I'm conducting a research project in to the Effectiveness of Social Computing for Workplace Learning (a.k.a, Enterprise Learning 2.0). Here are a few early discoveries from the data gathering phase of my research:
1) 80% of respondents work for organisations that provide access to corporate social computing for workplace learning to their employees through the Internet.
2) 8% of those repondents claim that access to the corporate social computing environment is accessible without any form of authentication or virtual private network. Unless those 8% all happen to work for the likes of twitter, youtube and suchlike, I find it difficult to believe that organisations open up their corporate social computing tools to the Internet in this 'come on in, the water's fine' manner.
3) In either case, complex security authentication does not seem to inhibit access to Learning 2.0 in the Enterprise, with 75% of respondents claiming that they never or rarely experience complex security issues when accessing their employer's social computing environment for workplace learning (as we know, 8% have no such barrier!).
4) Access to corporate social computing for workplace learning is rated as Good or Outstanding by almost 60% of respondents, and only 6% rate access to their employer's social computing for wokrplace learning as poor.
My research continues and if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a £50 (UKP) Amazon or iTunes voucher, I would appreciate your help in completing this questionnaire www.surveymonkey.com/s/3HD7JQW
The questionnaire will be available until 20th July 2012 and it takes about 10 mins to complete. Every participant who leaves an email address will receive a 'thank you' in the form of a $10 (USD) store credit to spend with National Geographic's partner www.novica.com - a great way to support artisans in developing nations.
Participation is anonymous (unless you wish to leave your email address), and all my findings, conclusions and recommendations will be published in October, and sent to those who wish to receive a copy.
Replies
Hi David
Good look with your research project. I'll drop in and fill out your survey. Regarding point 2 above maybe these respondents use Yammer which is accessible outside firewalls but (in general) communities are limited to members with the same organisation email address.
Casson
Casson,
You could be right, but even Yammer requires a user ID and password - even if pre-populated.
The question I pose in the survey is:
Does your employer provide access to social computing for workplace learning from the Internet?
Yes, without authentication (8%)
There's no option for 'Yes, without authentication except the authentication that's implicit and hidden from view'