How connected we are
By swilson | June 30, 2009
I just finished presenting a webinar with NewsGator. Before the Q&A was done I had several e-mails from attendees and several new Twitter followers. I thought about blogging about the content, but one of the new Twitter followers has already done that on his blog.
This leaves me to ponder the speed with which everything happens and the lack of control over intellectual capital. For example, Michael (see link to his blog post above) probably didn’t notice the copyright on the slides being presented. Never asked permission to post nearly every word of the presentation.
I have colleagues who do public speaking who would be incensed by this. They would call Michael (who’s in New Zealand) and request that he remove the content. Many of them don’t allow their presentation to be provided electronically in anyway. Some won’t even provide a paper handout during live conferences. Some won’t do webinars because of the ability to screen capture.
There’s no accounting for the webinar attendee’s ability to capture the content and share it without even having the handout. Hey, at least he included a link to me and my Twitter handle. But, as an independent consultant and published book author, Michael should know better. Intellectual capital is all the consultant has to give and sell.
When we work with clients on their intranet/portal and social technology policy and code of conduct, we counsel them to teach employees to be mindful of trademark and copyright law. But the technology is really shifting this expectation. I’ve come to accept that my content will become more dispersed and that I’ll likely lose some assignments as a result of giving so much away. But our clients know that the customized, collaborative and educational experience they get from engaging us directly is far more valuable than flat content without the deeper insight and experience.
So, like a proud parent, I birth the ideas and the content and then I let it go. Into the wild to hopefully take root in smart, strategic minds that want to make a difference.
Topics: Eloquor, Intranet and Portal, social media | 1 Comment »
Discipline and documentation
By swilson | June 26, 2009
I spent a day and a half this week with a client on intranet/portal governance. They are excited – that’s right “excited” – about getting more disciplined and documenting processes and accountabilities.
They talked about formalizing currently informal roles. They talked about holding people accountable by giving them objectives and measuring their performance. They talked about using business goals as a lens to make decisions about how they use the technology and what to do next.
I’m so proud! Having a client that has bought into the value of good governance and using technology more strategically as a business tool makes me smile. Why? Because so many don’t. So many deploy technologies because IT thought it would be cool, or because an executive told them to. So many depend on volunteers to perform good intranet maintenance, and, well, we do what we’re paid to do.
It’s precisely why so many organizations wind up disappointed in their intranet/portal deployments. We have to be diligent and brave – planful and courageous – strategic and anticipatory. Personally, I think it’s a perfect role for communication or HR to step into – leading a disciplined documentation approach on intranet/portal governance. Bring IT and legal and others along for the ride and then everyone will be onboard too.
Topics: Intranet and Portal, Usability, social media | Comment »
Policy and code of conduct for social tech
By swilson | June 17, 2009
As I was presenting today at the Communitelligence conference on social technology, I realized I’ve never actually blogged about policy and code of conduct for social technology. It’s something we help our clients with often and there are some key considerations:
- While you may create policy and code of conduct elements that specifically address social technology, these should be integrated into your regular code of conduct and existing usage policy
- It is important to give specific examples of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors in code of conduct
- Don’t be unnecessarily complex, restrictive, or lengthy in your policy and code of conduct
- Think broadly about the tools – new technologies will constantly be joining the fray, so think generically rather than specifically about technology tools
- Think broadly about behaviors – we want employees to demonstrate brand-supportive behaviors in many different ways, not just in our social technology channels, so consider the entire brand experience
- Don’t discount the legal issues, but work with your legal team to be clear, simple, and definitive
You can’t ignore policy and code of conduct, but you can do it simply, well and strategically.
Topics: Intranet and Portal, social media | Comment »
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