Skip the navigation

Blogs Bubble Into Business

Weblogs began as a personal communications medium, but they're moving into corporations as tools for collaboration and knowledge management.

By Linda Rosencrance
January 26, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Jacob Crossman, a software engineer at Soar Technology Inc. in Ann Arbor, Mich., uses blogging tools from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Socialtext Inc. to keep an up-to-date engineering notebook on his ideas about a particular project that can be accessed by other project participants.
"One of the disadvantages of a paper-based engineering notebook is that it's hard to find things unless you want to go through it manually," Crossman says. "So I decided to use the blog feature of Socialtext's software to keep track of my ideas. I would type them in, and then they're immediately searchable using another feature of the software." He is also able to link to other documents about the project using the blog entry.
Crossman is not alone. Recently, weblogs, or blogs, which let anyone with a Web browser and some easy-to-use software publish a personalized diary online, have started to emerge as valuable knowledge management and communication tools in companies.
But blogs aren't entering through the CIO's office. They often first appear in companies as the convenient records of engineering or design projects. They're taking the same bottom-up adoption path followed by instant messaging, another collaboration tool originally used for personal communication.
Weblog software, whether free, inexpensive or not so cheap, aggregates and publishes unstructured content on the Web by time and topic. XML can be used to embed links in the blog from a variety of resources, but no knowledge of that language or HTML is necessary.
The details and features of the technology vary by vendor, but blogging software is basically a simple content management system that's designed to take content written by the blogger and post it at the top of a page.
That content is either stored in a database or a flat file, depending on the software. Usually the presentation layer is separate from the content, so that the blogger can design the look and feel of the blog and simply fit the content elements within whatever format the user wants to read. Many blogging systems provide templates to make that easier.
Using blogs, companies can easily and quickly communicate information such as project updates, research, and product and industry news both inside and outside the business. Security issues are the same as with any Internet-based application.
Even though blogging technology has the potential to become important to their companies, most CIOs haven't paid much attention to blogging, and it's not one of the tools they're considering to solve their myriad IT problems, according to John Patrick, president of Attitude



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Applications White Papers
Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) Case Study - Oracle
In this paper, Forrester Consulting examines the total economic impact and potential return on investment (ROI) realized by three Enterprise organizations as they...
The Hidden Truth About Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications
This IDG whitepaper highlights key findings based on the Quickpoll Survey conducted with more than 300 Enterprise and Commercial IT decision makers worldwide...
Top 10 Myths About Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications
Even though virtualization has brought positive change to enterprise IT over the last decade, some skepticism remains about how valuable virtualization can be...
Enterprise Java Applications on VMware: Unix to Linux Migration Guide
This guide focuses on key considerations for IT Architects who are in the process of migrating Java applications from UNIX to Linux as...
Virtualizing Tier 1 Applications: A Critical Step on the Journey Toward the Private Cloud  
This IDC white paper explains how much of the Enterprise IT community is at a crossroads in extending their journey to the private...
All Applications White Papers
Applications Webcasts
Live Webcast
Banish Poor Application Performance: Eliminate Business Disruptions, Increase End User Productivity
End User Experience, 30-Min Webinar
Wed. Feb. 22nd ~ 11 AM ET

Are you ready to gain the proactive ability to rapidly respond...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®...
Discover the Benefits of Virtualization for Federal Applications
Want to say goodbye to missed SLAs? VMware can help you virtualize mission-critical applications such as Oracle, MS Exchange and SharePoint to achieve...
Reduce Application Lifecycle Management Costs with VMware ThinApp
Traditional desktop application deployment and management is a time-consuming and costly endeavor for IT. From development to deployment, including help desk support, the...
All Applications Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs