Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Ralph Corderoy wrote: Agreed, which is another reason that we are only considering a blog / forum. Take a look at http://www.discourse.org/ That looks v. good Ralph... might just try it myself (for a client) -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Hi Terry, Agreed, which is another reason that we are only considering a blog / forum. Take a look at http://www.discourse.org/ That looks v. good Ralph... might just try it myself (for a client) One more thing; consider how easy it will be to move your data on in a couple of years when your first system has been outgrown; it may well need some programming effort, assuming the new system is receptive, e.g. creating new items with old dates so the history isn't lost. Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
At my last company, where I was the CISO, we used Yammer which had exactly the functionality you're looking for and easy to maintain. Several of our large customers use it now as well but it scales well to businesses of all sizes. It's commercially licenced. James -- James Blake PhD CISSP CISM CCSK C|EH GCIH ITIL-F Practice Manager Europe/Middle East/Africa Security Intelligence Operations Consulting Hewlett Packard On 30 September 2014 14:05, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: Hi, Our company has a presence in several European countries and our collective bosses would like to set up a Corporate Social Network based on Linux servers and Clients running on Windows hardware. The system would have to be private to the company using the Intranet or our other shared networking capabilities. Does anyone have any recommendations? I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally and have some varied opinions: 1. I like the blog environment, having been a big fan of Groklaw, but that implementation of Geeklog didn't allow attachments. 2. Some think that a Facebook style of presentation would be ideal, but I've never used it so cannot comment. Is there an opensource package that can implement Facebook functionality? 3. We think that twitter is too brief. 4. We think that IRC is too immediate; if your not there you've missed it. What else could be used? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
We used Zimbra. At least four years ago it was difficult to maintain and the support was appalling, our CIO lost a lot of hair over it. On 30 September 2014 15:50, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: On 30 September 2014 at 15:30 Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell darkliq...@darkliquid.co.uk wrote: If they already use Microsoft Office (and especially if they already subscribe to Office 365) then Yammer is a service that is specifically designed to be a corporate social network at the Office 365 Mid-Size Business tier. I've never used it though and naturally it's a service, not something you can run yourself on your own hardware. We are looking for a solution that can be hosted within our Corporate network, preferably on Linux servers. I've had some brief exposure to Atlassians Confluence software, which you can buy to self-host or pay for monthly per user as a service and it seems pretty good, though like all things it has a bit of a learning curve. I've only barely used it though, so can't say much about it other than people I work with have given it very high praise. It's probably better if you buy into the rest of Atlassian's suite of tools like Jira and Hipchat, etc but by itself I don't imagine it's too bad. I don't think having to pay is the issue; it's about having it hosted on our network. Speaking of Hipchat, that might actually fit the bill. It's basically an IRC style private chatroom client, but depending on the plans you get (and you can even use it for free with unlimited users if I recall) when you attach images or files to messages, they stay in the system so they can be referred back to, at least for a time. If what they need is something more real-time rather than a long-term document storage/sharing system, then that might work out well for them. I use hipchat extensively at work for communicating with my team, sharing files, talking to clients, holding meetings, etc and find I rarely use anything else for sharing things, getting feedback or collaborating on projects. I can highly recommend it, and since you can trial it for free, if it sounds like it might fit the bill, I'd encourage you to investigate it. We also use their dev API to feed in info from our various monitoring tools for servers, software builds, support tickets, etc so it acts a company-wide notification system as well as shared communications platform. Thanks for the ideas. We will be investigating all of them. Anyone come across Zimbra (http://www.zimbra.com/)? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
In my subjective experience Confluence's suitability would depend on what you're trying to use it for. Our practice's knowledgebase is accessed on a Confluence instance and nobody can find anything, we've had to employ a full-time curator who has had to adapt our way of working to fit the tool rather than the other way around. @Andrew, Yammer has a stand-alone licencing model as well as hosted. It integrates well with Active Directory and Sharepoint if you have to live in a M$ world. James On 30 September 2014 15:30, Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell darkliq...