Web 2.0 and intranets

In my post on "The Death of Internal Communications" I mentioned the fact that "Web 2.0" technologies are altering the way that intranets are governed. In a recent article, Colin White discusses something similar. Usefully, he separates out two elements of Web 2.0 - "information collaboration" and "application development". For me, these two are at the heart of everything 2.0'y.

The collaboration piece addresses the function of 2.0 - it aims to bring people together, to democratize information, and distribute the governance.

The development piece addresses some of the technical benefits - providing easy ways to integrate disparate applications (mashups) and rapid development of server based applications that run like desktop apps (AJAX et al).

I find it helpful to have a clear distinction between the two. The first is about the site vision, the second is about implementation. They are separate but equally important to define.

For any particular project I might want to deploy a web 2.0 vision (collaborative spaces) without the web 2.0 implementation (ajax), or conversely a web 1.0 vision (publishing company info) in a 2.0 implementation (a mashup). Understanding which elements the project calls for (if any) helps me to avoid getting caught in a sticky 2.0 web just for the sake of it.

One final thing, I'm convinced that for an enterprise deployment such as an intranet, the 2.0 vision doesn't work in isolation. You always need the traditional top-down publishing piece to support it. So the Razorfish example in Colin White's post only works if there is an "official intranet" to support it.

The death of internal communications?

Toby Ward writes in his blog that "internal communications is evolving, if not dying". His comment may be a bit melodramatic, but in general I agree with him. I've also found that Internal Comms are managing most of the intranet projects that we work on these days, and they're having to come to terms with a dramatically different way of looking at one of their key tools (the corporate intranet).

Social software (web 2.0) has been popular on the web for quite some time, but in my experience there has been a lag in seeing the social element appear on corporate intranets. One of the main reasons is that word - "corporate". Many see that as a justification for turning the intranet into a one way publishing tool. But in the same way that corporations have started talking (and listening) to their customers through the web, they are now finding that the intranet is the perfect platform to do the same with their employees.

This means that Internal Comms are losening their grip on the information that they are managing. Sure, there is still a need for the "official corporate view" - a company is not a democratic institution, and the views of the senior management are final (almost), and still need to be communicated. However, if these views are to be respected, there has to be an open conversation and weighing of the evidence/views of others (employees, ciustomers and shareholders) before any decision is made. Again, this is where the intranet helps. Some of our IC clients definitely get this evolution in roles, others are slightly behind, but catching up.

I'd be interested in hearing if any Internal Comms people out there feel that there is a change afoot, or am I just imagining it?

Has Google won the SAAS prize?

There's an article in the Economist this week that paints a convincing picture of outsourcing your email (and Office applications) to Google. The software as a service trend is no longer on the fringe, and with Googles agressive aquisitions they've got to be a real threat not just to Microsoft, but to anyone who is building software as a packaged product.

Do any of you have experience of GMail, salesforce.com or another SAAS, and if so how did it compare to your desktop experience?

User generated content

Peter Coffee at eWeek has some interesting thoughts on UGC. I particularly love the description of the schoolkid entering a competition to design a web page for his class: "It's blank," his sister observes. "Well, duh," he replies. "This is the era of Web 2.0. Users get to generate their own content. Let's say you want to know what the latest news is. All you have to do is type it out in this box that says 'News' and then you can read it."

Google - spreadsheet surprise

This should come as no surprise to anyone who's been following Google - they've created an online spreadsheet to complete their collection of Gmail, Writely and Google Calendar.

It will be interesting to see how popular it becomes, especially given the sweeping UI changes due with Office 2007.

Old school animated giffs

There's an interesting article on clickz about an AKQA designed advert for MSN Messenger. The ad that they've created is a single animated gif, with some very funky background music. Interesting to see that a technology that was innovative 10 years ago is making a comeback.

Windows Live slowly starts to make sense

If you've been as confused as I have about what Microsoft is trying to do with it's Live products, there are some interesting pointers in Redmondmag. The exciting thing is that MS really are creating a developer platform for the Live services. There's an example of this on Channel 9 - where they show some examples of applications built on the MSN Messenger API. During the interview they make reference to another interesting site - worlds best apps.

Interesting stuff - even if it isn't fully baked yet.