johninnit

Gov2.0 advocate Steph Gray is trying to find out how many work computer users in the UK have access to social media blocked for personal or professional use. It’s a widespread issue, thanks to the concern of many employers at the Facebook work-crack media hype of the last two years.

Some employers block social networking because they’re scared of digital nasties in the network if they let their staff use internet resources that are reputedly riddled with viruses and phishers. Some block rich media because they worry they’ll need a mortgage for the bandwidth once their staff hear about YouTube. Some over-block by accident because they bought an out-of-the-box filter that they don’t know how to tweak, and that gets in the way almost as much as it helps.

Some of them though block social media where they can’t see a work relevance, because they don’t trust their staff to use this responsibly, and think they’ll do the digital equivalent of window gazing all day if you let them. (more…)

Love the Work, Hate The Job: Why America’s best workers are more unhappy than ever – David Kusnet, 2008

It’s taken me a couple of months of procrastination and other things to get around to writing about David Kusnet’s latest book, but I wanted to recommend it to UK unionists as well as those in the US who’ve probably heard about it already.

The book is a series of four case studies, all from employers in different sectors and types of work, but all located in and around the city of Seattle. Disputes between workers and managment at Kaiser Aluminium, Northwest Hospital, Microsoft and Boeing each show different ways in which the employment relationship is changing, and the friction that is being generated when employees’ ideals clash with changing businesses. (more…)

Comedy flash genii Doghorse and Eclectech have outdone themselves with this ludicrously catchy tune about the perils of your office PC. It’s promoting Not Safe For Work? - workSMART’s new interactive training thingy on Internet security. (more…)

PBwiki are a hosted business wiki startup in California. They want new staff, and my guess is their recruitment brief is to get people who are thoroughly plugged into Web2.0, and people who know their technical stuff.

So they don’t take out an ad. They make a placard that says “Do Not Post Pictures Of This Sign On The Internet 986f 64b9 3005 e03e fc42 a41e bd57 3179″, and stick it in some random places in their home town of San Mateo.

In no time at all, the ‘prohibited’ photo has thousands of Diggs and Reddits, and loads of mentions all over, with intense debate about what’s going on here (and the usuals shouting ‘photoshop’). Until that is some ubergeeks recognise the code as an MD5 encryption of a URL, leading them to PBwiki’s job ad.

Genius stuff, good for PBwiki’s job applications I’d guess, and good for their image as a creative place for experts to work – wins all round.

Anne All at IT Business Edge has a post about a recent(ish) survey, which suggested39% of US 18-24 year-olds would consider quitting their job if their employer banned Facebook (with another 21% who would be ‘annoyed’). Worth a read – as are the comments.

Anne’s response is a common one in the media, helpfully suggesting such people might like to consider growing up a little. She draws her evidence from the fact that Faceban-outrage drops sharply from the youngest staff upwards. I think she’s half way there. This is a generational thing true, but it’s not a problem for the kids, it’s a problem for us. (more…)

Two months back now, I was lucky enough to get an invite to a big French conference on Web2.0, society and business, called Netxplorateur, and very slackly I’m only just getting round to blogging about it. (more…)