Xcom 285 Week 3 Checkpoint

The Superhero in the Cubicle article addressed business communication through some of the newest advances available, such as mashups, and wiki’s, also referred to as social computing. This article clearly defines the usefulness of this new technology when it is used as intended. These new forms of communication, especially across companies whose presence spans the country, or even the globe, offer users and corporate executives a simple, yet direct way of stating a message that reaches many. The wikis and the mashups both have advantages to consider. Their overall usefulness would be directly influenced by the size and type of business using it. Mashups are normally a collaboration of related information. Google maps, for example, coordinates a few different mashups that link maps and; photographs, Craigslist ads with geographical locations, and maps with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth (whatis.techtarget.com). In a business setting, it could include materials information sites, services, related surveys, and related technology. Wikis’ are open to, and can be altered by participants, as opposed to mashups which may, or may not be. Wikis can offer an active communication between participants and offer an opportunity for project collaboration that other forms of communication may inhibit. A mass e-mail notification can easily be lost in an executives busy mail box, thus, checking into a corporate wiki, provides all of that same information, and more as long as all team members use it properly. We may want to classify these technologies as unconventional, but are they really? The perspective depends on one’s affiliation to the expeditious growth of Internet technology. The idea of new technology and communication is status quo in the business environment where a younger generation has come through the system already exposed to these concepts. The biggest difference in business communication would be in quantity over anything else. Gone are the days when

References: Locker, K., & Kienzler, D. (2008). Business and administrative communication (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Citrano, V. (2007, September). Superhero in the cubicle. CIO Insight. (85), 41 Definition Mashup Retrieved from whatis.techtarget.com/definition/mashup