GIW Day Five: We End with Lansing and Boulder

Today is the last day of Global Ignite Week. We are still pulling together the number of speakers and attendees, but with over 60 Ignites in one week we know it was a lot. The videos are starting to roll, but in the meantime you can check out some of the slides that are being posted to Slideshare. I've embedded the slides fro Amber Case's excellent talk on parabolic geometry.

If you still need a fix you can watch videos on the IgniteShow or streams from Ignite Lansing (stream) or Ignite Boulder.

Open government examples from the ONC

The Office of the National Coordinator has implemented a host of initiatives aimed at transparency and involvement

With the sea change caused by the Open Government Directive I know that many federal agencies might be struggling with how to actually implement this new policy. This is a major cultural shift in government and there are always challenges when trying to bring such broad changes to any large organization. Government bureaucracy is certainly no exception. But this last week I was encouraged by one agency's office, which has shown a great start-up mentality in not only moving toward government 2.0 principles, but also achieving some pretty significant accomplishments along the way.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) hosts an annual event focused around health IT professionals and health IT vendors (Andy Oram has been covering HIMSS). I was fortunate at this year's HIMSS conference to have conversations with staff from the Office of the National Coordinator. Much of the discussion revolved around the rules for meaningful use of electronic health records, the creation of a Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), and standards and certification. But of course, I couldn't have access to federal officials without bringing transparency and open government into the conversation.

So what is the Office of the National Coordinator and why are they at a health IT vendor show? An April 27, 2004 executive order signed by President Bush established the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) within HHS. This office was legislatively mandated in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009. President Obama named Dr. David Blumenthal as national coordinator for health information technology.

(continue reading)

Yammer: Will viral work in the enterprise?

I work for a very large company and at some point or another someone started a Yammer account based on our email domain. Starting on whatever day that was, Yammer commenced its viral expansion and its spread has really been quite impressive and rapid. Last time I looked we were approaching 3000 users.

The usage demonstrates all the free-scaling behaviors you'd expect though, so not everyone is yammering away. Still both the growth and the impact have been impressive. We are developing a nice network of the kind of weak connections that tend to "small world" a big enterprise like ours. It's always difficult to quantify the benefits of "soft" collaboration but I'm really happy with what I see and I've personally enjoyed the interactions and my expanded network.

I think Yammer has done so well because it's a really good product with well thought out features that make Twitter seem kinda retro. It has a nice slick interface, threaded conversations, and no pesky 140 char limit (which is countered by a "return key = submit" that inhibits multi-paragraph posts). They are also working to create the kinds of features that enterprises need to feel comfy: an api that includes directory integration, an Outlook module and etc.

However, despite all that, I'm bummed to say I don't think they are going to make it.

The question of data privacy and ownership comes up over and over in our Yammer discussions. The last time it came up the thread ran for nearly 100 responses. Even though the typical post is something like "Who is using Grails?" or "Is the X application slow for everyone today or just for me?" data privacy is simply one of the biggest concerns going for a lot of companies these days. The mere suggestion that our data isn't under our control is a big deal.

This point was demonstrated to me in a personal and compelling way during my first week on Yammer. I mentioned a client meeting so that I could share a few tidbits with colleagues. Hours later I was surprised and dismayed when a Google search revealed that my comments had been re-posted to the friendfeed of someone I didn't even know. Someone on our network had written a quick and dirty app to follow his Yammer RSS feed and re-post everything to friendfeed. Then for good measure he followed everyone in our network. When I "politely suggested" he take it down he equally politely explained to me that I just didn't get Web 2.0.

Despite that kind of hiccup, I don't think data privacy is the death knell. After all, no one has told us to stop using it yet. The real problem is that Yammer thinks viral works the same way in the enterprise that it works on the web. It doesn't.

Yammer, by being free and viral, is demonstrating in that soft benefit kind of way to lots of enterprises like ours that networks of weak connections and "ambient collaboration" are useful. Usage is creating a pool of users and even executives that "get it." But they are playing their cards too early and are probably going end up as little more than a contribution to someone else's cost of sales.

Recently a thread started with "does anyone know how to remove people from Yammer that left the company?" Well, it turns out that's an admin function and only available to paying customers.

