The Global Human Capital Journal - Innovation/Web 2.0

World of Mouth Asserts Itself at Web Content 2008 Chicago—Wherefore Art Thou, Control?

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:49:17 -0500

Reexamining "Content" in Light of "Conversation"

Web 2.0 is redefining content on the Web, and Duo Consulting's and Content Wrangler's Web Content 2008 Chicago, convened at the UBS Tower on June 17-18, 2008, was a rich opportunity to check in with the Web 1.0-Web 2.0 mashup. Embedded within the legacy concept of "content" (text, pictures, audio, video, etc.) is that few people create it and many people consume it, which is obviously less true with every passing month.

Something else is happening on the way to the forum, too: opinions about content are gaining more attention than the content itself, according to Day One keynote Dick Costolo. If so, where does that leave people who "manage" content? There is a whole ecosystem of professionals and vendors that manage content according to Web 1.0 rules, and many of them were here, sharing their visions and tactics for embracing Web 2.0. Day Two keynote Jerome Nadel provided a clue: a shift in emphasis to design: since "users" are creating the opinion content through their "conversation," I'll hazard that a key part of the concept of "management" will be providing a better whiteboard that enables people to share what and how they want with whomever they want when they want.

Moreover, everyone had control issues. Speakers as a group did not agree whether consumers were in control now or whether content creators still prevailed. Chris Anderson's adage kept flitting across my mind, "We live in an 'and world,' not an 'or world'." The conversation will not replace content; it will play with it. The two will synergize. As usual, I have summarized the remarks of speakers whose sessions I attended, and I'll wrap with my own Analysis and Conclusions.

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Consumer Disruptors: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:26:45 -0500

How Consumer-Generated Content Is Contributing to Transparency in Healthcare

Healthcare systems worldwide are criticized for falling short of expectations, and countries like the U.S. which feature aging populations, are rapidly approaching a crisis. Demand and cost will grow, but the system as currently structured will certainly break down unless radical changes are made. Web 2.0's disruptive potential can be part of the remedy: we need to introduce much more accountability and collaboration into all parts of the system. We need to change the paternalistic attitudes that pervade the system, treat patients as active participants and encourage everyone to be more accountable. This series introduces healthcare Web 2.0 innovators.

Business Drivers

Consumer-directed healthcare is an attempt to decrease U.S. healthcare costs by giving healthcare consumers (patients) a financial stake in the healthcare they access. At the consumer level, most programs consist of two parts, a high deductible health policy to protect against catastrophic expenses and a health savings account (HSA), which consumers use to pay the majority of their healthcare expenses. HSAs are tax-advantaged: in most cases, the consumer pays for healthcare cost pre-tax (healthcare costs reduce the tax rate). The consumer can save unused healthcare funds for following years.

CDHC will work best when consumers have detailed information about healthcare procedures, outcomes and costs so that they can make better decisions about the type and quantity of care they receive. This is disruptive in many areas of healthcare, where releasing cost and outcome information to the patient is often seen as taboo. Most of the sites below build their business models around advertising and up-selling, as they are free to use by consumers.

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PatientsLikeMe: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:57:00 -0500

How a "Facebook for Health Conditions" Is Redefining Privacy and Collaboration

Business Drivers

PatientsLikeMe is a digital social network where patients of chronic, life-changing diseases share detailed quantifiable information about themselves, their diseases and their treatments' effectiveness. The goal of the site is to improve quality of life by sharing information.

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HCAR KnowledgeMesh: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:32:00 -0500

New Life Sciences Accelerator Leverages Digital Social Network—Inspired by LinkedIn and Facebook

Business Drivers

The Hershey Center for Applied Research KnowledgeMesh is a new initiative that unites healthcare- and life sciences-focused commercial, academic and government forces in a digital social network. It is a cutting edge social networking and scientific mapping online community that will drive R&D in the life sciences and high tech.

KnowledgeMesh is inspired by Facebook and business executive social network LinkedIn. It is explicitly designed to create and enhance interactions among industry, government, academie, venture capitalists, intellectual property attorneys and the work force.

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Sermo: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:30:52 -0500

U.S. Physicians Learn the Power of Professional Crowdsourcing—Consult Each Other in Digital Social Network

Business Drivers

Sermo is a start-up that was founded by a doctor with a passion, to create a professional community in which often-isolated U.S. doctors can advise each other. Once confirmed as practicing physicians, members create pseudonyms that are attached to their specialties. No other information about members is required, but they can volunteer other information about themselves.

The Sermo story reflects the limitless applicability of Web 2.0 collaboration, in healthcare and other industries.

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Mayo Clinic: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:31:00 -0500

Renowned Health Center Lets Patients and Employees Share Experiences in Facebook—Podcasts, a New Way to Leverage Multimedia

Business Drivers

Mayo Clinic is literally a pioneer in that it was founded on the U.S. frontier in the 19th century. The world-renowned medical center has innovated many of the practices that evolved into the modern medical practice. It became organized as a nonprofit in 1919 and, as the Mayo Foundation, it has played a lead role in supporting medical education at the University of Minnesota Graduate School.

