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Looking for Corporate Examples of Web 2.0 Engagement
April 13th, 2008 | Posted in Blogging, Podcasting, Technical Writing, social networking |
I’m trying to gather as many examples as possible about how companies are engaging in web 2.0 activities. Do you know any companies that are using blogs, wikis, social networks, forums, podcasts/videocasts, or interactive online help? If so, let me know by either adding a comment below or by contacting me. (It doesn’t have to be restricted to tech comm examples.)
In May I’m giving a virtual presentation to STC-Phoenix and I hope to use some of this info to liven the presentation up. In case you’re interested, my presentation summary is below.
Combining Social Media with Help Authoring
The web landscape has changed considerably in the last several years. Users are no longer passive consumers of information (web 1.0), but instead are active contributors of content (web 2.0). They expect to interact and share information, not only with other users, but with project teams and companies.
Although interactive technologies have flourished on the web, much of the help authoring community remains in the one-way communication model. We treat our users as if they have little or nothing to contribute back.
In this virtual meeting, I’ll discuss six of the most compelling technologies that enable users to become contributors: blogs, wikis, social networks, forums, podcasts/videocasts, and interactive online help. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each medium, and how technical writers can use these technologies to better connect with users.
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Tags: presentations, STC, Web 2.0
April 14th, 2008 at 1:34 am
[...] Looking for Corporate Examples of Web 2.0 Engagement [...]
April 14th, 2008 at 5:58 am
I agree with you that Web 2.0 technology(ies) allow for not only the information access to be interactive, but also the process for this information set being created. There are some customers that we work with using similar approaches.
It is my experience that some ‘types’ of customers fit this model better than others. Typically they have geographically distributed (end) customers who have a continuous period of discovery with their products/services and/or the release cycle is not necessarily a twice a year (?) cycle. Essentially the information going out is critical for the service/product/process to be continuously in use.
The other is that information coming in is not necessarily already ’structured’ in the way all information needs to be there a priori as with documentation traditional. And this extended period of discovery is coupled with a requirement for information to persist longer and be more widely available.
Some people who fit this category are Auto Mfg’rs, Defense/aerospace kind of people (which we actively service) and Banking/Financial transaction type companies, in addition to the software products and services.
BTW I am not a technical writer by training and my perspective is more with what’s good for our customers. There are quite a few smart people in our organization who can get to the nuts and bolts of it
April 14th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Check out CIO magazine’s recent articles on this.
Here’s a list to a list of articles you might find useful.
http://www.cio.com/search?cx=005964914320811651291%3Axkqet_zlicy&q=%22Web+2.0&cof=FORID%3A09#1204
Also, there was an article in the McKinsey Quarterly about how businesses are using Web 2.0 technology. You have to register to read it, but the registration is free.
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Information_Technology/Applications/How_businesses_are_using_Web_20_A_McKinsey_Global_Survey_1913?gp=1
April 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Hi Tom - we use wikis for functional spec/project details for our agile development groups. Once the dev groups finally all began to adhere to the practice of keeping the wikis updated with latest and greatest info (and once management started including an “update wiki” task in each feature for each development sprint - it really made it so much easier for the doc group (and project management etc.) to find the info we require. It also cut down on back and forth emails and eliminated a lot of the time consuming investigative work we usually had to do to figure out if something even needed doc at all.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Hi,
I want to gain some insight on how agile is implemented. Can you tell us your experiences? Is documentation team expected to attend scrum right from the beginning of the project/release or should they jump in a little later?
Sorry I do not know where to ask this query so am leaving a comment here.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Macy - in lieu of hijacking this topic - you can send me a mail and I can give you our doc groups experiences with agile, if you’re interested (trainey75@yahoo.com)
April 16th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Thanks for the Link Holly
April 25th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
My research into Web 2.0 for Technical Support usage just wrapped up. With a twist: The very application I was tracking just won my subject, MadCap Software, the prestigious ASP Online award!
http://charlesjeter.com/2008/04/22/web-20-tech-support-part-3/
Charless last blog post..Shark Attack Kills Triathlete In San Diego
April 27th, 2008 at 10:28 am
[...] Looking for Corporate Examples of Web 2.0 Engagement [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:03 am
[...] Looking for Corporate Examples of Web 2.0 Engagement [...]