Isn’t it interesting how these debates move on and mutate along the way!

 

Whilst I take Rachel’s point about not excluding those barred from particular technologies I do think we also need to be careful about not having our progression as a profession as a whole limited by a ‘lowest common denominator’ approach to the use of technology.  After all it was only last year that I came across staff working in an IM/RM context within a government department who were denied access to the internet completely – so no searching the JISCmail archives there…

 

Rightly or wrongly, it is always ultimately technological developments which drive and shape our organisations – rarely, if ever, the other way around.  It may take some sectors longer to feel the results, but they virtually always do eventually.  So just as it was the norm for many workplaces to routinely ban or restrict access to email and the web a decade or so ago only to find its use common (if not mandatory) today, so the same will undoubtedly prove true for much of what we routinely describe as Social Software or Web2.0. 

 

No technology is perfect and most have as many ‘cons’ as ‘pros’ so it must be a matter of choice.  But just as Rachel fears for those we might leave behind by adopting new technologies for professional discourse so I fear that by not doing so we risk denying the kind of exposure and practical experience of it that as consumers that we shall need if we are ever to be in a position to manage it…

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

 

I’m not going to pitch into a debate on which is the most ideal way to participate in online discussion – much comes down to personal preference, in any case – but the simple fact remains that many employers block some or all of the more recent communication technologies whereas virtually all allow e-mail.

 

Is it either fair or useful to have forums for professional sharing and discussion to which some of our colleagues are denied access?

 

Regards,

 

Rachel.

 

 

Rachel Hardiman, BA (Hons), MSc

Senior Research Assistant

School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences

Northumbria University

Room 247

Pandon Building

Camden Street

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE2 1XE

 

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