Sidebar: A Collaborative Difference

By Linda Rosencrance

January 26, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

(1)

Digg

Twitter

Share/Email

Computerworld - With collaboration software snagging a portion of IT budgets these days, how is blogging related to all those virtual meeting places being built out there?
A blog is a simple content management tool, rather than a collaboration tool like those offered by WebEx Communications Inc. and Centra Software Inc., according to Michael Masnick, president of Techdirt.
"The blog is used for presenting information in an easy-to-use format," he says. "The two things can, and often are, used in complementary ways. Think of WebEx-type applications as a meeting room and blogs as a bulletin board. Both can be used for collaboration, but in different ways."
Ross Mayfield, CEO of Socialtext, agrees that blogs are good for ongoing communications about a particular project within a company as well as with clients. Blogs are less complicated to use and less formal than collaboration suites and electronic meeting rooms.
"Companies use blogs for the conversation that occurs between team members," Mayfield says. "What's been missing is a tool to support that same lightweight communication or that simple communication that occurs, i.e., 'We're a little bit ahead of schedule,' or 'I'm running into a barrier in completing this certain task, and does anyone know where I can find that information?' It's easy for companies to create status update messages -- one for internal use and one for external use."

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Networking

Additional Resources

Xerox

Win a color printer!

By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!

Microsoft

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 today.

Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.

Sybase

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORMS

In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

Informatica 9 Launch: Transform your Business. Transform your world.

LIVE Nov 10, 2009 12:00 PM ET

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change: The Open Solution

LIVE Nov 12, 2009 02:00 PM ET

Applying Remote Support Technology for Maximum Impact
Download Now!

Top to Bottom Performance Management Excellence at the City of Chicago
View now.

IBM Migration Factory: A smooth transition to new technology
Find out how to migrate your applications smoothly over to IBM.

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

Natural User Interface for Enterprise Applications
Download this Complimentary White Paper! Provided by Workday.

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

Moving Beyond Monolithic - What's Next for Enterprise Application Architectures?
Download this Complimentary White Paper! Provided by Workday.

Strategies for Driving Down IT Support Costs with Lite ITIL Practices
View this now!

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs
Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is...

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.

All White Papers | All Webcasts