Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is an excellent book on Web 2.0 technologies and how they can be used to provide value to users in a Web 2.0 world. The book is a light on technical (programming), but rich on concepts and the business side of Web 2.0. What makes this book useful is the fact that it reintroduces common concepts such as blogs in a way that an executive can understand and take advantage of. The first chapter discusses a brief history of the web. The second chapter goes into explaining what web technologies such as CSS and XML are and what a web service can do for a business. There are a few other very useful chapters in this book, but by no means you should stop your Web 2.0 quest with this book. This book's a great way to start your Web 2.0 journey and it even puts forth the notion of semantic web. But, once you figure out what area you want to concentrate on, I recommend getting a more comprehensive book on that specific topic.

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The emergence of Web 2.0 is provoking challenging questions for developers:What products and services can our company provide to customers and employees using Rich Internet Applications, mash-ups, Web feeds or Ajax?Which business models are appropriate and how do we implement them?What are best practices and how do we apply them?If you need answers to these and related questions, you need this book-a comprehensive and reliable resource that guides you into the emerging and unstructured landscape that is Web 2.0.Gottfried Vossen is a professor of Information Systems and Computer Science at the University of Muenster in Germany.He is the European Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier's Information Systems-An International Journal.Stephan Hagemann is a PhD. Student in Gottfried's research group focused on Web technologies.* Presents a complete view of Web 2.0 including services and technologies* Discusses potential new products and services and the technology and programming ability needed to realize them* Offers 'how to' basics presenting development frameworks and best practices* Compares and contrasts Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web

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The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities in Chaos Review

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(More customer reviews)The next wave of Technologies is a very rich, and up to date, source of information. Chances are the reader has already heard, read and possibly work with some of these technologies. And of course we can always search for information on the internet. But this book bundles it all together in a consistent and comprehensive way. It also provides information that one can use as a starting point to investigate further. This book will also serve as an excellent reference book.
Next to describing and explaining the technologies, the reader gets an insight on:
- when and how these technologies and concepts, evolved to there current status
- benefits, costs, risks, limitations, and challenges
- who are (current) players (form vendor- as well as user and customer side)
- role and strategies of vendors/suppliers, and customer/user expectations
- impact on organizations
- best practices, key factors, models and frameworks
- development, management and deployment
- references to specific research done, literature, articles, whitepapers etc. (can serve as point for further study)
Phil Simon has done a great job in bringing together 15 other authors and there knowledge and expertise to form this excellent bundle of information. Each author writes a chapter on his/her specific area of expertise. One of the things I like of books written by different authors, is that each chapter has a bit different writing style, which to me makes it more interesting to read. Every chapter is written with a bit different style, while still maintaining an overall general structure. Nicely done!
Each chapter ends with a summary and a `next steps' section. The `next steps' section is intended to help the reader think about steps he/she can take when considering using, or is already using, the specific technology in their organization.
The book is structured in 4 parts:
Part1 - Introduction, Background and Definitions
Part2 - Architecture, Software Development, and Frameworks
Part3 - Data, Information, and Knowledge
Part4 - Management and Deployment
Part5 - Conclusion
the chapters are:
Part-1
Ch1 - The changing Landscape of Business and Technologies
Ch2 - How the Game has changed
Ch3 - The role of IT in an Enterprise 2.0 World
Part-2
Ch4 - Cloud Computing
Ch5 - Opens Source: The War that both Sides Won
Ch6 - Software as a Service
Ch7 - Service Oriented Architecture
Ch8 - Managing Mobile Business
Ch9 - Social Networking
Part-3
Ch10 - Enterprise Searc and Retrieval
Ch11 - Enterprise 2.0 Business Inteligence
Ch12 - Master Data Management
Ch13 - Procurement in Chaos
Part-4
Ch14 - Agile Software Development
Ch15 - Enterprise Risk Management
Ch16 - Implementing Open Source Software
Ch17 - Global Engineering
Ch18 - Enterprise 2.0 IT Project Failure
Ch19 - Readying the troops for Battle
Ch20 - Sustainability and Green IT
Part-5
Ch21 - Finding Opportunity in Chaos
That's it for my review. I hope it gives an insight of what to expect from the book.
Thansk fo reading the review.
*********

