Bureaucrats, darkmatter, Administrators
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There are a number of main applications of technology in social organizations. They range from the most practical document creating, simple, communications using email narrow and broadcast communication and participatory means such as forums, polls and wikis. | There are a number of main applications of technology in social organizations. They range from the most practical document creating, simple, communications using email narrow and broadcast communication and participatory means such as forums, polls and wikis. | ||
The internet went through several phases of “killer applications,” as the world population happened across its capabilities. Majorly are the ease and (no) cost sending of email and the richness of the World Wide Web, which was originally envisioned as an intimately linked, eminently re-usable “read-write” research web, where one web site's information can be linked with another, and information shared easily. Unfortunately, commercial and individual enthusiasm (and the unreadiness of the background technology) has resulted in many messes – email can be unusable due to “spam,” and most web sites today could be easier to use as a paper brochure, and they certainly don't encourage information re-use. Tragically, universal design has been thrown out the window in many cases in favour of glitzy presentations. | The internet went through several phases of “killer applications,” as the world population happened across its capabilities. Majorly are the ease and (no) cost sending of email and the richness of the World Wide Web, which was originally envisioned as an intimately linked, eminently re-usable “read-write” research web, where one web site's information can be linked with another, and information shared easily. Unfortunately, commercial and individual enthusiasm (and the unreadiness of the background technology) has resulted in many messes – email can be unusable due to “spam,” and most web sites today could be easier to use as a paper brochure, and they certainly don't encourage information re-use. Tragically, universal, re-usable design has been thrown out the window in many cases in favour of glitzy presentations. | ||
For the past few years, there has been a focus on what's called "Web 2.0" - making Web based systems more interactive, participatory. There is also a trend to move away from desktop and office solutions to hosted systems - email, word processing, and so on, are hosted on a "cloud" provided by very large providers such as Google and Amazon. The benefits are simplified management and costs to the best standards. One inexpensive bill includes an organization's email, calendaring, group discussions, document editing, web site hosting and backup - each of which can be complicated to manage. The drawbacks are massive consolidation of data, and an implied requirement for local internet service providers to drastically upgrade their standards to compete with the best in the world. | For the past few years, there has been a focus on what's called "Web 2.0" - making Web based systems more interactive, participatory. There is also a trend to move away from desktop and office solutions to hosted systems - email, word processing, and so on, are hosted on a "cloud" provided by very large providers such as Google and Amazon. The benefits are simplified management and costs to the best standards. One inexpensive bill includes an organization's email, calendaring, group discussions, document editing, web site hosting and backup - each of which can be complicated to manage. The drawbacks are massive consolidation of data, and an implied requirement for local internet service providers to drastically upgrade their standards to compete with the best in the world. | ||