Shelf Life: Readings on Web 2.0

How to win over social-media holdouts
Source: Bnet

Are reluctant co-workers stifling every attempt to bring social media into your workplace? Bnet blogger Jessica Stillman suggests seven ways to win them over.

One idea: Don’t sell them on the concept, sell them on a solution. Find a specific need that social media might fill, such as employee training, and explain how the technology could help. Also, point out how other organizations have put the technology to work. That might help your co-workers grasp the concept better — and it might shame them into giving it a try.

Social media in DOD: A family perspective
Source: The DOD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum

The Defense Department invited military spouses and other family members to weigh in on the debate about the role of social media in the military. The comments -- 275 in all -- show how Facebook and other tools have transformed the lives of military families, especially during deployments.

“One thing missing from e-mail is the humor and emotional content that is available on social networks,” wrote Gary. “I am an avid Facebook user, and sometimes my daughter can see that I am thinking about her when I send her a ‘gift’ like a heart or a flower. Sure, they’re just icons, but how old does ‘I love ya’ get?”

A manager's guide to social media
Source: CIO.com

Consultant David Kelleher walks managers through the potential problems of allowing employees to access Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites while at work.

Some concerns are legitimate, including the loss of worker productivity, a spike in network activity and increased risk of Internet viruses, but those problems are addressable, Kelleher wrote.

An abundance of sources on the Semantic Web
Source: World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium, an international group that works on Web standards and guidelines, offers a good starting point for anyone looking to brush up on Semantic Web technology.

The W3C Web site includes a basic explanation of the technology, sometimes referred to as Web 3.0, and points to articles and interviews from various technical publications. It also posts presentations by Tim Berners-Lee and other experts.

A collection of collaboration tools
Source: InformationWeek

InformationWeek’s Serdar Yegulalp highlights seven Web-based applications that enable multiple users to collaborate on documents in real time.

Google Docs is familiar to many people, but Yegulalp said Zoho Writer is a good alternative. That tool offers both full collaboration and read-only modes. In read-only, other users view the document as a static Web page. The application also comes with a chat function.

Twitter guidelines: The U.K. edition
Source: The E-government Bulletin

Government officials in the United Kingdom drafted guidelines for agencies that want to join the conversation on Twitter.

The guidelines highlight the various objectives Twitter might help agencies achieve and ways to measure their success. For example, if agencies hope to provide “thought leadership,” they should measure the frequency with which their updates are retweeted by other users.