Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Case studies in social software development
One of my goals this semester is produce a small portfolio (maybe 10-12) of detailed case studies on how professionals are successfully implementing social media in their various roles (product design, campaign manager, media analyst). One of the biggest issues with social software and social media is that there is rarely a willingness on the part of professionals to…. well… admit we are wrestling with ideas beyond our understanding. Yet, we are bound to be wrong more frequently than right, when confronted with a landscape we do not fully comprehend. Certain rules to integrating user-generated content are obvious and over-stated. If I hear mantras such as “listen to the customer” one more time, I’m going to lose it. But the entire life-cycle of locating talent, producing media targeting new technologies, and tracking its success, are rarely brought to the public eye.
The format of these would ideally be concise and easily applicable to the classroom environment. There are already papers out there that are either quite business-oriented or excessively stuffy and academic. These are, for different reasons, not applicable to the classroom; students tend to get bogged down in academic theory and terminology, when the emphasis should be placed on making decisions and evaluating possible solutions. Business case studies tend to present solutions in terms of revenue, money, and individual team members, which I feel is not appropriate, at least for the program I teach in. My series of studies would follow a model that’s basically a modified multi-step model of Jossey-Bass’ (who wrote “Educating Professionals” in 1993):
1. Identify the global problem
Clearly state the problem
Reveal and gather information
2. Develop a first step to address the problem
Develop hypothetical solutions
Select a possible solution that solves the problem
Analyze the important factors in evaluating success
Reveal how the step was actually solved
3. Repeat step 2 for as many steps as necessary (for instance, a surprise might emerge that necessitates a re-evaluation of the suggested course of action, or the case study moves into a new phase of development)
4. Final discussion
Discuss conclusions that can be drawn on how the entire problem was actually solved
Discuss ways to monitor and evaluate success
The format of these would ideally be concise and easily applicable to the classroom environment. There are already papers out there that are either quite business-oriented or excessively stuffy and academic. These are, for different reasons, not applicable to the classroom; students tend to get bogged down in academic theory and terminology, when the emphasis should be placed on making decisions and evaluating possible solutions. Business case studies tend to present solutions in terms of revenue, money, and individual team members, which I feel is not appropriate, at least for the program I teach in. My series of studies would follow a model that’s basically a modified multi-step model of Jossey-Bass’ (who wrote “Educating Professionals” in 1993):
1. Identify the global problem
Clearly state the problem
Reveal and gather information
2. Develop a first step to address the problem
Develop hypothetical solutions
Select a possible solution that solves the problem
Analyze the important factors in evaluating success
Reveal how the step was actually solved
3. Repeat step 2 for as many steps as necessary (for instance, a surprise might emerge that necessitates a re-evaluation of the suggested course of action, or the case study moves into a new phase of development)
4. Final discussion
Discuss conclusions that can be drawn on how the entire problem was actually solved
Discuss ways to monitor and evaluate success
Friday, January 16, 2009
Media Responses from the ISTTF
Several interesting articles have been written since the Internet Safety Task Force document went live on 1/14. I'm happy to say that most of them have got the primary message correct, although few discuss the important areas for future research that will likely be the topics for similar articles in a year or two.
ARS Technica
CBS News
NY Times
SlashDot
Technology Review
ARS Technica
CBS News
NY Times
SlashDot
Technology Review