While we have grown rapidly and virally, the "admin issue" is coming to a head with only about 1% of the company holding an account and probably more like .1% actively posting. There is no way this is going to be a level of usage that an enterprise like ours sees as lock-in. And it won't for anyone else's either.

If the average company has an attrition rate of 10% it means that EVERY company that adopts Yammer virally is going to start to have this conversation well before adoption has locked them in. Every company will face the problem of removing ex-employees by the time they reach relatively low penetration rates. If it's a 25 person shop it may be easier to just pay the $3/employee per month than worry about it, but for any reasonably sized enterprise this is going to force an off-budget-cycle decision that involves real dollars before adoption has locked them in.

The other problem with viral adoption as a strategy is this: I may love using Yammer, but I'm not Yammer's customer, our IT department is. And they already have SharePoint. What Yammer doesn't understand, and what Microsoft has known for years, is that IT makes these decisions, not the users.

While Yammer is going viral with users out at the edge, Microsoft perfected its S1P1 virus to attack the very core of the IT enterprise. So, when it comes to enterprise microblogging, The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and its various add ons may be mediocrity in code form, but it's already there. And being there counts.

MySQL migration and risk management

Database expert Ronald Bradford on the pros and cons of migrating from Oracle to MySQL

Oracle's acquisition of Sun has opened up all sorts of questions: Will MySQL get the support it needs? What will become of the MySQL community? Where should database administrators put their efforts and resources?

Ronald Bradford can answer that last question. Bradford, an RDBMS expert and a speaker at the upcoming MySQL Conference and Expo, has been guiding DBAs through key aspects of MySQL integration for years. In the following Q&A;, he discusses the pros and cons of migrating from Oracle to MySQL (hint: it's not just about cost savings). He also weighs in on the future of MySQL and its community.

Jumping from Oracle to MySQL

Mac Slocum: What are the upsides to migrating from Oracle to MySQL? Is cost the major factor?

Ronald Bradford:The Oracle license cost is generally the most important factor for organizations considering migrations. Also, integration with open source LAMP products that provide many features you see today, including project management, bug tracking, wikis, blogs, and customer relationship management, are better served when all systems can communicate with the underlying data storage in MYSQL.

Newer and cheaper multi-core hardware, and a correct scale-out architecture, manages risk better then a single, large, scale-up instance of your data. Failure of 1-10 percent of your user data is far better then 100 percent failure.

MS: What are the major issues with Oracle to MySQL migration?

RB: Adequate education and skills development is the most significant and most under-budgeted cost in migration. While the cost of licensing and subscriptions is generally less for non-Oracle solutions, MySQL is not Oracle. Most organizations underestimate the time needed for staff to become proficient in a new skill, especially when they're required to maintain existing systems.

The second factor is staff pushing back against MySQL. For example, management at a top 20 website I was involved with made the decision to replace Oracle with MySQL. The technical resources, including system architects and senior DBAs, were not in agreement and they sometimes actively fought against the implementation of MySQL.

The third issue is monitoring. MySQL does not have the level of in-depth instrumentation it should. While it's integrated into existing open source monitoring products, MySQL is not always well supported by production network operations center systems.

For these reasons, slow integration with less critical systems is a successful integration model. This enables time for a comfortable and successful transition and it creates confidence moving forward.

(continue reading)

Four short links: 5 March 2010

GMail CRM, Django Best Practices, Stats-Think, and WoW Number Crunching

1. Rapportive -- a simple social CRM built into Gmail. They replace the ads in Gmail with photos, bio, and info from social media sites. (via ReadWrite Web)
2. Best Practices in Web Development with Django and Python -- great set of recommendations. (via Jon Udell's article on checklists)
3. Think Like a Statistician Without The Math (Flowing Data) -- Finally, and this is the most important thing I've learned, always ask why. When you see a blip in a graph, you should wonder why it's there. If you find some correlation, you should think about whether or not it makes any sense. If it does make sense, then cool, but if not, dig deeper. Numbers are great, but you have to remember that when humans are involved, errors are always a possibility. This is basically how to be a scientist: know the big picture, study the details to find deviations, and always ask "why".
4. WoW Armory Data Mining -- a blog devoted to data mining on the info from the Wow Amory, which has a lot of data taken from the servers. It's baseball statistics for World of Warcraft. Fascinating! (via Chris Lewis)

Report from HIMSS Health IT conference: building or bypassing infrastructure

Today the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference wrapped up. In previous blogs, I laid out the benefits of risk-taking in health care IT followed by my main theme, interoperability and openness. This blog will cover a few topics about a third important issue, infrastructure.

