ExecutiveBiz members have been treated to some great presentations from Web2.0 experts, including some who have succeeded in implementing Web2.0 capabilities in very large organizations.  Two of the greatest presenters who have interacted with us are Chris Rasmussen and Sean Dennehy, pictured here.

After engaging with them in our venue and tracking how Web2.0 technologies are implemented in many other organizations I have a thesis I would like to try out on you.  I believe there are three ways to reap the benefit of Web2.0 in large enterprises:

1) Just wait and do nothing.  Eventually all people in large organizations leave, either on their feet or on their back, and as they do they will be replaced by people who probably know more about Web2.0 so these new capabilities will slowly be more widely used.

2) Encourage self learning and an individual examination of Web2.0 capabilities and use grass-roots efforts to change big organizations, or

3) Establish formal training programs, strong evangelism and executive leadership towards a vision of Web2.0.

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ExecutiveBiz members have had the pleasure of interacting with a long line of IT thought leaders. One of note is Chris Rasmussen, a great advocate for information sharing and collaboration within the federal space and a master of the use of new tools to get groups working together on hard problems (read more about Chris here). Chris will speak with members again on 24 April 2008 at The New, New Internet.

Federal users are making increasing use of Web2.0 capabilities, and we look forward to hearing Chris’s views on where this is all going. We are already seeing that some of the nation’s hardest problems, like those the intelligence community must address, are being tackled with Web2.0 tools and techniques. One recent development is a YouTube-type capability for the intelligence world called “iVideo.” (see Federal Computer Week’s article on “YouTube for the intell community” for more info). iVideo is based on Adobe technologies, and provides users from around the globe the ability to securely upload video and other media for the use by others. We can expect the use of iVideo will grow dramatically, like the adoption of other advanced Web2.0 tools provided by the Office of the Director of National intelligence (ODNI).

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Since 9/11, the intelligence community has been looking for ways to do a better job of sharing information between agencies. Chris Rasmussen is a knowledge manager and trainer for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency within the Department of Defense, and he’s a dynamic part of that effort. He’s a thought leader in the application of Web 2.0 tools to intelligence goals, especially social software. You won’t want to miss his session in the government track at the upcoming Web 2.0 conference on November 1; Rasmussen is an exceptional speaker.

If you’re part of the intelligence community, then you know about Intellipedia and A-Space, two huge Web 2.0 developments that promote better interagency communication. Rasmussen has made it his mission to promote both tools, along with other social software tools like blogs and mashups—all of which are inexpensive and agency-neutral.

Let’s take Intellipedia first. If you’re unfamiliar with it, here’s a quick rundown. It’s a set of three wikis—one each for JWICS, SIPRNet, and Intelink-U—used by all 16 agencies in the US intelligence community. On screen, it looks exactly like Wikipedia, because it uses the same software, Mediawiki. Just like with Wikipedia, any user can make changes to any piece of data. However, with Intellipedia, the author’s name is always attached to the change.

Rasmussen points out that Intellipedia lets users connect with people who have the knowledge they need. He also believes that information that’s been edited by a huge number of people is much stronger than a single report. And everyone from generals to privates can use the system, he stresses. So people at all levels, from all agencies, involved in all kinds of projects, get involved in improving the information on Intellipedia.

A-Space incorporates Intellipedia and takes another step forward in complexity. It’s essentially a portal designed to eventually include all kinds of things: wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, joint Web-based word processing, mashups, tagging, and more, built on a services-oriented architecture. The goal is to provide an even larger framework in which the intelligence community can share information efficiently.

Intellipedia and A-Space just might be changing the face of intelligence communications. Chris Rasmussen is convinced that these open source methods of intelligence are the best thing for the future. Intrigued? Come hear more.