Campfire on Kaamanen road, originally uploaded by wili_hybrid.
Problem:
All presentations, videos etc. explain how technology can impact collaboration. Yes, they make it easier. But the ironic part is that we still operate in our old ways, old processes!
In the old days, well, every day up until the invention of the TV, people would sit around together and talk, tell stories and relate.
The TV really just cut off most of the talking. The web increased talking, but only digital talking! E-mail allowed quicker communication. Wikis allowed quicker document collaboration, Social Networks allowed quicker friend information flow.
BUT very few of these technologies changed the way we work. We still have meetings that put data into technology. Don't we need to change those meetings? Change our processes? Change the way we work?
Here is a good presentation on web technologies and how they impact collaboration, but does it really do us any good?
Solutions:
+ Big collaborative kick off events or sessions are the best way to get things started. You need kindling and a match to start a fire, why not do the same for a project. See Big Collaborative Sessions for how it is done on a global scale.
+ There are lots of resources for how to utilize social collaboration available on the web. Here is one of the best:
Web 2.0 At Work - Simple And Social Collaboration Between Coworkers View more documents from Acando Consulting.
+ On the more comical side, albeit a bit old, still very applicable: