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Openness in Communication

The concept of "openness" is much in vogue these days, but it's used to mean so many different things, especially by those whose systems are mostly closed. A solid exploration of the concept is in order. Fortunately, John Hoem has written such an exploration in the journal First Monday. Openness in Communication takes apart the concept and examines its various usages in detail. The article also presents nine ideal models of communication and teases apart the different power relations between producers and consumers and users. His nice models are: Transmission, Registration, Commenting, Consultation, Dialogue, Collaboration, Syndication, Sharing, and Emergence. Whether you are an advocate of openness or you just happen to be using the term, you owe it to your stakeholders to read this. Posted: 7/31/06; 4:28:10 PM #

Centred Communication: Weblogs and aggregation in the organisation

James Farmer of Deaken University has outlined an online communication model for organizations centered around the use of weblogs and aggregation. His guiding assumption is that ownership, control, independence, choice, and design for subversive use are essential for effective online communication and knowledge systems. This is very nicely presented and is entirely consistent with my own experience and research. Posted: 7/31/06; 4:13:33 PM #