@darkliquid.co.uk wrote: If they already use Microsoft Office (and especially if they already subscribe to Office 365) then Yammer is a service that is specifically designed to be a corporate social network at the Office 365 Mid-Size Business tier. I've never used it though and naturally it's a service, not something you can run yourself on your own hardware. I've had some brief exposure to Atlassians Confluence software, which you can buy to self-host or pay for monthly per user as a service and it seems pretty good, though like all things it has a bit of a learning curve. I've only barely used it though, so can't say much about it other than people I work with have given it very high praise. It's probably better if you buy into the rest of Atlassian's suite of tools like Jira and Hipchat, etc but by itself I don't imagine it's too bad. Speaking of Hipchat, that might actually fit the bill. It's basically an IRC style private chatroom client, but depending on the plans you get (and you can even use it for free with unlimited users if I recall) when you attach images or files to messages, they stay in the system so they can be referred back to, at least for a time. If what they need is something more real-time rather than a long-term document storage/sharing system, then that might work out well for them. I use hipchat extensively at work for communicating with my team, sharing files, talking to clients, holding meetings, etc and find I rarely use anything else for sharing things, getting feedback or collaborating on projects. I can highly recommend it, and since you can trial it for free, if it sounds like it might fit the bill, I'd encourage you to investigate it. We also use their dev API to feed in info from our various monitoring tools for servers, software builds, support tickets, etc so it acts a company-wide notification system as well as shared communications platform. On 30 September 2014 15:12, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: On 30 September 2014 at 14:33 Ralph Corderoy ra...@inputplus.co.uk wrote: Hi Terry, I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally What's the nature of the information you want to share? Considered blog posts? One-line QA? A curated resource of information? That's part of the problem; they're not really sure. I think it might function as a newsletter in some scenarios, but with the ability to accept comments, where appropriate. In other scenarios, it might be used to seed ideas, with inline drawings / photographs, etc to really get over the message. The key I think is engagement. When Groklaw was at it height it was generating hundreds of responses to each article, with ideas flying thick and fast. I don't believe a mailing list (as suggested elsewhere) will work like that for people who aren't necessarily technical, whereas an active blog or Facebook type solution might, because of the multimedia element. As a bonus, it might also be useful to have the ability to collaborate on documents etc. I think we are looking for suggestions to see what might be the most attractive. Does anyone have any experience of Corporate Social Networks (linux based or otherwise)? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell Professional Geek Blog: http://darkliquid.co.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkliquid Fiction: http://www.protagonize.com/author/darkliquid -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Hi Terry, (Any chance you could alter your From address to the list to include your name? Not change the email address, just add a real name. I search for emails from Terry. :-) That's part of the problem; they're not really sure. I think it might function as a newsletter in some scenarios, but with the ability to accept comments, where appropriate. In other scenarios, it might be used to seed ideas, with inline drawings / photographs, etc to really get over the message. I'd go with Tim's idea of a mailing list to start. It's the lowest common denominator. How technical need people be to send an email? Won't everyone be sitting at Outlook anyway? It can have announcements, newsletters, requests for help. You might want it moderated so noise doesn't appear too much; a hole-punch missing from a desk probably isn't of international appeal. Mailman's commonly used, but the archiving is poor. http://hyperkitty.readthedocs.org/ is intended to replace the archiver in Mailman 3, but can be used already AIUI, e.g. https://lists.stg.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/de...@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/RLHD2MYYJRPVIIBMFPWQ4BQJZQKMFTYN/ Having a bit of software that offers multiple different ways of sharing stuff might be a bit like a new forum site that has been created with a dozen forums, everything they could think of, including a Miscellaneous, sitting there with a thin spread of posts across them. Get some concentrated traffic going first so users see activity, then split if and when needed. Very off-putting to check in a few times and see little new content. Don't underestimate the manpower overhead in running this if you want it to be a long-term useful store of knowledge; either excellent search is required or someone has to be paid to curate it. Users won't typically plonk their document in an idea place in the wiki equivalent. Perhaps the company already has a librarian or two? The key I think is engagement. When Groklaw was at it height it was generating hundreds of responses to each article, with ideas flying thick and fast. These were motivated participants; not folks that leave at 5pm, not thinking of work until 9am the next morning. I don't believe a mailing list (as suggested elsewhere) will work like that for people who aren't necessarily technical, whereas an active blog or Facebook type solution might, because of the multimedia element. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_social_software exists, but doesn't have a list. Might give you some ideas for functionality though. Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
