Learning Services

Web-2.0 fits brilliantly in open modes of learning. Hence, I’ll limit this post only to Models which have a democratic flavor of Web-2.0 and can be used in Corporate Networks. Web-2.0 simply put is architecture of user participation where content is easily searchable and individual holds responsibility for the content they provide.

Key focus of adopting Web-2.0 in the Corporate World is to allow integration of different modes of learning. The user (resource) shall be able to search and find the content relevant to him at any point of time at any geographical location. Integration of Corporate Knowledge allows removing redundancy of information or lack of it and makes it readily available to all. This content can then be rated by the peer group. Hence ensuring that end user readily finds the useful content. According to Stephen Regis, from Manufacturing Consulting arm of Infosys, one such solution to Learning Services is by linking all content within the system with appropriate contexts, which can then be directed to the context of the user. This can either be determined automatically based on user usage habit of the system or allowing them to choose context manually. This will help guided content to reach appropriate people.

The increasing use of RIA (Rich Internet Applications) and multimedia over the web is possible with growth in technology. Speed of networks help to learn real-time using online podcasts, live web-casts, shared white-spaces and other state of the art 3-D workspaces. The principles of Learning-2.0 like Srinivas mentions will surely help productivity and growth.

Corporate World is governed by an eternal principle – to share knowledge on need to know basis. This can be done by enforcing rights only to specific group for a specific content. This will ensure guided content and hence improving security aspects too. The security of the content and IP for every creation by the user shall be owned strictly. In recent times Blogs have found users in biggest of the C-suit of people. Blogging over past several years have helped in showcasing the POV of the owner. A lot of knowledge can share hands collaboratively using them, which can be used as a platform to share important tips or processes.

Small workspaces can be created for users only within a team. This’ll reduce the number of mails and anyone can be tracked across demography or helped easily by other team members. These workspaces can be based on virtual reality or otherwise. Such workspaces can be rolled out organization wide if content contained in them is not client specific or proprietary.

Author Profile:
Rahul Breh is with the SharePoint and RIA Center of Excellence at Manufacturing Unit of Infosys. He was part of the Project WELCOM (World Electronic Community) for World Economic Forum which won the First Prize, PRIMA Award at Infosys for Technological Excellence (Q3 – 2008-2009). He is a web-2.0 enthusiast. Recently one of his research papers titled – ‘Increasingly Democratic and Changing Business Models’ featured in SETLabs Briefings Journal Issue – ‘Powering Business with Web-2.0 Technologies’.