Connecting the Dots for Social Computing, Social Media, Community

On the second day of the in.Telligent conference, I was supposed to present a session titled, "Social Computing behind the Firewall, Part 1." During breakfast, I found out that Joe Morel and Christian Vanderbeck, the Program Manager and Product Manager, respectively, for Community Server Evolution, had some really great content and demos lined up for their Part 2 session. So, I decided to scrap the slides that I had clumsily put together (due to having had three too many Grey Goose shots with the ladies of Moosylvania Marketing) the night before and to create a new slidedeck (attached below & via Slideshare) that would focus on the fundamental forces that are driving the need for social computing and community both inside and outside the firewall.

I kicked off my presentation by half-joking about how I put the entire slidedeck together in just 3 hours that morning (I really did as the people sitting around me can attest), but it has actually taken me 20 years, starting from when I had started my IT career with a 4-line BBS while still in high school. After the session, Scott Henderson of MediaSauce shared this wonderful story with me. :-)

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

I'll post the video of my presentation as soon as I get it from the AV folks in ~2 weeks, but for now, I hope that you'll find the slides sufficiently understandable in conveying the key concepts and terms that I passionately believe to be the underlying profound reasons for why there's so much interest and demand for social computing today and in the foreseeable future. I will be imparting the same concepts and terms on my colleagues at Telligent, discussing them with customers and partners, and presenting them at future conferences. And I would love to get your feedback, so please leave a comment if you have any questions, suggestions, or disagreements.