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Is anybody out there really using web 2.0?
by Bronwyn Mauldin. 
Posted in Collaboration, Innovation. Tagged with foundations, governing, policy, web 2.0.
Of course, those of us on WIRED Nation are. But how about those legions of people out in the rest of the workforce development world? A couple of items have come across my desk in the last two weeks that offer some great examples of how foundations and government agencies are using interactive online tools to get their message out, and for internal management. These are good resources to help our peers understand how these tools can be used.
First up, the Chronicle of Philanthropy did a series of articles about foundations that are posting videos, creating online radio shows and inviting readers to comment and react. They're also offering readers ways to act on what they've learned. You can read the main article here; the article about how one small foundation is making itself heard is here. What I love is that these foundations admit they're taking risks and experimenting to find out what works and what doesn't.
Next up, Governing magazine. Their May 2008 article, Working in Wiki, gives some great examples of how government agencies are using wikis to improve internal management and engage staff in program improvements and problem solving.
When I do workshops on web 2.0 for workforce development professionals, I often get a question along the lines of, "Blogging and podcasting is what my kids do for fun. What's it got to do with my job?"
As these articles show, quite a lot, and more every day.
Bronwyn, I too share your question about web 2.0 and you've provided some excellent links about where and how to use it. The article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy provides good case studies on the benefits coming from "two-way communications about both successes and failures" and how that can lend credibility to an organization.
The use of "online community managers" who help coordinate and catalyze communications resonates with our experiences and I think the WIRED-Nation.net site is a demonstration of how important several key people have been in bringing it to life and promoting discussion. Experienced bloggers like yourself also really help.
Our company, Mains Associates, has extensive experience supporting science communications for government entities like NASA, but they are just beginning to utilize file sharing and wiki systems on internal (and cross-center) projects and have a long way to go to reach the web 2.0 world. I haven't seen much internal blogging yet. However, a group of new Gen-Y staff in NASA have started something called "NASA Colab" (for collaborative) at http://colab.arc.nasa.gov/. In their words, "NASA CoLab brings together NASA innovators to create participatory exploration opportunities for the public" using web 2.0 (and Second Life) technologies. They are truly pushing NASA down the road with them.
I'm sort of kicking myself toward the web 2.0 world and have been greatly encouraged by Ed Morrison to jump into the fray - in large part by his example. Your excellent post is also an inspiration. I encourage you and others in this WIRED community to share personal experiences and lessons learned in how to participate effectively and find our own voices.
Mike Mortell said
This is a great question: Is anyone out there really using Web 2.0? In our Milwaukee 7 region various staff members connected to our WIRED initiative are exploring and testing how to make use of web 2.0 tools - specifically near-time. I think that the flexible and customizable nature of a web 2.0 tool makes it very promising for the work we are trying to accomplish across the region.
The flexibility, which will likely serve us in the long-term, also means we have to build our skills before we see much of a return using the tools. The first step we are taking is to learn the basic technical skills for using the tools such as the capacity and limits of all the features. This seems a bit like figuring out how and when to use a database vs. spreadsheet vs. word processor vs. powerpoint. We moving minor parts of our work to the platform and will refine our skills as we learn.
Richard and Mike, thanks for adding your thoughts.
Over the past year and a half I've taught several workshops on web 2.0 at California Workforce Association conferences. Each time I've found one or two more examples of how it's being used (last time I got to highlight WIRED Nation ). But I'm not overwhelmed - yet.
Here's my big dream: we find some private money to fund web 2.0 experimentation by various one-stops, WIBs and nonprofits across the country. The truth is we don't know what works, and we won't know until we learn by trial and error. The Chronicle articles highlighted the fact that foundations are in that phase right now.
For example, earlier this week I wrote a blog post about how we could send announcements to job seekers via cell phone - and I know I'm not the first person to think of it. How can it work? Who will use it? What kinds of messages should we send? What technology will work best? All that can be ironed out, but not until we give it a try.