George Siemens at elearnspace blog comments on the recent ComputerWorld article on blogging.
Comment: I don't know. I'm still undecided about whether everyone has it in them to be a blogger...or if it only appeals to a small percentage of people who have a desire to connect with others. When word processors first came out, I'm sure a similar limited appeal existed. However, it was a tool that immediately allowed people to improve the management of their documents. Does blogging have a similar overt beneft? Knoweldge sharing...collaboration...communication...two-way dialogue - these all seem too subjective - with the value resting less directly on the end user...and more directly on the organization. Is it a factor of personal benefit versus corporate benefits? If the corporation does not promote blogging, then the motivation to blog will be driven by internal factors...and as a result, appeal to a small audience. If the corporation promotes blogging to extend its use, can the concept be promoted to appeal to the more overt benefits (personal information management, better access to experts for answers to questions, etc.)?
This is one of the areas where I have problems as well - who will use them and why. Just as in a room full of people, there are only certain folks who are comfortable raising their hand and speaking their opinion, there are only certain people who are prepared to "talk" in electronic settings as well.
One of the things that blog proponents discuss is the idea that blogs are just "personal enough" that more people might be encouraged to use them as personal commentary tools within businesses.
In what kinds of organizations do blogs make sense? Is there a paritcular culture where blogs might work better, or is it a matter of understanding the vision of the organizatoin and seeing where blogging can help? SocialText and MyST Technologyand others are in the trenches and finding out how corporations are doing this. It will be interesting to hear what these vendors learn.