It may be natural, then, that Mayo Clinic began to pioneer the way in enabling patient-to-patient communication with Facebook, one of the most popular public Web 2.0 venues for many-to-many interaction in 2008. Mayo Clinic practitioners understand the power of word of mouth, which is embedded into its culture.

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Pfizer: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:32:48 -0500

How Blogs and Wikis Add Value in Global Organizations by Supplementing Enterprise IT—Contagious Grassroots Enthusiasm

Business Drivers

Pfizer is the world's largest pharmaceutical company by sales, having in its stable numerous bestselling drugs, from Lipitor, Lyrica and Diflucan to Zithromax and Viagra. It also has the industry's largest R&D budget, a global workforce and a tremendous need for its people to collaborate seamlessly across boundaries.

All pharmaceutical companies are struggling to invent new drugs because much of the "low hanging fruit" has been harvested, and their R&D staffs need to try new things to discover and bring new drugs to market.

In this case, Pfizer's experience suggests the power of applying Web 2.0 tools internally, a practice termed "enterprise 2.0."

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CDC: Healthcare Web 2.0 Innovator Case Study

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:49:46 -0500

Collaborating with Customers to Achieve Corporate Strategy—How Small Steps Can Lead to Large Impact

CDC Business Drivers

CDC's charter is to protect public health. The agency serves as a resource to mitigate the impact of infectious diseases, environmental health, bioterrorism and others. It fulfils its mission by connecting with people and educating the public; it seeks to partner with people to increase their knowledge of health hazards and how to respond appropriately in the face of threats.

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Web 2.0 and Social Media Uncorked at TechCocktail Conference 1.0

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:54:40 -0500

Knowledge Economy Unfolds via All Things Digital-Social—Wearing Passion and Personality on Your Sleeve

Discerning Web 2.0 from Web 1.0—Ron May Gets Comeuppance as Happy and Successful

Web 2.0 entrepreneurs, financiers and professional services folk descended on Loyola University Chicago's Lewis Hall 29 May 2008 for "Tech Conference," TechCocktail's first ever day-long educational event. Founders Frank Gruber and Eric Olson served an effervescent yet heady elixir of heart-to-heart war stories, lessons learned and strategies by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, lawyers, accountants and an executive coach.

Since attending TechCocktail 1 in July 2006, I have promoted the periodic TechCocktail "meetups" to everyone who will listen as the place to learn about and connect with Web 2.0 players and technology in Chicago (elsewhere now, too). Frank and Eric have created one of the most worthwhile groups and communities in the city and were recognized in the ITA's Citylights this year. Their first conference was both high value and quintessentially Web 2.0: speakers were open about what had worked and what hadn't. The program was well balanced, organized and entertaining. There were considerable lessons for Web 2.0 entrepreneurs and their providers to take away.

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IBM Drives Enterprise Adoption of Social Networks with New Enterprise Adaptability Practice

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:52:00 -0600

Enterprise-class Social Networking Is Closer than You Think—Resetting the Adoption Clocks

Shades of Web 3.0—The Googlization of Knowledge Management

Tuesday IBM announced a new services practice, "Enterprise Adaptability" services, which aims to help global companies realize a quantum leap in workforce agility and collaboration by facilitating their adoption of social networks and Web 2.0. As predicted in the Year in Review—2007, social networks and Web 2.0 are being embraced in the enterprise B2B arena this year, and this announcement shows that adoption is ~~right on~~ ahead of schedule. Enterprise 2.0 is reaching the mainstream, and companies that do not aggressively adopt enterprise 2.0 will experience serious competitive threats within three years.

IBM's announcement validates enterprise social networking, but more significant is their rationale for launching the practice: their clients are struggling with adjusting to the Knowledge Economy, globalization and decreasing margins, and Enterprise Adaptability prescribes collaboration and innovation to cure legendary agility gaps. As explained below, Enterprise Adaptability smells like breakthrough, although it's barely out of the oven. To look behind the curtain, I caught up with Scott Smith, a lead Partner in IBM's Human Capital Management practice as well as Christa Degnan Manning, Research Director, AMR Research and Derek Smith, Research Director, Kennedy Information. After briefing you on the Enterprise Adaptability practice, I will dive deeper into its market significance and consider prospects for success.

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Web 2.0's Impact on 2008 U.S. Presidential Election Declared Minimal at Executives' Club

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:16:00 -0600

But Cantankerous Subtext Hints at Possible Monkey Wrench—Democratic Race in Spotlight

The Executives' Club of Chicago fielded an expert panel to brief Midwest executives on Web 2.0's current and likely impact on one of the most watched U.S. elections in recent history. Marie Cocco, a renowned political columnist, Peter Greenburger, Director of Google's Elections & Issue Advocacy Team, and Alan Webber, Senior Analyst of Forrester Research brought to bear diverse perspectives on the question at the event, which took place at The University Club on January 31, 2008.

