we have seen over the past few years the rise of collaborative activities that seem to drive a greater and faster level of innovation. the new web 2.0 technologies have enabled us to work together with people whom we've never met, but can leverage on each others' strengths resulting in faster development of new ideas and solutions.

but this seems to only happen over the internet/web. traditional organisations tend to fall behind in all of these new ideas. so how do traditional organisations and enterprises adapt to these trends and unlock the potential of their people?

http://socialsoftwarematrix.org/ is a site that evaluates social networking solutions for enterprises. it's introduction section says:

This website is indented to serve as an introduction to Social Software for enterprises.

The focus of the page will be on a comparison of the performance of different Social Software products in a set of defined business use cases. In addition the page will assess the chosen Social Software with respect to technological and business key factors for an enterprise implementation.

The results presented on socialsoftwarematrix.org are based on an internal evaluation of selected Social Software by the T-Systems MMS Consulting-Enterprise 2.0 team. We tried to be as objective as possible but we do not lay claim to final truth. Any feedback and discussion, on this page or on our blog http://www.besser20.de/ is highly appreciated.

On socialsoftwarematrix.org visitors will get an idea bout how Social Software can be used in a company as well as a comparative overview about Social Software products. Seeing the strength and weaknesses of a product in different use cases and the ability to compare multiple products for a single use-case can help a company to find the right Social Software for its specific needs.

The release of the Social Software Matrix is planned for the end of October. To shorten the waiting time and to give an introduction to Enterprise 2.0 we present to you our three parted presentation. Subscribe our newsletter to be informed when socialsoftwarematrix.org will be released.

there is also a set of presentations that give us a useful insight into enterprise 2.0:

source site - How Simplicity Can Help Creativity, Briefly

The judicious application of simplicity can help someone to create, whether that’s writing, creating art, designing, teaching, starting a small business, or in some other way making ideas take shape into reality.

People who want to create are hampered by complications — tools that are too complicated, projects that are too overwhelming, the distractions of the modern world, too many cooks, too many options, too busy.

Simplify, and many of these problems go away.

Clearing clutter is a great way to create space for new ideas, thoughts and creativity.

The hectic information age is generally bad news for creativity. We cannot run away from 24/7 service, technologies and communication. However, we can strive to do less in every area that we work on. Find non-value adding stuff. Ruthlessly chop them off.

Use technology to simplify.

Challenge everything we do. Why do we do things we've being doing all this while?

source site - Presentation Zen: Is education killing creativity?

British reporter Riz Khan put together a nice 20 minute interview last week with Sir Ken Robinson, our favorite creativity and education expert (and famous TED presenter). Even if you've seen Sir Ken's 2006 TED presentation, you'll find this interview an entertaining and thought-provoking refresher. Rizwan Khan is a veteran of the BBC and CNN; he currently hosts the Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English.

i've always believed that creativity is a key ingredient to human advancements. i would also argue that mathematics and science has more in common with art - especially when exploring the unknown. check out the video.

source site - Best of Spore Creature Creator - Top 5 Sci-Fi Aliens in Spore - Popular Mechanics

Spore is finally, almost, upon us. We had a chance to play the full version at this year's E3, but on Sunday, players around the world will discover what happens when a game of epic scope and unparalleled ambition actually lives up to years of hype. Most players will be content to create a spastic race of brightly colored Muppets, or a more random, dog's breakfast of spiny bits and oddly placed eye-stalks, and dutifully grind through the various stages of the game.

spore is potentially the best and original game to come out in a long time.

I managed to stumble on this great video of Chris Bangle at TED.com relating to the BMW design philosophy and spirit. This was done in 2002 and i believe is quite relevant for the new age design and technology approaches for the 21st century.

i like the way bangle creates an environment to unleash creative forces of his people. some food for thought for those of us challenged by new problems of change and innovation.

I thought this site has some fairly cool pictures.

http://www.linkinn.com/_Dream_of_Flying_Pictures

Over the years, I have been doodling with website designing, both from the coding (HTML, perl, PHP etc) as well as design (CSS, photoshop etc). In all instances i am pretty much a complete amateur despite the years of doodling.

Perhaps this is because i am rubbish at such things, or don't have a creative bone in my body, or perhaps simply i have not practiced enough in depth... because i am too superficial.