On Wednesday 01 Oct 2014 14:55:57 Ralph Corderoy wrote: (Any chance you could alter your From address to the list to include your name? Not change the email address, just add a real name. I search for emails from Terry. :-) The only time I post using just my email address is when I use my mail host Web Office tool. It doesn't seem to allow me to add my name. I'll have another look. I'd go with Tim's idea of a mailing list to start. It's the lowest common denominator. How technical need people be to send an email? Won't everyone be sitting at Outlook anyway? I spoke to the boss today and he's definitely biased against mailing lists. I think I am too in this context, because they wouldn't be well receive by the non-technical people in the Group and they don't have that extra 'social profile' element that helps to build a community. Having a bit of software that offers multiple different ways of sharing stuff might be a bit like a new forum site that has been created with a dozen forums, everything they could think of, including a Miscellaneous, sitting there with a thin spread of posts across them. Get some concentrated traffic going first so users see activity, then split if and when needed. Very off-putting to check in a few times and see little new content. This one option that we are considering. Don't underestimate the manpower overhead in running this if you want it to be a long-term useful store of knowledge; either excellent search is required or someone has to be paid to curate it. Users won't typically plonk their document in an idea place in the wiki equivalent. Perhaps the company already has a librarian or two? This is one reason we're only considering it ;-) The key I think is engagement. When Groklaw was at it height it was generating hundreds of responses to each article, with ideas flying thick and fast. These were motivated participants; not folks that leave at 5pm, not thinking of work until 9am the next morning. Agreed, which is another reason that we are only considering a blog / forum. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
On Wednesday 01 Oct 2014 17:36:17 Peter Merchant wrote: On 01/10/14 17:07, Terry Coles wrote: Agreed, which is another reason that we are only considering a blog / forum. We are all interested in hearing the outcome. You have had plenty of food for thought. Don't let it disappear into the ether for us. Well it might disappear into the ether for me :-) However, I think it is unlikely. After yesterday's posts, I summarised the suggestions in an email to my boss and he certainly seemed to be interested in the things I was saying. Even so, there may be a long way to go. My boss is General Manager of the UK operation. We are owned by a French company and they have a CEO. Apart from him there are General Managers at the two French sites and in Germany and various other senior managers in Italy, Spain etc. Whatever we decide it may be a hard sell... -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Hi Terry, Agreed, which is another reason that we are only considering a blog / forum. Take a look at http://www.discourse.org/ Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Hi Terry On 30/09/14 14:05, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: Hi, Our company has a presence in several European countries and our collective bosses would like to set up a Corporate Social Network based on Linux servers and Clients running on Windows hardware. The system would have to be private to the company using the Intranet or our other shared networking capabilities. Does anyone have any recommendations? I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally and have some varied opinions: 1. I like the blog environment, having been a big fan of Groklaw, but that implementation of Geeklog didn't allow attachments. 2. Some think that a Facebook style of presentation would be ideal, but I've never used it so cannot comment. Is there an opensource package that can implement Facebook functionality? 3. We think that twitter is too brief. 4. We think that IRC is too immediate; if your not there you've missed it. What else could be used? Maybe I've missed something but a mailing list seems to tick all the boxes above. Cheers Tim -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Hi Terry, I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally What's the nature of the information you want to share? Considered blog posts? One-line QA? A curated resource of information? If you can get over the name, then BuddyPress is pretty flexible in terms of tailoring a website for a social network: - https://buddypress.org/ It could be served to an internal company network rather than www, and setup with the feature set which suits (as Ralph says - what do you want to share?) Stephen -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Atlassian Confuence https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence? You can get a 'starter' licence for between $10 and $30, that will support up to 10 users. Sufficient to try out its capabilities. Adrian On 30 September 2014 14:40, Stephen Wolff step...@maxgatedigital.com wrote: Hi Terry, I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally What's the nature of the information you want to share? Considered blog posts? One-line QA? A curated resource of information? If you can get over the name, then BuddyPress is pretty flexible in terms of tailoring a website for a social network: - https://buddypress.org/ It could be served to an internal company network rather than www, and setup with the feature set which suits (as Ralph says - what do you want to share?) Stephen -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
