G’day and kia ora, my name is Matt Lane and my job tite here at the SSC is “Online Collaboration Specialist”. My responsibilities include:
- examining new collaborative web technologies and trends (like wikis, blogs, etc.),
- trying to keep up with who are using them (primarily New Zealand Government agencies), and
- to share these experiences and knowledge with those who are thinking of using them.
A friend recently told me a “specialist” is someone who learns more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. I optimistically interpret her comment as meaning ”you can never have a very deep knowledge of a very broad topic”, which I think definitely applies. We all use some form of online collaboration tools daily, in our social lives, professional lives, for entertainment and for education (and this is increasing). These are very different to how we once did things, and the implications are wide and deep. I do focus on less to avoid knowing nothing about everything, and aim to know something about something.
I am hoping that some of the ”know-how” I have learnt from others (and am still learning) will translate to “can-do” here on In Development, and I look forward to collaborating with you.