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Your all-inclusive guide to all the latest technologies
Providing you with a better understanding of the latest technologies, including Cloud Computing, Software as a Service, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Open Source, Mobile Computing, Social Networking, and Business Intelligence, The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities from Chaos helps you know which questions to ask when considering if a specific technology is right for your organization.
Demystifies powerful but largely misunderstood technologies
Explains how each technology works
Provides key guidance on determining if a particular technology is right for your organization
Contains contributions from experts on Cloud Computing, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software as a Service (SaaS), Open Source, Mobile Technologies, Enterprise Risk Management, Social Media, Business Intelligence, and more

More of a management text than a technical guide, the book is designed to help your organization better understand these exciting new technologies and their potential impact. The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities from Chaos will help you determine if your organization is ready for a specific technology, how to prepare for its successful adoption, how to measure success, and the key risks and red flags to recognize.

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Enterprise Social Technology: Helping Organizations Harness the Power of Social Media, Social Networking, Social Relevance Review

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(More customer reviews)In Enterprise Social Technology Scott Klososky shows how to build a holistic plan for incorporating social technology into corporate communications. Klososky encourages us to consider social technology not as an assortment of software applications but a collection of new capabilities involving social relevance (encompassing the online reputation of an individual or organization); social media (the use of Internet and digital media for sharing ideas, or entertainment); and social networking (reaching people through a variety of communication methods and online communities). Each of the book's chapters describes one of 12 steps for implementing social technology into an organization. He discusses in detail how to establish social tech development teams; how to design an internal governance policy that focuses attention on high-priority issues; how to establish a customer engagement policy; and how to implement a measurement system.
One of the book's strengths is the many examples of social tech use. Klososky summarizes success stories from British Airways, BBGeeks.com, Dell, and JetBlue, among others. Klososky also emphasizes the power of crowdsourcing to harnesses the talents of potential collaborators and provides examples from Starbuck's, Procter & Gamble, and FashionStake.com.
He walks us through the process of developing a social tech pilot project. And although it's difficult to measure the return on investment for social technology, Klososky shows how it can be done.

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A breakthrough executive guide to social technology crowdsourced by a leading theorist.
Every leader has heard of the business benefits of social technology, yet many still struggle to understand how to get the most out of the technological tools that are now available. Enterprise Social Technology demystifies this much-hyped subject and gives you a levelheaded, growth-focused approach to putting all kinds of social technology--not just the big, well-known platforms--to work for your organization.
Covering every aspect of social technology in the business arena--from planning and goal-setting, to assembling a social tech team, to integrating social tech with your existing online presence, to measuring the return on investment--Enterprise Social Technology presents a blueprint for success in the coming millennia.
Only a social technology pioneer such as author Scott Klososky could present these practical strategies using the very technology he describes. Scott created this book using the technique of crowdsourcing, opening authorship to those specialists who know the subject matter the best.
Learn to use social technology to your best advantage from a true tech visionary who himself has had tremendous success using Enterprise Social Technologies.

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Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization's Toughest Challenges Review

