Campaigns & Elections' Politics - February 2008 - (Page 55) look at the wiki and contribute when they choose, instead of having their inboxes fill up with cc’d messages, Keairns says. Newcomers to an organization can log into the wiki to answer any questions they have as they adjust to their new surroundings, Keairns adds. “In some cases, it actually replaces the need for training on certain topics because there are experts available that are sharing this knowledge more informally.” Companies that adopt wikis often worry conversations will devolve into gripe sessions or shoot off on tangents, Keairns says. Campaigns obviously can have the same concerns. But wiki contributors, aware their peers are watching, typically stay focused. “People don’t want to damage their reputation in a professional environment online any more than they do in person, and in general the communication is not anonymous,” Keairns says. Internal wikis can address the shortcomings of e-mail, which is a great tool for one-to-one communication but not as effective in exchanging ideas among groups, says Ross Mayfield, president of Socialtext Inc. (In addition to helping Dean’s campaign create its own wiki, other Socialtext customers include Boston College, USA Today and cell-phone maker Nokia.) People might have to sift through e-mail trails to reveal the nugget they need or they might have trouble finding the latest version of an attachment that has been bouncing around among collaborators. A wiki, on the other hand, is a centralized place to put information. “You start as a blank page and it can turn into anything by adding links and tags and structure,” Mayfield says. The challenge is getting people to adapt to a new way of communicating. But if it becomes part of a daily work flow, the switch is easier, Mayfield says. “That’s where you get the most dramatic effect.” For younger campaign workers already comfortable with sharing their thoughts online, it might not seem like a switch at all. “These are the people who do their homework on Facebook and that’s called cheating,” says Mayfield. “They come to the workplace and they use a wiki and it’s called collaboration.” Smart? Yes. But Not The Smartest The Toy: LG Voyager VX 10000 Cost: $350 Grade: B T he LG Voyager VX 10000 is a big step up from a regular old cell phone—but it’s not quite a giant leap into everything the smartest phones have to offer. The device was introduced in late 2007 and, due to its touch-screen technology, drew instant comparisons to Apple’s iPhone, last year’s smash hit. Both phones have a touch screen on the front, but the Voyager adds a cool twist: It flips open to reveal speakers, a second screen and a QWERTY keypad for those folks who aren’t ready to ditch the keyboard. The touch screen works well, although the images aren’t as crisp as they are on an iPhone and you can’t use your fingers to scroll down the screen. You can only tap on the icons to open applications. Still, it’s easy to use the Voyager’s screen to make calls and browse the Internet. The keypad also is manageable for big fingers. One downside is that the Voyager can surf the web only through Verizon’s data network, which runs about $15 a month. It would be cheaper to walk into a coffeehouse and use free Wi-Fi. The Voyager also lacks the full suite of tools available on a true PDA, such as the ability to create and send documents. IMAGES COURTESY OF LG February 2008 Politics 55
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