On 30 September 2014 at 14:33 Ralph Corderoy ra...@inputplus.co.uk wrote: Hi Terry, I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally What's the nature of the information you want to share? Considered blog posts? One-line QA? A curated resource of information? That's part of the problem; they're not really sure. I think it might function as a newsletter in some scenarios, but with the ability to accept comments, where appropriate. In other scenarios, it might be used to seed ideas, with inline drawings / photographs, etc to really get over the message. The key I think is engagement. When Groklaw was at it height it was generating hundreds of responses to each article, with ideas flying thick and fast. I don't believe a mailing list (as suggested elsewhere) will work like that for people who aren't necessarily technical, whereas an active blog or Facebook type solution might, because of the multimedia element. As a bonus, it might also be useful to have the ability to collaborate on documents etc. I think we are looking for suggestions to see what might be the most attractive. Does anyone have any experience of Corporate Social Networks (linux based or otherwise)? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
If they already use Microsoft Office (and especially if they already subscribe to Office 365) then Yammer is a service that is specifically designed to be a corporate social network at the Office 365 Mid-Size Business tier. I've never used it though and naturally it's a service, not something you can run yourself on your own hardware. I've had some brief exposure to Atlassians Confluence software, which you can buy to self-host or pay for monthly per user as a service and it seems pretty good, though like all things it has a bit of a learning curve. I've only barely used it though, so can't say much about it other than people I work with have given it very high praise. It's probably better if you buy into the rest of Atlassian's suite of tools like Jira and Hipchat, etc but by itself I don't imagine it's too bad. Speaking of Hipchat, that might actually fit the bill. It's basically an IRC style private chatroom client, but depending on the plans you get (and you can even use it for free with unlimited users if I recall) when you attach images or files to messages, they stay in the system so they can be referred back to, at least for a time. If what they need is something more real-time rather than a long-term document storage/sharing system, then that might work out well for them. I use hipchat extensively at work for communicating with my team, sharing files, talking to clients, holding meetings, etc and find I rarely use anything else for sharing things, getting feedback or collaborating on projects. I can highly recommend it, and since you can trial it for free, if it sounds like it might fit the bill, I'd encourage you to investigate it. We also use their dev API to feed in info from our various monitoring tools for servers, software builds, support tickets, etc so it acts a company-wide notification system as well as shared communications platform. On 30 September 2014 15:12, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: On 30 September 2014 at 14:33 Ralph Corderoy ra...@inputplus.co.uk wrote: Hi Terry, I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally What's the nature of the information you want to share? Considered blog posts? One-line QA? A curated resource of information? That's part of the problem; they're not really sure. I think it might function as a newsletter in some scenarios, but with the ability to accept comments, where appropriate. In other scenarios, it might be used to seed ideas, with inline drawings / photographs, etc to really get over the message. The key I think is engagement. When Groklaw was at it height it was generating hundreds of responses to each article, with ideas flying thick and fast. I don't believe a mailing list (as suggested elsewhere) will work like that for people who aren't necessarily technical, whereas an active blog or Facebook type solution might, because of the multimedia element. As a bonus, it might also be useful to have the ability to collaborate on documents etc. I think we are looking for suggestions to see what might be the most attractive. Does anyone have any experience of Corporate Social Networks (linux based or otherwise)? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell Professional Geek Blog: http://darkliquid.co.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkliquid Fiction: http://www.protagonize.com/author/darkliquid -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
On 30 September 2014 at 15:30 Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell darkliq...@darkliquid.co.uk wrote: If they already use Microsoft Office (and especially if they already subscribe to Office 365) then Yammer is a service that is specifically designed to be a corporate social network at the Office 365 Mid-Size Business tier. I've never used it though and naturally it's a service, not something you can run yourself on your own hardware. We are looking for a solution that can be hosted within our Corporate network, preferably on Linux servers. I've had some brief exposure to Atlassians Confluence software, which you can buy to self-host or pay for monthly per user as a service and it seems pretty good, though like all things it has a bit of a learning curve. I've only barely used it though, so can't say much about it other than people I work with have given it very high praise. It's probably better if you buy into the rest of Atlassian's suite of tools like Jira and Hipchat, etc but by itself I don't imagine it's too bad. I don't think having to pay is the issue; it's about having it hosted on our network. Speaking of Hipchat, that might actually fit the bill. It's basically an