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(More customer reviews)Writing this review has been is one of the hardest things I have had to do. I wanted to like this book, it's a great subject, a knowledgeable an author and great prior reviews. Unfortunately this book does not deliver making this review tough to put together. I would not suggest using this book to introduce Web 2.0 to the business. I know that this review may draw some heat from the other reviewers but here are the reasons behind my review and why I recommend reading McAfee's HBR article rather than investing the time in this book.
The book covers an important topic and a critical time in its formation. What is the impact of social computing technologies like Wiki's, blogs and other forms of social media. McAfee defines Enterprise 2.0 as the use of emergent social software platforms by organization s in pursuit of their goals. (p.71) McAfee says that Enterprise 2.0 is not primarily a technology issue. This is not born out in the text as majority of the book spends time defining the technology behind E 2.0 (chapter 3 and 4) and the capabilities provided by the technology (chapter 5).
McAfee treats E 2.0 technology at a high level. Its is as if, McAfee does not believe a business person would be interested in how the technology works, which makes the web 2.0 technologies seem trivial. If McAfee had expanded the view of technology to include the integration of business processes and information with these technologies he could have provided powerful business based descriptions.
McAfee intended to write a business book about Enterprise 2.0 but he concentrates the vast majority of pages on emergent social software platforms (ESSP). There is little discussion of the business impact of the software, how it applies to major business processes or activities and how these platforms change the way business work at a strategic, market, financial, product, organizational or operational areas. These are all questions business executives have and they are not treated sufficiently in this book. This is one reason why I would not suggest using this book as a platform for launching new social software initiatives.
Business books relies on case studies to illustrate their points and while McAfee has case studies from Google, Serena Software, the CIA, and Vista Print which should provide a solid foundation. However, the cases talk about how these people implemented Espy's in a generic fashion saying that company A implemented a blog to solve their problem. Only the description of Google's adoption of predictive markets constitutes a strong case. The limited use of practical or detailed examples is puzzling, as it does not give the reader access to McAfee's experience and insight.
McAfee further weakens his argument as the book draws on academic frameworks outside of E 2.0 and technology to answer critical issues. Normally, this is where a strong case study would illustrate how people have addressed these challenges. However, McAfee chooses strong academics including discussion of theories of Granovetter (Strength of Weak Ties), Hayek and Harford (Theory of Knowledge), Gourville (Behavioral economics and slow rates of adoption) to make his points. This unfortunately weakens the book's business impact and credibility. Not that the ideas of these thought leaders are weak, its just that they give the book a stronger academic feel than other business books. While the case studies are a good touch, the examples involve implementing relatively generic web 2.0 a wiki for one, a blog for another. While the cases do discuss the results achieved, the cases would have been stronger if the case studies provided more detail about how the cases used these technologies to achieve these results.
Finally the book seems to be stitched together from three separate research pieces. The best part of the book is actually the final chapter. It describes the book that I believe you should have read as it hints at the business, financial and other issues opened by Enterprise 2.0. The tone, content and focus of the final chapter is distinctly different from the rest of the work. If the whole book could have been like the last chapter this would have been one of the best business books of the last three years.
The first five chapters of the book are more descriptive of the phenomenon and suffer from McAfee's desire to assert his brand of the terms Enterprise 2.0 and ESSP. This assertion comes from his frequent use of the first person to define and drive the book forward, I believe this or I see that. This weakens the book and gives it a self-referential style that does not go over well with a business audience.
In chapters six and seven the book branches off into a discussion of the business value of IT and refuting Nicholas Carr's IT doesn't matter argument. This part comes out of the blue and discuses IT in general rather than the specifics of how ESSP changes the definition of IT and its role in the enterprise. Another opportunity lost in my estimation.
The introduction of Web 2.0 and social software into enterprises is a significant opportunity for every organization. This book has the potential to introduce business to these technologies in much the same way that Hammer and Champy set the stage for re-engineering, or Negroponte and the internet. However after thinking about this review for more than a week, I felt that the book does not do this and I cannot recommend it as the way of introducing ESSP's to the enterprise. I do not intent to criticize the author, his knowledge or his experience as I am sure that McAfee knows more about how to make this technology work to create value, it just did not show in this book. Sorry to offer a different view on this book, but I hope that you can see the reasons behind this review.

