Newsletter – June 2009

A selection of news and links captured during June 2009, organised under the usual headings of systems and what makes them: people, information and technology

Systems

• A good definition of a network… …success can easily compound into runaway growth (and vice versa…)
• Power curves – what natural and economic disasters have in common
• The digital panoptican – raising questions about the mass adoption of social technologies
• 35+ examples of corporate social media in action
• Digital Britain report published – taxing landlines to pay for high-speed net
• Waiting for the tipping point means you’re too late – why retailers ignored TV shopping channels and Steve Ballmer ignored search…
• High court refuses to protect anonymity of blogger – social media clashes with the legal system
• IBM launches social network for partners after successful tests
• Inside IDEO – how does the process of designing a better product work?

People

• The not-so-hidden politics of class online – excellent essay by Danah Boyd
• When do your beliefs become knowledge? And what is the impact on learning
• Amplified 09 – nLab event on amplified individuals and business resilience
• Three failures of management – nice straightforward article on how to improve decisions and actions
• Would you be a solvent or a glue? on Will Wright’s team
• On the taming of comment trolls – navigating the moderation waters
• The politics of attention and microblogging governance

Information

• Triumph of the default – when something works by doing nothing
• 20 visualisations to understand crime – compare and contrast the effectiveness of different methods
• Google Fusion Tables – help you visualise and manage your data
• The fable of the dragon tyrant – setting context for questions

Technology

• How cloud computing will change business – Business Week special feature
• Google vs Microsoft on cloud computing infrastructure (ignore the title, it’s a useful article on different approaches to the same solution)
• Google Wave – first impressions from ReadWriteWeb
• Exploring virtual worlds – blog post
• Some lessons out of ECM vendor demo hell

And finally, the usual bit of fun. This time, it appears the Microsoft Office 2010 team forgot to take their meds again 🙂

For a more grounded perspective of the potential within Office 2010 🙂 watch this space. Joining Dots is participating on the tech preview and will be posting findings here later this year.

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