Web 2.0: Opportunity or Threat - IT Director 2.0

This is slide 31 of an interesting presentation about Web2.0 from the perspective of an IT department director,  Brian Kelly at the University of Bath in the UK.   I found it in one of my more recently required addictions - SlideShare.  In the middle, the slides cover the tools.  But as bookends at the start and finish, there is some great thinking about Web2.0 adoption, risks and benefits, and how an IT director or department might think about a deployment strategy.  It also describes how Web2.0 is changing the nature of IT support.  It's all done with a great sense of humor too!

There's so much to ponder in this excellent presentation.  A few good points about backlash:

When significant new things appear:

• Enthusiasts / early adopters predict a transformation of society
• Skeptics outline the limitations & deficiencies

There’s a need to:

• Promote the benefits to the wider community (esp. those willing to try if convinced of benefits)
• Be realistic and recognise limitations
• Address inappropriate criticisms

Beware The IT Fundamentalists

We need to avoid simplistic solutions to the complexities:

• Open Standards Fundamentalist: we just need XML
• Open Source Fundamentalist: we just need Linux
• Vendor Fundamentalist: we must use next version of our enterprise system (and you must fit in with this)
• Accessibility Fundamentalist: we must do WAI WCAG
• User Fundamentalist: must do whatever users want
• Legal Fundamentalist: it breaches copyright, …
• Ownership Fundamentalist: must own everything we use
• Perfectionist: It doesn't do everything, so we'll do nothing
• Simplistic Developer: I've developed a perfect solution – I don't care if it doesn't run in the real world
• Web 2.0: It’s new; its cool!

I followed a number of links to Brian's other presentations and a gold mine of resources.

Comments

[Ian Wilker]

Wow -- this is an amazing presentation. I like Slide #19: "My mantras are now: 1. Yes Before No; 2. Allow Before Disallow; 3. Open Rather than Closed; Connect to the Network on a Device Agnostic Basis."

Wrote something about it: http://urltea.com/tmn