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"Web 2.0" is the portion of the Internet that's interactively produced by many people; it includes Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and prediction markets. In just a few years, Web 2.0 communities have demonstrated astonishing levels of innovation, knowledge accumulation, collaboration, and collective intelligence. Now, leading organizations are bringing the Web's novel tools and philosophies inside, creating Enterprise 2.0. In this book, Andrew McAfee shows how they're doing this, and why it's benefiting them. Enterprise 2.0 makes clear that the new technologies are good for much more than just socializing-when properly applied, they help businesses solve pressing problems, capture dispersed and fast-changing knowledge, highlight and leverage expertise, generate and refine ideas, and harness the wisdom of crowds. Most organizations, however, don't find it easy or natural to use these new tools initially. And executives see many possible pitfalls associated with them. Enterprise 2.0 explores these concerns, and shows how business leaders can overcome them. McAfee brings together case studies and examples with key concepts from economics, sociology, computer science, consumer psychology, and management studies and presents them all in a clear, accessible, and entertaining style. Enterprise 2.0 is a must-have resource for all C-suite executives seeking to make technology decisions that are simultaneously powerful, popular, and pragmatic.

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Web 2.0 Fundamentals for Developers: With AJAX, Development Tools, and Mobile Platforms Review

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(More customer reviews)This book describe lots of important aspects of Web 2.0 and helps in dealing with Product-owner/developers. Now I can
ask the right kind of questions to product managers and developers to find out why they chose the products and tools they're using on a project, and why they eliminated other alternatives, and be in a better position to understand their responses.
This book is prepared in a very meticulous fashion. The writing is strong and focused, and the authors make it clear when they are presenting an overview of a specific topic versus an in-depth discussion. The code samples were helpful to understand usage of the tool(s).
This is definitely a very ambitious book because it covers so many aspects of Web 2.0, and the authors did an impressive job of providing breadth and a lot of depth for many topics. This book gives depth where it's really needed and focus on breadth where it's appropriate.
I really liked the approach used for the two mobile chapters: the first mobile chapter gives an overview of four major platforms. The second mobile chapter discusses other alternatives to give you an understanding of what type of coding is needed to develop apps for each of those platforms.
This book gave a great jump start in Web 2.0!

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Designed for a broad spectrum of people with technically diverse backgrounds, this book covers the most recent developments in Web 2.0 programming topics and applications, including up-to-date material on cloud computing, Google AppEngine, Social Networks, Comet, HTML5, semantic technology, and a chapter on the future of the Web. Web 2.0 Fundamentals: With AJAX, Development Tools, and Mobile Platforms prepares readers for more advanced technical topics in Web 2.0. The accompanying CD-ROM and companion website provide code samples from the book and appendices with an extensive set of links for supplemental material and links for the Twitter and Facebook pages.

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Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap between Seller and Buyer through Social Media Marketing Review

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(More customer reviews)I have read many of the latest social media marketing books out there and have found that they present the topic at too high a level. They seem to try and convince you that social media is the next big thing in marketing. For those of us that have been out there and seeing firsthand that social media is taking over, we need a book with a little more meat. A book that starts to get down into the nuts and bolts of how to use social media marketing in your organization and give you some firepower to convince upper management. Marketing 2.0 is this book! @mdlorey

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Endorsements
"Marketing 2.0 is an essential online playbook for any small or medium-sized business executive. Bernie teaches how to create and develop winning strategies on the web that will attract people to your company and your employees through relationship building and content marketing. If you implement the strategies and tactics in this book you'll reduce or eliminate outdated marketing practices and you will drive new business -- as well as keep more of the current business you have."-- Joe Pulizzi, International Speaker, Co-author of Get Content Get Customers, Founder of Junta42

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Web 2.0 and Beyond: Understanding the New Online Business Models, Trends, and Technologies Review

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(More customer reviews)Now you may not know much about what is now called Web 2.0, if not then which planet have YOU been living on, but after reading this book you will know more then even that nerdy 16 year old next door.
Tom Funk jumps from topic to topic with the speed of a run-away broad-band connection yet seems to pull from each topic all that you would need to know to talk knowledgeably with your marketing director at work. He shows you case studies of how each area can and is utilized in real-world situations which is nice seeing as most of this stuff sounds like science fiction to the uninitiated.
Just looking at the Index will tell you that there is something different about this book. Starbucks is right next to Strategy Analytics and MMORPGs is next to Mobile Advertising. Huh? But that's not as important as knowing that you will learn how all these come together to get you up to speed in this ever changing world of Web 2.0.

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