on.

Much research has been done and the number one thing people want their intranet to help them with is finding other people.

What better way to help people find each other and the answers to their questions than by focusing the intranet - or rather the digital workspace - around people.

This very much fits in with my model which I call the DNA of the digital workspace - more on this soon - which places people at the centre of getting our work done.

I went to the launch of the Oxford Internet Survey last week at the House of Commons and haven’t had a chance to write it up.

Thankfully BBC News has picked up on the main points on its website.

A couple of things really stood out for me…

• 5% of people in the UK who have used the internet have stopped using it
• Entertainment usage has levelled off since 2005
• More people in the UK trust television than the ineternet and newspapers

A friend recently told me they hadn’t used LinkedIn since discovering Facebook, which I found interesting.

I think they are very different animals, each with their own set of services - a few of which overlap.

Not all my “connections” on LinkedIn are “friends” on Facebook and vice versa. It makes a good Venn diagram though!

[And yes yes I did once said I'd remain "LinkedOut" :)]

A myspace page for the British Humanist Association

Happy Humans is the Myspace page for The British Humanist Association (BHA). The name springs from our logo, which is a funkier version of the international logo - some people say it is dancing or exercising but you can make your own mind up about that!

We represent the interests of the growing population of ethically concerned but non-religious people in the UK. Committed to human rights, democracy, equality and mutual respect, we work for an open and inclusive society with freedom of belief and speech, and for an end to the privileged position of religion in law, education, broadcasting or wherever else it occurs.

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston disappeared on his way home from his Gaza City office on 12 March. He is feared kidnapped in the lawless territory, where he is thought to have been the only international correspondent still working. Intensive efforts have been made to secure his release.

A gem from the East Dulwich Forum…

A friend once met an American called Randy who complained about “you Brits always sniggering at my name”, stifling his own giggles my friend politely reassured him though it had certain connotations in the UK, Randy was a fine name and that not all British people were that juvenile.
The American thanked him but said it happens every time he meets a Brit, they always fall about laughing “all I have to say is “Hi I’m Randy Bender”"

Congratulations to my friend Jacky on going live with her Nutrition Mission website. It looks great :-)

Great promo video for the British Humanist Association

Find out more about Humanism

Adrian White from the University of Leicester in the UK used the responses of 80,000 people worldwide to map out subjective wellbeing.

Denmark came top, followed closely by Switzerland and Austria. The UK ranked 41st. Zimbabwe and Burundi came bottom.

A nation’s level of happiness was most closely associated with health levels.

Wealth and education were the next strongest determinants of national happiness.

[Source: BBC News]

The creator of the A-Z road maps is to be honoured with the unveiling of a Southwark Council Blue Plaque.

Phyllis Pearsall walked 3,000 miles to create the atlas of London, which first went on sale in 1936.

She had the idea when she became lost while trying to find the homes of people she had been asked to paint.

The plaque will be unveiled on Wednesday at 3 Court Lane Gardens, East Dulwich, south-east London, where the artist was born in 1906.

[Source: BBC News]

She lived here and walked a very, very long way.

Via Londonist

Going from one child to two is like going from owning a dog to owning a zoo.

PJ O’Rourke

Thanks to Chris Tubb for that!

Good luck to everyone doing the London Marathon on Sunday.

It’s been years since I ran a marathon (I did 3 Londons and the Vienna - very different atmosphere and architecture!) - but last night I was moved to tears by the inspirational stories told in the BBC’s run-up to the marathon programme. Steve Cram and Sally Gunnel are given 6 months to coach 13 “unfit” people to run the London Marathon (I’ll post up a link if I can find it). Update it’s called Run for Glory

It reminded me of the amazing array of emotions you go through as you prepare for the event, along the course, the finish, and afterwards hobbling around trying to find the “P” tree! Magic.

For those taking the leap, and anyone else considering it, from designer Jon Hicks, some words of inspiration and a helpful note on photocopying VAT returns!

Its been wonderful, and I don’t think I could go back to work for someone else, but why didn’t anyone tell me:

1. You would be working A LOT. More than you thought.
2. That dealing with emails, quotes and enquiries would be more time-consuming than doing the accounts
3. That you have to keep a photocopy of each VAT return – not just a printout from your accounting software, but of the actual return. Whoops.
4. That strange distant mumbling is the sound of you talking to yourself.
5. That in the first couple of months I would be so nervous and lacking in confidence that I would be sick.

