Software that takes you away from your computer

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —January 21, 2006
Filed in Communication

The first generation of collaboration tools like Groove, Quickplace, and eRooms where great for sharing documents and having online threaded discussions but had the unintended consequence of tying people to their computer and dissuading them from walking around and chatting face to face to their colleagues.

I was chatting to Andrew a few months back, and I think I made a blog post here as well, that there should be software which encourages people to meet and chat in person. Jack Vinson has just posted a description of Tidebreak’s Teamspot which heads in this direction. The software enables a group of people meeting face to face to integrate and share what’s on their computers whilst talking about it.

Software like Buzzoodle is closer to what I have in mind. With Buzzoodle you sign up and it makes suggestions (dares?) that you and your team can do together. The idea with Buzzoodle is to create a buzz around an idea or person (word of mouth marketing). I can see how this type of software could be used to create new connections in a social network, build teams and foster innovation. I’m sure it is being done somewhere, so if you know about an example please let us know.

About  Shawn Callahan

Shawn, author of Putting Stories to Work, is one of the world's leading business storytelling consultants. He helps executive teams find and tell the story of their strategy. When he is not working on strategy communication, Shawn is helping leaders find and tell business stories to engage, to influence and to inspire. Shawn works with Global 1000 companies including Shell, IBM, SAP, Bayer, Microsoft & Danone. Connect with Shawn on:

Comments

  1. Thanks Shawn.
    I really appreciate the comments. Too many people think our software is “social networking” software and are probably disappointed that we are encouraging them to get out and do things.
    We think of each person as their own radio station that should broadcast (or connect) in all mediums better.
    Best of luck and nice blog.

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