OK - that probably loses in the translation for our American cousins ("ham and eggs" anyone?)
Picked this up via the Herald's Sideswipe column yesterday, which I had stopped reading altogether, until somebody asked me what "bacn" stood for. Sideswipe referenced mental floss magazine (motto "Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix") writing about The New Oxford American Dictionary's words of the year, but a quick search there revealed only a short hop, skip and a link to Oxford University Press US's blog and discussion of "locavore" as word of the year.
http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/locavore
Now I am not sure that locavore has the legs to be around in a couple of years, nor am I likely to get it past the kids next time we play Scrabble, but have a look at the runner up words, especially "bacn" and "social graph".
I have been telling the powers that be that social networking is the new best thing - and this list certainly provides fodder for that argument. Fact is - social networking has been around forever - all that has changed is that the computerwordl is catching up. I won't say "caught up" because I think there is still a way to go - and I do not know whether Facebook type applications ARE the end game, but I do know that that is what our young people want, coming in to the workforce.
SO - "Elgg" I learned about in a research paper I am currently reviewing. Sounds like Elgg is having some buy in with academic organisations setting up social networks.
I have been looking for some social networking software for my organisation, especially something that won't interfere with the already complex and widely distributed technical network we are currently running. We have been playing around with SharePoint (who hasn't?) but the amount of set up and administration involved really works against it being rolled out to lots of editors / content contributors. I am also looking for an application to graphically display our knowledge map (I have been working on a small knowledge map for one of our business groups, but am very aware that these people are visual workers and anything less than a graphical, whizbang, ACTUAL map ain't going to cut the mustard.) Any ideas anyone?
I still have not found out "bacn" stands for, but when I do...
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2 comments:
Paul - we're using elgg in a number of uses here at the University of Alberta - I'm also doing research into elgg - can you tell me the research paper you were looking at? michael.hotrum@ualberta.ca
Michael
I am not able to tell you as yet (the paper is still being reviewed), however I will let you know when it is published, early in the New Year.
We hosted a really interesting NZKM session here yesterday on Blogs, Wikis, Sharepoint and Social Networking - Should these be encouraged in the workplace? What was most interesting was the mixed group that turned up - including academic people (I was expecting more corporates...) We did not get on to specifics, but it seems to me that elgg would/could fit a lot of of their needs.
But I am new here, so not yet able to comment with any authority.
Best wishes
Paul
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