Last week I mentioned the roundtable and that an article would appear in the Straits Times. The article has appeared online here, but unfortunately like all Straits Times articles you have to be a paying, registered user to view it! If you are in Singapore you can at least pick up the paper and have a read - it is part of a worthwhile six page feature on social networks. If it triggers any thoughts on your side, you can continue the discussion online at the blog4biz, hosted by IBM and using their collaborative software suite.
The article itself is good - there are relevant quotes about the benefits of social computing, and also the fears that organisations have in taking it up. Several of the participants are quoted extensively talking about the blocks put in place by their organisations to prevent people making use of tools already widely used at home.
It never ceases to amaze me that organisations can be so resistant to change. People are already using these tools at home, and if they want to criticise their organsation, or share confidential secrets online, there is ample opportunity to do so. By embracing these tools and coming up with sensible rules (like those at Red Hat) at least you try to make the activity a little more transparent.
For the first time in history, people can get themselves better connected at home than they can at work, using software that cheap or usually free ...