On the BlogCascadia website, there is an article written by Kevin Jones. The article summarizes a session held by Tony Karrer at TechKnowledge 2008. The article documents things that can get in the way of social learning implementations.
Firewalls, IP, Privacy, Security, Control of information by management, Strict control over policies – Accuracy, Liability / Discoverability / Compliance, Change Management – Ready for it / Culture, Management take it seriously – away from work, Is it real work or not? Education of management, Lack of resources – Mobile devices, Pushback from workforce – adoption
As I read the list, three items caught my attention: Firewalls, Internet Protocol (IP blocking), and Security. Although many companies have policies that dictate their networks need to be protected, it usually becomes the responsibility of the network/security administrator to make sure it happens. I use the phrase network/security administrator for one very important reason. Very few companies have someone who is dedicated to security. In fact, many companies have now pushed the security responsibilities onto the network administrator who has little, if any, security training. Never underestimate the power of influence these individuals have in an organization. If the network is compromised, they are the first people to be called in the middle of the night and the first to suffer the wrath of executives after a security breach. If you want to talk social learning tools with these types of individuals, you will need to understand how they think.
In Sun Tzu’s The Art of War he states, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.” I don’t want to portray network/security administrators as the enemy but Sun Tzu’s statement does provide “food for thought” when it comes to talking with these individuals. You need to know how they look at things; it’s quite different then you and I.
Example: A social learning champion reads about a new piece of software that allows them to retrieve the latest updates without having to visit their favorite blog/news sites. They install it, start using it, and begin to tell others about this wonderful new tool and how it saves them so much more time!
Now, let’s switch to how the network/security administrator looks at the new tool. .
What technology is this new piece of software based on?
Answer: Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
What types of vulnerabilities are introduced by RSS?
Answer: Malicious javascripts delivered via the feed can run on the user’s computer causing a security vulnerability. If I were a hacker, I would setup my own blog, encourage the user to subscribe to it and deliver the malicious code that way. But, a much simpler approach would be to insert my code into a blog the user already trusts by entering it into a comment I post. My comment, which is typically included in the trusted blog’s own RSS feed, will be delivered to the user.
As you can see, two people looking at the same tool with totally different perspectives.