Why did I decide this topic was worth a blog? When physicians install electronic systems, they find that they need all kinds of underlying support. Backups and high availability, which might have been optional or haphazard before, now have to be professional. Your patient doesn't want to hear, "You need an antibiotic right away, but we'll order it tomorrow when our IT guy comes in to reboot the system." Your accounts manager would be almost as upset if you told her that billing will be delayed for the same reason.

(continue reading)

Cell phones in the classroom

Surprising field studies suggest cell phones could be effective learning tools

Guest blogger Marie Bjerede is Vice President of Wireless Education Technology at Qualcomm, Inc., where she focuses on addressing the technical, economic, social, and systemic challenges to enabling every student to gain the advantages afforded those who have 24/7 mobile broadband access.

In most schools, cell phones are checked at the door -- or at best powered off during school hours in a tacit "don't ask, don't tell" understanding between students and administrators. This wide-spread technology ban is a response to real concerns: if kids have unfettered instant access to the Internet at school, how do we keep them safe, how do we keep out inappropriate content, how do we prevent real-time cyberbullying, how do we even keep their attention in class when competing with messaging, gaming, and surfing?

At the same time, though, there is a growing sense among education thought leaders and policy leaders that not only are cell phones here to stay but there seems to be interesting potential to use these small, connected computers that so many students already have. I've been insanely fortunate over the past year to work closely with Wireless Reach (Qualcomm's strategic social initiative) and real innovators in education who are finding that cell phones in classrooms don't have to be a danger or a distraction but, in fact, can help kids learn in some surprising ways.

During the 2007-2008 school year, Wireless Reach began funding Project K-Nect, a pilot project in rural North Carolina where high school students received supplemental algebra problem sets on smartphones (the phones were provided by the project). The outcomes are promising -- classes using the smartphones have consistently achieved significantly higher proficiency rates on their end of course exams.

Now, the population is small (on the order of 150 kids) and the make-up is essentially what researchers call a "convenience sample." It was selected from a population of kids that: largely qualified for free and reduced lunch; didn't have home Internet; and had low math proficiency. It was not balanced with a formally designed control group. There was self-selection on the part of the participating teachers -- they are extremely motivated -- but the results are consistent and startling. Overall, proficiency rates increased by 30 percent. In the best case, one class using the devices had 50 percent more kids finishing the year proficient than a class learning the same material from the same teacher during the same school year, but without the cell phones.

(continue reading)

Four short links: 4 March 2010

Achievement Design, Estimation, DRM Usability, and Ubicomp v AR

1. Achievement Design 101 -- advice from the guy who designs the site-wide achievement awards for Kongregate. 7. Achievements will thrust their subject matter into the spotlight; make sure it's worthy. This can be good or bad. In most cases on Kongregate, adding achievements to games will cause the user rating to drop. There are many theories about why this is — my best guess is that there's a difference in psychology between people who play a game just to have fun (how weird!) and people who play a game to earn achievements. For the latter category, the whole game can be viewed as merely an obstacle. (via diveintomark)
2. Fundamental Constants and the Problem of Gravity -- huge variation uncertainty in different fundamental constants: we know one to 1 part in 100 million, but another to only 1 in 10 thousand. Led me to wonder whether anyone's done project estimation with error bars, analysing past projects to figure out the error rates in estimates of programmer time, etc.
3. How to Download an eBook From The Cleveland Public Library -- aka "Why DRM Doesn't Work". The usability of this 22-step process is appalling. (via BoingBoing)
4. Defining Ubiquitous Computing vs Augmented Reality -- not arbitrary terms but there are some interesting concepts that ubicomp has which don't seem to be coming out in the current AR fad. (via bruces on Twitter)

GIW Day Four: Bangalore, Boston, Jakarta, NYC, and Seattle

The fourth day of Global Ignite Week is the strongest. There are 31 Ignites happening today around the world. I'll be hosting Ignite Seattle tonight.

