Sue Waters

Last week, Euan Semple and E-learning Networks Community Forum funded by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, © Commonwealth of Australia 2007 were nice enough to grant me permission to create a video podcast from Euan’s online presentation on the use of social computing in organisations. Euan pioneered the use of blogs, wikis and online forums at the BBC and these tools continue to enable staff to work more effectively and more collaboratively across the entire organisation

What got me thinking was that here I am, using a range of social computing tools (e.g. online forums, blogs and wikis) and yet I never even stopped to realise that these tools not only benefit our students but can add real value to organisations when used effectively. If you want to read more about how these tools were implemented at the BBC check out Euan’s article on Social Computing for the Business World.

Within organisation’s social computing tools such as:

1. Online forums are excellent for creating interaction and spontaneity between staff. Staff can pose questions on a range of topics such as “how do I”, “where do I”, “what is the policy on” as well as discuss their feelings on a range of larger issues affecting staff.
2. Blogs are excellent for providing a space for staff to express themselves and their ideas. They also provide a mechanism for letting other staff know more about the person as an individual.
3. Wikis are excellent tool for staff to work collaboratively to complete projects. For example: collaborative document creation and project management.

To me the question is it is so obvious, why don’t myself and others that work with these tools, encourage their use within our organisations. Maybe it is a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.