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Cyberinfrastructure Design Education Globalization Technology

Waste not – Want not

The reason organizations need to save energy:
Energy

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Cyberinfrastructure Education Flat World Globalization Innovation Network Reading Technology

Latest read: Corporate Agility

How do organizations compete today?  Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World provides a good reference on how major US companies have adopted a new business model for competing in a flat world.

corporate agilityAfter reading Tom Friedman’s The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century book series on globalization and the breakthrough work by Jerry Wind and Victor & William Fung in Competing in a Flat World: Building Enterprises for a Borderless World.

I found chapters in Corporate Agility a fit perfectly to the above works.  Corporate Agility supports business case studies throughout the book that span a wide range of industries with lessons for all who are seeking new models for business in the 21st globalized century.

The strongest chapter is early in the book surrounding the shift in company buildings and the move to a mobile workforce that permits companies to break expensive building leases and create smaller ‘offices’ with limited administrative staff and resources.

I have experienced these efforts directly in working with clients who have been forced to trim staff and yet end up in an dry office complex with over 50% of their office cubes empty.

Actually I’m reminded of a PR company who hired temporary workers to “work” in all their empty cubes while a potential client made an office visit.  Needless to say they did not understand the basics of a company’s need for agility as described in the book.

I feel the early chapters of Corporate Agility is an expansion of The World Is Flat while the book’s case studies just touch the surface that is presented in detail by Competing in a Flat World.

Corporate Agility’s book website

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Design Education Globalization Google Innovation Network Rich media Technology

Keep it simple Google

On top of introducing a new YouTube channel for Google’s Wave solution, Google is taking the “keep it simple stupid” approach to talking about Wave. Their first go-round was a two hour video….and in today’s short attention span economy – who had the time?

Tags: Google Wave, beta software, Collaboration, real-time, communication, test audience, limited preview, trends

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Design Education Google Innovation Network OpenSource Technology

Google puts Wave tutorials on YouTube

Imagine that!  In the “what took so long” category Google has finally released a series of good video training session all about their real-time communication and collaboration tool Google Wave.  I posted last month (read it here) Google is missing a real opportunity surrounding Wave acceptance due to limited access to Wave in groups.

As many have shared on twitter — a lot of people with Google Wave accounts simply “don’t get it” and the new channel on YouTube will provide a great single repository for Wave fans to learn about their real-time collaboration solution.  Wave is a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking.

wave_youtube

As many have accomplished, Waves around the world have proved to be excellent communication opportunities for individuals.  If Google wants to reach out to small groups and large organizations, they must provide mass accounts to really kick the tires and integrate this promising tool into their infrastructure…..BTW it can help revolutionize a number of outdated ‘workflows’ that are in use today in non-profits, education and business.

Tags: Google Wave, beta software, Collaboration, real-time, communication, test audience, limited preview, trends

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Design Education Globalization Google Innovation Network Technology

Is Google Wave a “failure” ?

I cannot help but share my thoughts about all those who are predicting the stillbirth of Google Wave. Since this topic frequently hits the popular list at del.icio.us more than I care to see, its worth reminding everyone that beta or “limited preview” as Google refers to Wave is just that – a preview of the technology product.

waveinvite2Their only “failure” is the current lack of a wider test audience. Wave has a lot of promise but during it’s current limited preview its simply not as widely available to the average Google user.

Google Maps was a different type of beta release.  Anyone could login and test their mapping features.  Wave is an initial different product and audience.

I know PLENTY of people who want to kick the tires and engage Wave but they do not have an account.

If your not a Google user (Gmail, Docs, Analytics) then you may feel like you must extend your “Yahoo life” in order to test Wave. The same can be said for those who want to test Wave within an organization or company.

Google has been more relaxed about giving away invites.  In early 2009 it was extremely difficult to find an invite.  I noticed that this process turned into a “power struggle” for some who where begging for Wave invites on twitter.

This also makes me wonder if all those tweets about Wave’s failure belong to people who really do not understand the limitations of beta software.

A simple query at amazon.com reveals a number of Wave books are not even shipping yet.  Another Wave book that I’m interested in is also not shipping yet.

Are there any Wave Wave torrents?  So to all those on the cutting bleeding edge: how well do you actually know Wave?  If you need a book to read check out The Complete Guide to Google Wave.

Tags: Google Wave, beta software, Collaboration, email, IM, test audience, limited preview, trends