Comments on: ThoughtFarmer vs. SLATES: Are we Enterprise 2.0-compliant? http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/ Social Intranet Software: ThoughtFarmer is Turnkey, Microsoft Certified Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:27:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Chris http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-19 Chris Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:46:54 +0000 http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-19 Susan, I guess my working definition of Extensions is, "take the metadata and do something smart with it." ThoughtFarmer does -- it makes it easy for you to find content related by tag, date, author or type. It also takes user ratings and favourites into consideration when delivering search results. But ThoughtFarmer does not make personalized recommendations based on user behavior. Although that capability sounds cool, I don't believe a typical Enterprise 2.0 system, with, say, 2000 users can generate sufficient metadata to extract consistent behavior patterns. McAfee's two examples are StumbleUpon and Amazon -- both systems with millions of users. McAfee elaborates on extensions in <a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.hbs.edu/faculty/amcafee/index.php/faculty_amcafee_v3/entry/wising_up_about_dumbing_down/" rel="nofollow">this blog post</a>: <blockquote>"Most Web 2.0 platforms also include both tags and extensions, which are pointers to other content of interest. Extensions can be automatic (as with Flickr clusters) or human-based. Usernames are a simple example of human-based extensions; if I see that mikestopforth and I have bookmarked a lot of the same Web pages using del.icio.us, I’m interested to see what other sites he’s come across. Del.icio.us lets me peruse his collection (it also lets him keep some or all of it private.)."</blockquote> By this definition, ThoughtFarmer has extensions. Susan, I guess my working definition of Extensions is, “take the metadata and do something smart with it.” ThoughtFarmer does — it makes it easy for you to find content related by tag, date, author or type. It also takes user ratings and favourites into consideration when delivering search results.

But ThoughtFarmer does not make personalized recommendations based on user behavior. Although that capability sounds cool, I don’t believe a typical Enterprise 2.0 system, with, say, 2000 users can generate sufficient metadata to extract consistent behavior patterns. McAfee’s two examples are StumbleUpon and Amazon — both systems with millions of users.

McAfee elaborates on extensions in this blog post:

“Most Web 2.0 platforms also include both tags and extensions, which are pointers to other content of interest. Extensions can be automatic (as with Flickr clusters) or human-based. Usernames are a simple example of human-based extensions; if I see that mikestopforth and I have bookmarked a lot of the same Web pages using del.icio.us, I’m interested to see what other sites he’s come across. Del.icio.us lets me peruse his collection (it also lets him keep some or all of it private.).”

By this definition, ThoughtFarmer has extensions.

]]> By: Susan Scrupski http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-18 Susan Scrupski Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:20:41 +0000 http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-18 Hi Chris. I don't have McAfee's paper handy, but I think "extensions" is about making intelligent content suggestions based on info you've searched on or tagged possibly, similar to the Amazon recommendation system. Does ThoughtFarmer have this type of built-in capability? This one is a little tricky, and I'm not sure all e2.0 products can claim it, frankly. Hey, I came here by way of the ThoughtFarmer page on Facebook. So, it's working! :-) Hi Chris. I don’t have McAfee’s paper handy, but I think “extensions” is about making intelligent content suggestions based on info you’ve searched on or tagged possibly, similar to the Amazon recommendation system. Does ThoughtFarmer have this type of built-in capability? This one is a little tricky, and I’m not sure all e2.0 products can claim it, frankly.

Hey, I came here by way of the ThoughtFarmer page on Facebook. So, it’s working! :-)

]]> By: Darren http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-17 Darren Sat, 17 Nov 2007 00:01:42 +0000 http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-17 I've been watching OpenSocial with interest to see how we could potentially integrate it with ThoughtFarmer. Unfortunately, at this point, the APIs seem more about writing cross-platform relationship aware applications, rather than a true open API that would facilitate some of the functionality that Chris outlines above. Tim O'Reilly has a good <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/11/opensocial_social_mashups.html" rel="nofollow">blog post</a> on this topic that I feel is spot-on. When OpenSocial supports social data mashups, then I think we'll see some real opportunities for integration. I’ve been watching OpenSocial with interest to see how we could potentially integrate it with ThoughtFarmer. Unfortunately, at this point, the APIs seem more about writing cross-platform relationship aware applications, rather than a true open API that would facilitate some of the functionality that Chris outlines above.

Tim O’Reilly has a good blog post on this topic that I feel is spot-on. When OpenSocial supports social data mashups, then I think we’ll see some real opportunities for integration.

]]> By: Chris http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-15 Chris Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:10:23 +0000 http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-15 Jed, we'll be listening closely to our current and potential customers with regards to OpenSocial. The common APIs make great sense for cloud-based social software. For <a href="/blog/2007/10/10/behind-the-firewall/" rel="nofollow">wiki intranets behind the firewall</a> -- our specialty -- there are security concerns. Despite security issues, I can see huge value here. Imagine importing the LinkedIn contacts, via OpenSocial, of each ThoughtFarmer user. And then exposing those contacts to coworkers in a secure, trusted environment. Or even just pointing out shared connections of you and your coworkers. If business is all about who you know, these kinds of features could add significant value to a company's ThoughtFarmer installation. Jed, we’ll be listening closely to our current and potential customers with regards to OpenSocial. The common APIs make great sense for cloud-based social software. For wiki intranets behind the firewall — our specialty — there are security concerns.

Despite security issues, I can see huge value here. Imagine importing the LinkedIn contacts, via OpenSocial, of each ThoughtFarmer user. And then exposing those contacts to coworkers in a secure, trusted environment. Or even just pointing out shared connections of you and your coworkers. If business is all about who you know, these kinds of features could add significant value to a company’s ThoughtFarmer installation.

]]> By: Jed http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-16 Jed Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:29:47 +0000 http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/11/14/slates/#comment-16 Nice posting - good conclusions :-) How about ThoughtFarmer in the wider world of social networking - any thoughts on adding OpenSocial interoperability ? Nice posting – good conclusions :-)

How about ThoughtFarmer in the wider world of social networking – any thoughts on adding OpenSocial interoperability ?

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