They produced a logical conclusion, namely that Web 2.0 was a force in the making but that it would probably not be a decisive factor this year. The session was graciously co-hosted by Communications Committee Co-Chairs David Prosperi, Vice President Global Public Relations, AON and David Blake, Publisher of Crain's Chicago Business.

As usual, I will share my notes of speakers' remarks before adding my between the lines analysis and conclusions. As an added bonus, I will also share select points of an influential source who, although not in the room, was virtually present through repeated reference.

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Noodle II: Tackling the Intractable Delight of the Automobile

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:24:33 -0600

The automobile is a personal manifestation of the ultimate promise of the Industrial Economy—that physical power is essentially free—because it enables people to move quickly and easily. People just love cars because it is immensely satisfying to glide effortlessly (traffic notwithstanding ,^) from one place to another with a high degree of individual freedom.

However, as 2007 draws to a close, autos' current reliance on fossil fuels makes it increasingly obvious that we need to change the rules. First, new wealth in emerging markets is dramatically increasing auto ownership and its concomitant demand for oil. Increased demand and uncertain supply will undoubtedly prove unsustainable in the medium term. Second, and even more daunting, is the carbon/climate change problem, which is far more life-changing in the long term. Petroleum and coal are the largest contributors to man-made carbon emissions.

Since every challenge also means opportunity, entrepreneurs are busy with an increasing sense of urgency, trying to solve the problem. Here are two examples that I found particularly interesting:

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Noodle I: Mashing up Edison and Weinberger

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:23:00 -0600

Noodles represent a new kind of writing for the Global Human Capital Journal. Noodles are bits of thought that are unstructured and relatively brief. Most won't even be split into "extended" articles. They are partially inspired by twittering.

Yesterday I heard David Weinberger (one of the Cluetrain authors; his new book is Everything is Miscellaneous) talk at Big Frontier, and the big insight I took away doesn't sound like much but, peel the onion, and it's quite profound. Knowledge is inherently social. We vet our thoughts by sharing them with other people. Interaction helps us to refine thoughts and coalesce them into knowledge by knocking off the rough edges, and we co-design knowledge by collaborating.

One of the megatrends enabled by social networks and Web 2.0 is that "people like us" can connect and develop knowledge much more quickly than ever before. This is serving to rebalance the entire concept of "knowledge authority." Take the "university." The first European university was the University of Bologna, which was founded in 1088. It pioneered the concept in the West. The name, "university," refers to the fact that thinkers from many (virtually all available) disciplines gather to study and interact. Seen from the "knowledge is social" context, a big part of students' and professors' competitive advantage, and inherent in their authority, is this "universe" of thinkers in which they can all be social with knowledge. It's a high octane environment for creating and refining knowledge. Ditto for vaunted high tech areas like Silicon Valley.

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Social Tagging, Changing the Economics of E-Commerce: Customers Help You to Boost Revenue

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:23:00 -0500

Geeky Session Explains How a Potent Mix of "People Like Me" Navigation and Digital Leverage Can Drive Sales and Profits

The Secret to Emerging Markets?

The Global Human Capital Journal's coverage of the Forrester Consumer Forum 2007 continues with this session on social tagging. Before your eyes glaze over, bear with me and learn how this simple, revolutionary social technology can help your customers to help your business. Forrester's Sarah Rotman Epps moderated a discussion with Brian Rosenblat, Online Retail Industry Lead, Endeca Technologies and Jay Shaffer, Vice President Marketing, PowerReviews, who represented companies that offer social tagging solutions, and they all shared numerous examples.

This was one of the most "actionable opportunity" sessions of the conference: tagging is a relatively unknown, simple, yet transformational Web 2.0 phenomenon that will gain traction in 2008 and explode in 2009. If you aren't doing it, you will be at a significant disadvantage to your competitors who do.

The Global Human Capital Journal published the overall conference wrap as well as in-depth coverage of several sessions. Access all through the link to the conference logo (right).

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Virtual Worlds and Gaming: Fertile Ground for Real Relationships

nospam@example.com (Christopher S. Rollyson) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 18:26:57 -0500

A Paradoxical Proposition, Are People More Real Where They Live Their Dreams?—Zapped by Conventional Thinking

Gaming and virtual worlds like Second Life have been a hot topic due to their novelty and, where gaming is concerned, their Gen X and Gen Y demographics. However, early adopter marketers who have flocked to virtual worlds to create presences there have often been disappointed. Forrester's Paul Jackson is a long-time follower of gaming and virtual worlds, and he gave a fascinating and valuable session on the status and best practices for how marketers can approach this new medium. He also gave a rough ROI picture of investing. Just like anything, if you approach virtual worlds with appropriate goals, you can benefit significantly.

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