Google Listener

I just read this article about the new 'Google Listener' App they released for Android.

I like the idea of being able to search for audio clips online. Search on media like video and audio is difficult because you become reliant on meta information for indexing and relating it to searches. Test is easy because you can search the text easily. It appears this isn't as much of a way to search all audio clips online, which would be incredibly difficult, but cool, but a way to find postcasts etc.. kind of like iTunes or something.

Despite my interest, I wonder how much interest others would have in being able to search all the internet for any audio clip posted. I'm always trying to remember quotes or wondering how to get an audio clip of famous speeches, etc. My desire to search audio clips is not for any particular reason, but if I had a way to conveniently do it, I would probably find useful things to do with it.

This could become standard Google search option, like Google Images....oh, the possibilities

Video Streaming is the Future?

I read this article this morning about a renewed and growing partnership between Verizon FiOS and the online streaming/ content provider blip.tv.



This is an area I will continue to watch with interest, especially after reading another report this morning about the incredible growth in the amount of video content being consumed on the internet.

The question is, will people prefer to watch it on their small iPhones, or is this market of 'on-demand streamed programming' for your television going to start taking off more? Imagine, waking up in the morning, not to CNN or your local news, but to a series of video blogs you have subscribed to. I don't see that as too far fetched an idea do you?

Enterprise 2.0

This summer I have been able to work on quite a few projects related to ‘enterprise 2.0’, and more specifically how it is being used in organizations. The last few weeks I’ve been working on pulling together what I’ve observed over my time on these projects and the research that has supplemented it.

The term Enterprise 2.0 is still being defined, or so we like to say, so I will throw out my definition before starting. Enterprise 2.0 is the use of social software and tools (ie. applications, usually web based, that allow people to identify themselves, connect to each other, ask questions, self publish, etc) used to achieve business objectives.

According to that, Enterprise 2.0 is more than just an IT initiative or project, it needs to be an enterprise plan with a strategy and it needs to involve all parts of the organization including but not limited to knowledge management, operations, IT, Human Resources, Communications, and Marketing.

Marketing and Communications seem to build their strategies around what I like to call ‘Social Media’, or 3rd party external sites like facebook & twitter. Usually the strategies are to improve the branding and PR of the organization, and does not directly impact the day to day operations of the employees.

Human Resources, IT, Operations, and Knowledge Management people seem to be interested in a larger enterprise solution. They often turn to internal development, but there are growing offerings by external companies like Jive, Socialtext, etc. The development of these internal systems require large changes in culture and processes and require significant change management support. Of course a robust IT approach is required as well.

I see significant opportunities in both these areas. This seems to be a trend in government, in the consulting industry, and increasingly other industries as well. Here is a small table of some of the examples I’ve read about or heard about.

 

Examples
Company	Platform (s)	Business Need
IBM	Beehive, Blue Pages, Sand	Connect a decentralized global community of knowledge workers. Facilitate innovation and networking to create better solutions to the worlds toughest problems
Deloitte	D-Street	Encourage networking among employees scattered throughout the United States, and create a platform to engage them for feedback.
Booz Allen Hamilton	Hello.bah.com	Facilitate the sharing and creation of documents in a increasingly decentralized work environment
Lockheed Martin	Unity	Allow employees to connect to one another and have a workspace to easily collaborate with one another and partners
Best Buy	Blueshirtnation.com (BSN)	Capture and share knowledge between employees in stores all over the world, increasing customer service and employee moral
Intelligence Community	Intellipedia	A place to publish and track information across several departments and agencies to secure he safety of citizens
State Department	Diplopedia	Make available information and knowledge about the department, countries, diplomats, and other affairs
Department of Defense	Techipedia	Discussion between engineers and other workers in the Department
Cleveland Federal Reserve	N/A	Knowledge sharing among employees
Cisco	N/A	A platform for meetings using Cisco technology and encourage and facilitate innovation

What are other good examples? Have people have observed similar trends?

Restart

Well, It has been a little while, but I think I am ready to get this blog going again. I have been learning a lot and will update this more tomorrow, but my goal is to start keeping a better record of my growing knowledge as an IT professional. I hope this becomes a more utilized site, at least by me.