Open/closed, inside/outside
Posted in design, technology, work on 05/30/2008 01:51 pm by karenWe are implementing social networking at work. We are a membership organization, so obviously the members will have access to the network. But what about non-members?
There is an easy answer (pictured here) and then a new question:
What about the blogs and podcasts produced by in-house experts?
Here’s my thought (another picture).
I wonder, does anyone know of a company that keeps its blogs and podcasts inside a walled garden? It seems like that’d contradict the nature of business blogs and podcasts, but maybe I’m overlooking something?
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I just got my copy of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.
I had to buy it, because I am a huge fan of pictures-as-explanations, and am curious about how the author will make his case and provide instruction about how to make and use pictures well…
The idea of giving a simple picture to the management team seems silly but you have to stop and think about it. They’re busy people. They deal with a lot of details over the course of a day. A lot of projects, a lot of people talking to them about a lot of different things. I know at the end of a busy day, when people are talking to me about something — even if they’re being cogent and describing things well — all I’m hearing is blah, blah, blah, blah. So, the answer is, if you wanna get through to someone you need a quick little soundbite like “cognitive surplus,” or an amusing story that will stay with them, or a little picture that explains really quickly what you’re trying to get across. Those are things that stick in people’s minds.

05/30/2008 at 2:24 pm
The poet-manager at work… nice.
You’ll appreciate this. It’s wonderful.
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi
05/30/2008 at 3:04 pm
Hey! This is what I specialize in. Yes, I build plenty of community portals with a walled garden for various content. In fact, we are just in the final stages of one right now. We have another one coming up next week. It is a very common practice to require membership for certain content especially IP with regard to subject matter. I’d be happy to help you if you want to email me. My traditional role is to do discovery analysis and then build the technical solution which then gets implemented by a team.