We have already posed the first videos from Global Ignite Week. First up is an Ignite talk on the creation of OK Go's latest video featuring a Rube Goldberg machine. It's done Adam Sadowsky, the designer of Rube Goldberg machine. The video took months of preparation and 20 consecutive 18 hour days.

Ignite Ann Arbor
Ignite Baltimore
Ignite Bangalore
Ignite Boston
Ignite Brisbane
Ignite Bristol
Ignite Cardiff
Ignite Denmark
Ignite Fort Collins
Ignite Hamburg

(the other 21 are after the jump)

(continue reading)

Report from HIMSS Health IT conference: toward interoperability and openness

Yesterday and today I spent once again at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Atlanta, rushing from panel session to vendor booth to interoperability demo and back (or forward--I'm not sure which direction I've been going). All these peregrinations involve a quest to find progress in the areas of interoperability and openness.

The U.S. has a mobile population, bringing their aches and pains to a plethora of institutions and small providers. That's why health care needs interoperability. Furthermore, despite superb medical research, we desperately need to share more information and crunch it in creative new ways. That's why health care needs openness.

(continue reading)

The implications of a money-making Android app

Car Locator pulled in more than $400 per day when it was featured in the Android Market

There's been plenty written about the App Store gold rush, but this is the first rags-to-semi-riches piece I've seen about the Android Market. Edward Kim, creator of the Car Locator app, saw his daily revenue jump from around $100 per day to more than $400 per day when the $3.99 app claimed a featured spot in the Market.

It's only one data point, but I'm interested in the broader implications here. Those early "there's gold in iPhone apps!" stories fueled interest in the platform. And while a lot of that iPhone excitement was later tempered by the realities of a hit-driven business, that first flush of exuberance was an important step.

If similar stories pop up in the Android universe -- legit stories, I'm not advocating lies and fabrications -- I see that catalyzing more developer interest, more competition, more refinement (something that's sorely needed in the Android Market), and ultimately, a more robust Android app ecosystem. That's a lot of "mores," I know, but after three-plus months of using an Android device, my enthusiasm for this platform continues to grow. Apps like Google Goggles and Google Sky Map are amazing. What I'd like to see, however, is broader Android experimentation by companies not named Google.

1 in 4 Facebook Users Come From Asia or the Middle East

Asia's share of the more than 400 million active Facebook users recently surged past 15%:

With a market penetration of 1.7% in Asia and Africa, the company has barely scratched the surface in both regions. While the company continued to add users in Southeast Asia, there were an additional 2.3 million users from South Asia over the past 12 weeks. In fact according to Alexa, Facebook has already overtaken Orkut in India. It didn't take long for Facebook to threaten Friendster's leadership position in Southeast Asia so something similar was likely to happen in India. But I thought it would take them longer to overtake Orkut^† in India.

(continue reading)

Recent Posts

• Four short links: 3 March 2010 | by Nat Torkington on March 3, 2010
• GIW Day Three: Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Budapest, Dallas, Toronto, Cincinnatti, Raleigh and PDX | by Brady Forrest on March 3, 2010
• Apps for Army Launches - The Hybrid Enterprise? | by Jim Stogdill on March 2, 2010
• Report from HIMSS Health IT conference: from Silicon Valley technology to Silicon Valley risk-taking | by Andy Oram on March 2, 2010
• Four short links: 2 March 2010 | by Nat Torkington on March 2, 2010
• GIW Day Two: SF, Denver, New Mexico, Philly, Sydey, Melbourne, Montreal, Manila, Princeton and More | by Brady Forrest on March 2, 2010
• Code review redux (good news from GitHub) | by Marc Hedlund on March 1, 2010
• Where 2.0: Early Registration Ending & Ignite Where | by Brady Forrest on March 1, 2010
• GIW Day One: Germany, Los Angeles, Savannah, Milwaukee and Manchester | by Brady Forrest on March 1, 2010
• Foursquare wants to be the mayor of location apps | by Mac Slocum on March 1, 2010
• Four short links: 1 March 2010 | by Nat Torkington on March 1, 2010
• Newspaper Paywalls | by Nat Torkington on February 28, 2010