IRC style private chatroom client, but depending on the plans you get (and you can even use it for free with unlimited users if I recall) when you attach images or files to messages, they stay in the system so they can be referred back to, at least for a time. If what they need is something more real-time rather than a long-term document storage/sharing system, then that might work out well for them. I use hipchat extensively at work for communicating with my team, sharing files, talking to clients, holding meetings, etc and find I rarely use anything else for sharing things, getting feedback or collaborating on projects. I can highly recommend it, and since you can trial it for free, if it sounds like it might fit the bill, I'd encourage you to investigate it. We also use their dev API to feed in info from our various monitoring tools for servers, software builds, support tickets, etc so it acts a company-wide notification system as well as shared communications platform. Thanks for the ideas. We will be investigating all of them. Anyone come across Zimbra (http://www.zimbra.com/)? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
Hi We've used Socialcast and Salesforce's Chatter, both are externally hosts (ie cloud) but both work quite well. Depends on how deep your pockets are and if you're already using Salesforce or not. -- Martin Hepworth, CISSP Oxford, UK On 30 September 2014 15:50, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: On 30 September 2014 at 15:30 Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell darkliq...@darkliquid.co.uk wrote: If they already use Microsoft Office (and especially if they already subscribe to Office 365) then Yammer is a service that is specifically designed to be a corporate social network at the Office 365 Mid-Size Business tier. I've never used it though and naturally it's a service, not something you can run yourself on your own hardware. We are looking for a solution that can be hosted within our Corporate network, preferably on Linux servers. I've had some brief exposure to Atlassians Confluence software, which you can buy to self-host or pay for monthly per user as a service and it seems pretty good, though like all things it has a bit of a learning curve. I've only barely used it though, so can't say much about it other than people I work with have given it very high praise. It's probably better if you buy into the rest of Atlassian's suite of tools like Jira and Hipchat, etc but by itself I don't imagine it's too bad. I don't think having to pay is the issue; it's about having it hosted on our network. Speaking of Hipchat, that might actually fit the bill. It's basically an IRC style private chatroom client, but depending on the plans you get (and you can even use it for free with unlimited users if I recall) when you attach images or files to messages, they stay in the system so they can be referred back to, at least for a time. If what they need is something more real-time rather than a long-term document storage/sharing system, then that might work out well for them. I use hipchat extensively at work for communicating with my team, sharing files, talking to clients, holding meetings, etc and find I rarely use anything else for sharing things, getting feedback or collaborating on projects. I can highly recommend it, and since you can trial it for free, if it sounds like it might fit the bill, I'd encourage you to investigate it. We also use their dev API to feed in info from our various monitoring tools for servers, software builds, support tickets, etc so it acts a company-wide notification system as well as shared communications platform. Thanks for the ideas. We will be investigating all of them. Anyone come across Zimbra (http://www.zimbra.com/)? Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
Re: [Dorset] Social Networking in a Corporate Environment
On 30/09/14 15:12, d-...@hadrian-way.co.uk wrote: On 30 September 2014 at 14:33 Ralph Corderoy ra...@inputplus.co.uk wrote: Hi Terry, I believe that the management are not really sure what they want in terms of functionality so are looking for suggestions. We have discussed this locally What's the nature of the information you want to share? Considered blog posts? One-line QA? A curated resource of information? That's part of the problem; they're not really sure. I think it might function as a newsletter in some scenarios, but with the ability to accept comments, where appropriate. In other scenarios, it might be used to seed ideas, with inline drawings / photographs, etc to really get over the message. The key I think is engagement. When Groklaw was at it height it was generating hundreds of responses to each article, with ideas flying thick and fast. I don't believe a mailing list (as suggested elsewhere) will work like that for people who aren't necessarily technical, whereas an active blog or Facebook type solution might, because of the multimedia element. As a bonus, it might also be useful to have the ability to collaborate on documents etc. I think we are looking for suggestions to see what might be the most attractive. Does anyone have any experience of Corporate Social Networks (linux based or otherwise)? Terry Coles Hi Terry, I came across Zimbra as an email client at one time, but didn't like it, I can't remember why now. I just wonder whether a forum type thing like ubuntuforums might be something that they like- divisible into topics etc. I had a look at a cycling forum - yacf.co.uk and it is managed/hosted by simplemachines.org - an open source solution. Peter M. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2014-10-07 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread on mailing list: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
