Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Project Management
Change Management Meets Web 2.0
9/2/2008
Web 2.0 technologies like wikis and blogs are dramatically impacting teaching and learning. But how will they affect IT projects and change management on your campus?
"There is nothing
more difficult to take in hand, more perilous
to conduct, or more uncertain in its
success, than to take the lead in the
introduction of a new order of things."
When Niccolo Machiavelli uttered these
words he certainly wasn't speaking of
the advent of Web 2.0. But the words are
eerily relevant, nonetheless.
Unless you've been dozing through the past few years, you're no doubt aware that Web 2.0 is the term describing a group of web-based creativity, informationsharing, and collaboration tools including wikis, blogs, social networks, and folksonomies. (See "Web 2.0 Tools 101") The common thread in all of these tools is twofold: They enable collaboration and information sharing, and their impact on higher education has been dramatic. See, for example, "Unleashing the Power of Web 2.0" (CT June 2008) and "Taking the ‘A' out of Asynchronous" (CT July 2008). But how have these technologies changed the way higher education goes about managing projects and managing the change process itself?
Web 2.0 and Change
Traditionally, project management (PM) focused on the process of implementing technical change, while change management focused on the sociological aspects of introducing change. Yet, with the introduction of Web 2.0 tools and their emphasis on collaboration and information sharing, the differences between the two are fading.
Wikis and blogs, for instance, have been extensively used in a standalone fashion to support project management for some time now. Information infrastructure solution provider EMC, for one, has for several years been using wikis in IT projects, to store documents, create logs, and encourage discussions. According to Tony Pagliarulo, VP of application development at the company, wikis work best when they are focused on a specific project or group of users. They are "very good for a departmental project," he reports.
And interestingly, the CIA has applied the technology to intelligence gathering through its Intellipedia wiki (more information here), which is designed to serve a clearinghouse function between government intelligence agencies. Intellipedia led to the use of other Web 2.0 tools including documentsharing blogs, Jabber-based chat, RSS, and YouTube-style video. Not surprisingly, IT behemoth Oracle has begun adding software offerings that tap two Web 2.0 technologies: software as a service (SaaS) and social networking. And another IT giant, IBM has added social networking to its Rational software development platform, in order to allow all participants in the development process-- not just developers-- to collaborate.
Fortunately, there now is no shortage of wiki software, both open source and fee-based. (Head to WikiMatrix.org to compare the prices and features of over a hundred different wikis.) Two of the most popular are TWiki a widely used open source package (commercial support is available here), and Socialtext, one of the first commercial wikis.
Recommended Reading
- Emerging Tech Challenges
- Interesting Developments
New projector technologies and features offer improved picture quality, reductions in operation and installation costs, and challenge our ideas about where and how projectors can be used.
- 'N' is for Now!
With final approval of the emerging 802.11n standard tantalizingly close, forward-looking colleges and universities are deploying wireless "n" networks. Here's what you'll need to know for your own "n" initiative.
- Put It Online
- The Argument for Open
Is open source business intelligence software ready for prime time? Our feature contributor offers BI watchers the open source ammunition they've been waiting for.
- CT Briefs
