Our first week of CEDO 535 has us delving into the use of Blogs (Web Logs) for use in schools, businesses and clubs. The course has us reading from Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Blogs are a great way to support e-learning and collaboration. Blogs initially provide a one-to many format for sharing information. Blogs transform into many-to-many communication when responses and comments from others build upon the author's thoughts. An advantage of blogs is that authors and responders can post links and images that support or lend credence to their point of view.
Businesses can certainly benefit from internal company blogs that are open to all employees and external to a customer community. Markets are rapidly changing and companies should muster all the resources they have to adapt to their customer needs. Businesses exist because they have products, services, solutions and most importantly they have customers. How nice it would be if customers could blog about what they like, don't like and would like to see in a company's line of business . Blogs or forums for existing customers would allow them to become stakeholders in existing product improvement and generate ideas for new product(s).
But what good is a blog if no one elaborates on the insights or ideas expressed in a post? Businesses in this case would want to have various departments regularly review and comment back to the customer. In turn, they would link the posts and discussion threads to internal teams for reflection and review. It is critical to know your customers and such a direct pipeline to product teams would drive the business model. Via comments back to the customer, teams could seek clarification or brainstorm on business line enhancements.
So how can blogs become an effective tool supporting collaboration in an organization? At the UW-Hoofer's Sailing Club there are 1350 Club Members with over 100 lessons provided weekly by volunteer and paid instructors. UW students are annually elected to administrative positions and there is a paid Head of Instruction. Communication and innovation are two important factors to ensure that the Sailing Club runs smoothly. A Club blog could facilitate discussion categories setup by fleets and topics and permit Club leaders to post thoughts and challenges for the Club. Members could respond and share their expertise or insights and involve all in a collaborative effort.
In both business and non-profit organizations there is need for some control over what is published by contributing authors. A moderator role, In both cases, should be present to avoid unproductive comments that might be hurtful. In K-12 education there is a push to help young people develop a sense of digital citizenship। But, just because someone is over the age of 18 doesn't mean that they have mastered good judgment when making public posts that can reach a large audience over a long period of time। It is best to have moderators assigned to review and publish posts - or have the rights to hide certain posts - to help the collaborative environments work towards positive goals.
Oh, and if you are using moderators - you might want to make sure you select the right ones for the job.
I agree that a moderator is necessary, especially when we are taking about students. They just don't think about who they are talking to before divulging private information. I think we need to focus on teaching them how to keep themselves safe, as well, and how to be a intelligent Web 2.0 user.
ReplyDeleteModerator Kitteh approves ur subminshinz :)
ReplyDeleteModerator are important and experience and feedback about the process and decision making that takes place in moderation is a good experience for a student. It would be good to have moderator training that covers what the purpose of moderation would be and it will vary depending upon the blog, wiki... If your sailing club is looking for clean language, non-discriminatory practices, and community building it might have different objectives for a moderator than a class blog, for profit blog or social network. I forget where we read this, but honest and unfiltered blogs have been very successful for certain companies because it builds trust and respect in the customers. "They aren't afraid to hear what I have to say." Class rooms may need a stricter set of guidelines.
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ReplyDeleteMichelle, thanks for your comment. One thing that struck me was "..honest and unfiltered blogs have been very successful for certain companies because it builds trust and respect in the customers."
ReplyDeleteA company I was working with was creating an online community with its customers. The team setting-up the community had given the moderators instructions to not let negative comments be posted for all others to see. The word 'negative' is a slippery slope because some of these comments were worth hearing and they were honest portrayals of the current state of product development - or neglect.
I think of the story of the Emperor Wore No Clothes. Everyone was fearful to tell the truth - but in the end it took a boy crying-out from the crowd to help the Emperor see the truth.