Serious?

And so, dipping my toes a little further into the swirling waters of social media, I've done my first podcast - courtesy of Talis and their "Technology Evangelist" Richard Wallis. You can find the result at http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/archives/2008/01/cilip_chief_exe.php

According to Richard, I should download the podcast, burn it onto a CD, and then listen to it in the car - I assume he means while driving along rather than by skulking in the garage listening in secret shame... I'll try this next time I'm on the road, and report back.

 Perhaps the podcast experience will help me with a topical question - can social media be used as a valid channel for serious discourse? Or does discourse only become "serious" when it's formalised into conference papers or learned journals or policy documents and the like? I'll have a further think on that as I listen to the podcast while navigating the M6 on my next trip to the North.

And what about that job title, eh - "Technology Evangelist," what's that all about?! Actually, I like it. It does what it says on the tin - look out, here comes a bloke who's going to bang on endlessly about the wonders of technology - and it's splendidly unstuffy: a real contrast to those convoluted and constipated job titles which bedevil the upper echelons of public service these days.

Richard's job title reminds me of a great story in - I think - Ricardo Semler's book Maverick in which Semler writes about his unconventional "power to the people" style of management. When a member of staff needed business cards for a conference she asked Semler what job title she should put on them. "Supreme Commander" he replied. Which has to be the ultimate in delegated authority and unstuffy job description - as well as being a brilliant postmodernist ice-breaker when exchanging business cards in the conference bar.

I wonder if the Talis High Command had Semler's story in mind when they came up with the "Technology Evangelist" idea? They certainly read stuff like Semler in the Talis offices if the CEO's bookshelf is anything to go by - we did the podcast in the Talis CEO's office and I had a quick peek at the reading matter on display: plenty of stuff on technology (as you might expect) but also lots of good stuff on management and leadership.

 Also on the CEO's bookshelf was John McEnroe's autobiography, Serious? - an intriguing choice, confirming that sport can be used as a metaphor for management (and indeed for most things in life) and bringing me back to that question I'll be thinking about while listening to the podcast. Think of discourse through social media as having the same authority and validity as discourse through conference papers or learned journals or policy documents - you cannot be serious?!? Or can you?...