Never mind, I soon found out.

Many happy returns :-)

Recently I’ve had quite a few invitations to join LinkedIn.

So I joined and checked it out and there’s something about it makes me feel a little uneasy.

I think it has to do with my instant aversion to the idea of actively “networking” as a business activity - it just brings the cynic out in me.

The language used doesn’t help win me over either…

4.6 million experienced professionals already use LinkedIn

I mean, what or who on earth is an “experienced professional”?

Also, the very nature of something that you have to belong to and lives behind closed walls goes against my idea of connecting with people. Doesn’t the very essence of the world wide web allow us to connect with each other already?

Maybe I’m missing the point, but I don’t think it’s for me.

I’m quite happy being LinkedOut. You know where to find me :)

Many happy returns :)

“I will mentor a minimum of two people in the developing world in the area of my skills base and expertise (media, communications, broadcasting , democratic media building, participatory media, community video). I will do this for free for a minimum of six months (in my free time). The mentoring will be in person or via email/skype and the mentoring connections will be established by a website and database that I am willing to take responsibility for creating but only if 250 other people will mentor a minimum of two people in their skills.”

— Lucy Hooberman

Great idea, sign up here.

Via The Obivous?

I met and listened to lots of new and and interesting people at the annual IBF conference this week.

“The user arrives running”, and so did Ted Nelson, as Martin Leith put it, the “ht” in html.

Ted shared with us his sideways view on the world.

When asked to describe a computer we describe ourselves, limited by our own imagination. And how were we ever going to get a paperless office by imitating paper?

Still discovering the elusive interface via xanadu, transliterature and zig-zag. HyperTed.

Good luck to Louise Ferguson with ORG (via pledgebank), and great to meet another East Dulwich blogger :)

It’s the first time I’ve met Gerry McGovern and heard him speak and he does a great turn.

His key message was as intranet professiosnals we need to be the leaders of what we do because it’s not going to come from anywhere else.

Gerry’s take on the user arriving running is imagining your content on a motorway sign and someone driving 70 miles an hour needs to be able to understand it.

He talked about three ages of intranets: first it’s all about infrastructure, then it’s all about architecture, and then it’s all (hopefully) about content… I asked him afterwards “If the screen with your slideshow on had been extended up and right what would have appeared next?” His answer was “Collaboration.”

Thanks to Martyn Perks for pointing me towards the Design Council’s experience design events

The uber-usable Steve Krug, author of the book Don’t Make Me Think and coiner of the phrase “It’s not rocket surgery” to describe what he does, said “Internet sites have advanced by imitation”.

Which made me think.

Many happy returns for yesterday :)

Sarah, Andy and I picked up the Best Intranet Award for Best Content, awarded to the BBC for it’s intranet Gateway which we all work on. Pictured with Paul Miller, Chairman of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum.

Ronnie Barker (1929-2005)

Genius comic actor - a very funny man

maybe instead of always being the one who is “more rational than thou” when the other person is upset, maybe sometimes in some scenarios it would help to at first be a little less calm in response

From The worst way to calm someone down on Creating Passionate Users.

To promote their tv series The New Ten Commandments, shown in February 2005, Channel Four commissioned this sulpture by Sokari Douglas Camp.

It’s called “The 11th Commandment”.

It represents the most popular new commandment as chosen by the British public: “Treat others as you would like to be treated” (see also British Humanist Assocation on the Golden Rule).

Looking for ideas for the sculpture, Douglas Camp wrapped herself and her children in the comfort and security of shawls. In the sculpture these have been transformed in to “Graffiti shawls” using the words of the commandment to protect and comfort the figures.

It’s currently on Peckham Rye Common (on the corner of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye) and will be going on tour to other London boroughs (Bexley, Islington, Hackney and Enfield) soon.

Enid Blyton 1897-1968
Popular writer of over 600 books for children

352-356 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich. Apparently she was born here.

Thanks to Natalie for the nod.

Now to start getting my head around this geotagging thing.

Blogger beware!

Job seekers who are also bloggers may have a tough road ahead, if our committee’s experience is any indication.

You may think your blog is a harmless outlet. You may use the faulty logic of the blogger, “Oh, no one will see it anyway.” Don’t count on it. Even if you take your blog offline while job applications are active, Google and other search engines store cached data of their prior contents. So that cranky rant might still turn up.

From Chronicle Careers via plasticbag.org.