Friday, November 18, 2005
Transparency on the train...
In Chapter 3 of "We the Media", Dan Gillmor touches on the issues of transparency and openness, which are also related to trust. Dan says that blogs create a "higher level of transparency" because information of any kind can be verified by other bloggers and exposed as untrue or supported as true in the transparent world of blogging. This should be a good thing for companies as they want to be known as credible, trusted sources for products and services and information. A recent Harris Poll found that fewer Americans than Europeans have trust in the media: 62% of Americans don't trust the media, and 70% don't trust big companies. That leaves a lot of room for bloggers, who feel that they fill a gap in fairly reporting information of all kinds. As Dan also says, "You can't avoid more openness."
John Robinson, Editor of the Greensboro News & Record, discussed why the GNR started blogging and he discussed similar themes: transparency and openness. He wanted to find a way to let his readers "in" by understanding that they could ask any questions, or make comments on his blog. As I was listening to what he was describing I realized that this is a unique aspect of building trust: once you start the conversation, you open yourself up to others, and when you sincerely answer them, they realize that you are serious about having a relationship, and in that moment, you begin to build trust.
We were fortunate to have Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, speak to our class, and he also touched on these themes of openness and transparency, believing that they create a culture of mutual trust and an atmosphere of respect.
One of the (many) ways that Sun is transparent...
If you go to the Developer community, there is a section on an upcoming 2006 Java conference, where there is a forum asking for suggested topics to discuss at that conference. The forum includes: a way to register, a welcome message to me as a guest, and a list of the various topics the group is discussing.
Here is a portal to all of the Sun Forums.
John Robinson, Editor of the Greensboro News & Record, discussed why the GNR started blogging and he discussed similar themes: transparency and openness. He wanted to find a way to let his readers "in" by understanding that they could ask any questions, or make comments on his blog. As I was listening to what he was describing I realized that this is a unique aspect of building trust: once you start the conversation, you open yourself up to others, and when you sincerely answer them, they realize that you are serious about having a relationship, and in that moment, you begin to build trust.
We were fortunate to have Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, speak to our class, and he also touched on these themes of openness and transparency, believing that they create a culture of mutual trust and an atmosphere of respect.
One of the (many) ways that Sun is transparent...
If you go to the Developer community, there is a section on an upcoming 2006 Java conference, where there is a forum asking for suggested topics to discuss at that conference. The forum includes: a way to register, a welcome message to me as a guest, and a list of the various topics the group is discussing.
Here is a portal to all of the Sun Forums.
# posted by Karen Mishra @ 6:40 AM 
