Social networking is very popular, but many governments are banning Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites at work. Is there an internal model that can bring the benefits of sharing and collaboration without the temptations and security risks associated with checking-in and sharing files or other information with friends all over the country?
Federal Computer Week (FCW) ran an article this week on a product called A-Space, that Intelligence Community officials hope will provide just the right Intranet solution.
Here's more from FCW, "The program's designers want A-Space to give analysts from all 16 intelligence agencies a place to share ideas and information more freely and collaborate across agency lines.
After logging in, analysts will have access to shared and personal workspaces, wikis, blogs, widgets, RSS feeds and other tools. To log in, analysts will need to prove their identity using public key infrastructure, and their agencies must list them in the governmentwide intelligence analyst directory."
Each user will have their own unique profile and be able to post notes to others' profiles.
The idea is not new, with many companies like IBM and Microsoft offering social networking tools for enterprise Intranets. The key is to gain adoption and get users working together in more efficient ways without developing another hard to use office tool set that never gains traction. Bottom line: many users want the real Facebook or MySpace.
A Google search for "Intranet social networking" brings a million results, with numerous options available to governments. And yet, installing and configuring a separate internal toolset seems to be daunting to most technology shops. Therefore, few governments have gone down this road to date.
Perhaps A-Space is the model, perhaps not. One thing is for sure, there will be plenty more examples to come.
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