Assignment 2, part B: How do Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts and video lectures) complement such social networks? - FOR MERGING / EDITING

As observed by Paul Scott: Web 2.0 is about users and content, rather than just surfing on the Internet. Web 2.0 is about what the Internet can do for an active collaborator, rather than a passive viewer. To this end Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and video lectures can complement enterprise-centric social networks (networks focused on creating value by taping into the knowledge of active collaborators) by allowing employees to present / share relevant information in ways that fellow employees will find accessible and easy to access, interpret and understand.

Consider the flexibility of Web 2.0 tools with regard to the issue of supporting effective knowledge management (KM) within an organisation: KM, according to Wikipedia, is about the practices used by an organisation to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable the adoption of insights and experiences (the 'common knowledge' held by experienced employees). I would propose that blogs, wiki's, podcasts and video lectures could be used by an organisation to support a fuller range of knowledge capture about the organisation to be then stored and transmitted between employees within that organisation in ways that transcend the constraints of the formal memo or a formal written document. An example of such a constraint is the traditional way that documents are created for print (and then distributed and filed) and shared on a perceived needs basis that doesn't necessarily allow for future knowledge discovery.

However, the use of Web 2.0 tools could support an organisation to move away from the creation of static documents and allow the organisation to more achieve such organisational objectives as

improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, and continuous improvement of the organisation. KM efforts overlap with organisational learning, and may be distinguished from that by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. KM efforts can help individuals and groups to share valuable organisational insights, to reduce redundant work, to avoid reinventing the wheel per se, to reduce training time for new employees, to retain intellectual capital as employees turnover in an organisation, and to adapt to changing environments and markets (McAdam & McCreedy 2000)(Thompson & Walsham 2004)

Perhaps the key flexibility of Web 2.0 tools is that they encourage the getting 'out there' of knowledge and content and they make such knowledge easy to comment upon, build upon and respond to. At the most obvious level this could take the form of an organisation archiving or publishing online its documents onto a tool like Scribd which is a social publishing site designed to convert and share documents online. Obviously an organisation would be looking to use an 'in-house' solution or license Scribd's functionality for its own internal (company / private behind a firewall) use. Similar solutions exist for the online collection and sharing of PowerPoints and Spreadsheets (Google documents, Slide Share, EditGrid, etc.). A key advantage of these solutions is their ability to allow for responses and commentary. And this sociability, literally the encouragement to add one’s voice to the discussion - to see the organisation’s knowledge documents not as an endpoint but as a starting point for further conversation and response and growth of ideas and understanding.

However transcending this, the use of such Web 2.0 tools as blogs, wikis, podcasts, video lectures and other digital media can also allow for a wider range of informal, anecdotal, ad hoc or published media releases / advertising to be captured, stored and shared in way that makes it accessible to vie, link to, embed, MASH-up and generally be taken advantage of by employees in future situations. Corporate memory is more than just words or memos and Web 2.0 tools raise a possibility for capturing and taking advantage of a range of content that exists (and has meaning) within an organisation. As tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Second Life demonstrate, Web 2.0 tools can be inherently social but they can also be private and users (organisations) can set and control who gets access to information and who doesn’t - with full ability to revert to previous versions of information. A good example of this is to be found in the ability of a wiki to allow for data to be added or deleted without destroying earlier copies / revisions of related data. This allows for data integrity in a Web 2.0 world whilst giving employees an 'in' to data with the intention of employees gaining benefit for themselves (and ultimately the organisation) from the accessing of that data.

So in these ways, Web 2.0 tools can provide a substantial complement to a company's social network because they provide easily extensible (and generally comprehensible to employees) ways of linking to, extending, responding and explaining key data (or even supplanting that data with more contemporary information) in a way that non-destructively adds to existing data / knowledge. This can potentially also happen in extremely rapid ways - through, for example, mobile devices that are capable of connecting to Web 2.0 services from remote locations - and receive updates equally remotely (as evidenced by access to Facebook or Twitter via mobile phones).

Ultimately I don’t believe that there is single Web 2.0 technology that will be all things to any given organisation. Perhaps metaphorically, Web 2.0 tools will be best used in collaboration with each other - a mashup or amalgam of blogs, wikis, tweets, podcasts, video and so on.

(McAdam, Rodney; McCreedy, Sandra (2000). "A Critique Of Knowledge Management: Using A Social Constructionist Model". New Technology, Work and Employment 15 (2)

Thompson, Mark P.A. & Geoff Walsham (2004), "Placing Knowledge Management in Context", Journal of Management Studies 41 (5): 725-747