Social Software at Sandia History, Present and Future

1. Social Software at SandiaHistory, Present and Future Hope Niblick | 18NOV09 | Sandia, Livermore CA

2. What do we mean by social software? • Thinking around software has changed over time, as has the terminology: • Memex : 1940’s • ARPA (advanced research projects agency) : 1960’s • Augmentation (augmenting human intellect) : 1960’s • EIES (electronic information exchange system) : 1970’s • CSCW (computer supported collaborative work) : 1980’s • Groupware : 1980’s and 1990’s • Social Software : 1990’s ::: “software that supports group interactions”

3. Collaborative Tool vs. Social Software E-mail IM Discussion boards Workflow Mail groups • RSS aggregation • Wikis • Cataloging (Delicious, LibraryThing) • Media sharing (Flickr, YouTube) • Social network • Blog (trackbacks, comments) • Microblog

4. Collaboration at Sandia to date E-mail – 1990 (cc Mail => Exchange / Outlook) Instant Messaging -- 1999 (Sametime => Microsoft Messenger) Team Workspaces – 2000 (QuickPlace => Sharepoint) Discussion boards (bicycle discussion) mail groups

5. Social Software at Sandia to date • Wikis • Blogs • Social bookmarks • Podcasts • Video sharing • Microblogging • Social networking

6. What wikis have to offer Sandia ::: collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone with access to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language allow users to collect documentation and keep it up to date collaboratively also used for scientific collaboration provide organization capabilities to information that would be onerous in other, more structured, platforms offers ability to move away from concept of information locked in more proprietary ‘document’ form and into flatter, more connected text

7. Wikis at Sandia Existing MediaWiki and Twiki instances Trac, Gforge & SourceForge wiki components for source code project documentation Sharepoint has a limited wiki feature Confluence approved in 2009 for enterprise pilot deployment & creation of a “Sandiapedia” central wiki resource (final name TBD) Investigating add-on Confluence products that extend it as a project management platform and as a laboratory notebook (with encrypted datetime stamps)

8. What blogs have to offer Sandia A website with regular entries of commentary displayed in reverse chronological order, usually on a specific subject. Generally features links to other content and the ability for readers to comment Other common features of a blog are the ability to do ‘trackbacks’ and ‘permalinks’ Expression of ideas as a narrative, often with a point of view

9. Blogs at Sandia Blogging since at least 2005 Pilots include WebCo blog, Sandia Matters, Infoproviders and others Lab News Interactive built on blogging software (WordPress) LNI includes new “Blogger’s Row” feature Al’s Blog (Al Romig) Lean Six Sigma Secrets (Laura Guedelhoefer, Don Lifke, Mike Lopez, and Rick Sherwood) Science 2.0 (Joe Lewis) Life on the Line – Riding in Research (Michael Brumbach)

10. What social bookmarking has to offer Sandia ::: a method to store, organize, search and manage bookmarks of web pages uses tagging and folksonomy access bookmarks from anywhere, across machines and across browsers social component lets users share with specific people and add to the community’s knowledge in general public web examples: Delicious, Magnolia, Connotea

11. Social bookmarks Scuttle – 2 separate installs at Sandia – In CA, WebCo pilot/test was open and very successful during a short run NM Library used Scuttle for internal collaboration Dogear Delicious

12. What do podcasts have to offer Sandia ::: series of digital media files, usually digital audio or video, that is made available for download via web syndication. The syndication aspect of the delivery is what differentiates podcasts from other files that are accessed by simple download or by streaming allows for multitasking (listen to them on the train ride home) broadcasting of Sandia content for either internal or external audiences

13. Podcasts CA Public Relations and Strategic Communications groups -- September 2008 launch Sandia Now has been turned into a podcast feature: http://www.ca.sandia.gov/podcast/ Research being done at NM site on using podcasting for public relations spent $$ in 2009 to further explore podcasting, action plan being evaluated for 2010 funding

14. What does video have to offer Sandia? Higher bandwidth and broadband availability is creating an expectation of video availability Many of the things going on at Sandia are visually exciting and video conveys the message much better than other media

15. Video YouTube channel for Sandia videos A great deal of other video offerings refer to Sandia National Labs appear when you search YouTube Inside Sandia, videos being produced for training/promoting software

16. What does microblogging have to offer Sandia? ::: a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web short messages carrying concise information

17. Microblogging at Sandia Follow @SandiaLabs on Twitter Investigation funded under (2009) web 2.0 project Laconi.ca (now Status) Thunderbook status updates Results being evaluated for 2010 funding

18. What do social networks offer Sandia? ::: online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others connecting individuals in an asynchronous, casual manner promote collaboration and knowledge sharing capture information about the community

19. Social Network Thunderbook skill profiles publications project involvement piloting soon HR / peoplesoft initiative External Facebook page MySites

20. References http://delicious.com/accipiter/lunch2.0sss http://www.youtube.com/user/SandiaLabs On Twitter: follow ‘SandiaLabs’ Internal blogs at Sandia