The Intelligence Community has always been plagued with the issue of sharing information, and while improvements have been made, much work still needs to be done. The internet is currently undergoing a revolution in the way users communicate and share information, known as Web 2.0 This blog will take a look at how Web 2.0 principles can be applied to the intelligence community.
Just a quick mention about a great website - Meebo.com
Meebo allows you to sign on to all of your instant message accounts from the same place, and every service runs through the website. Theres nothing to install, and it works with all the major features of the IM networks.
When I first came across Jott, I was skeptical of it's claim: "Never forget anything again!" Jott is essentially a phone number that you call from anywhere and leave yourself a message. Jott then transcribes the message, and emails you a reminder at a time you specify. Convenient? Definitely. But is it really that much easier than simply adding a new event in Outlook or Google Calendar. Before trying Jott, I would have answered no to that question. However, after using it for this past week I can say that it truly is an extremely useful tool.
When you call the phone number, it asks you who you want to "Jott". You can set up names and phone numbers on the Jott website, so you can easily send messages to any one. It then asks you what you want to Jott - the message that will be transcribed and sent. After you record the message, it asks if you want a reminder; and if so, when you would like it. This is the real saver feature of the application.
On Monday of last week, I called Jott to set a reminder for myself about a meeting I had later in the week. After that point, the date and time completely left me. Early Thursday morning I received a text message reminding me of the meeting at 15:00. It's great for those busy times when you have so much happening that its easy to forget some things. Last week was one of those times, and without the message from Jott its likely I would have missed the meeting.
You can access all of your transcribed Jotts, edit reminder times, and change how you are alert. It's very simple to use, and you can check off tasks and reminders.
While its not for everyone, I definitely recommend giving Jott a trial run. The price is right - it's free!
Here's a neat application that could definitely prove useful for most people. RescueTime is a Web 2.0 program that analyzes how you spend your time. You can view reports about how much time you wasted reading your favorite blogs, and how much time you spend in applications on your computer. As a free tool, it is extremely comprehensive and quite possibly a very useful resource.
As this project is going to be based off of open source intelligence, our biggest resource will be an internet search engine. While most people would, and rightfully so, depend on google, there are many other search engines available for use. One very interesting tool is ChaCha Search. ChaCha Search will take your search term and gather appropriate and relevant results from all the major search engines. What makes it unique is that it offers you the opportunity to search with a human guide. The guide will go over the results and personally pick the ones that best answer your search. While it is not the fastest or most efficient way to search, it can be a helpful resource when you are having difficultly finding information on google.
As we search the internet, I decided to collect all the relevant information and save it as a wiki. The benefits of this method are two-fold: First, my research will be available on all computers with internet access. Second, a wiki will allow other users to view, edit, and add to my research - its collaboration features and ease of use can't currently be matched by any other tool out there. I created my at wikispaces.com - it is accessible at http://culrich.wikispaces.com/
I have already added information about mining projects and companies to the wiki, and will be updating it as my research continues. The wiki is set up as public, meaning any person who accesses it can add and edit the pages - feel free to participate. Next up we will try to find some Web 2.0 tools to perform the analysis step. If you have encountered any tools that would be helpful with the analysis phrase, please leave a comment.
Check out this neat tool called Unyverse - a mobile wiki platform. It allows you to create a wiki on your cell phone, and update it both from the internet and from your device. It also acts as an RSS reader, and a mobile viewer for Wikipedia. Definitely an interesting tool to stay updated.
Over the next week or two, I am going to go through the process of researching and developing an intelligence report on a question, using only Web 2.0 applications. Throughout the process, I invite everyone who wishes to participate - hopefully this project will be a proponent of the collaboration features of Web 2.0 applications. As this will also be a learning experience for me, I welcome all comments and suggestions about how to go about the process - while I consider myself knowledgeable about the Web 2.0 system, I am definitely not an expert.
With that being said, let's get started. The country of Mongolia is sandwiched between Russia and China in Eastern Asia. The mountainous region is high in mineral deposits, including coal and uranium. Uranium mining has become a major business in the country. Your supervisor would like a report on the uranium mining in the country, especially looking at foreign business and foreign government involvement in the process.
Without knowing much about the country of Mongolia or it's uranium market, my first action is to collect what I know about the country, and what information I need to research to help answer the intelligence question. To help me diagram my thoughts, I am going to create a mind map using Bubbl.us, a service that I have reviewed before on this blog. I chose to use Bubbl.us because of its ease of use and its collaboration ability.
I was able to quickly put together this little mind map, just as a small outline for myself. Over the next day or two, I will be doing some basic research on Mongolia. Wikipedia is a great place to start, to get a general idea about the country - while its not a great place to get your specific facts about a specific topic, it is an excellent resource for an overview. As I conduct basic research, I will be expanding upon the mind map.
I encourage all of you to at least look at the mind map, and it would be even better if some of you would like to participate. If you would like to be able to work on the mind map with me, please leave me a comment below with either your email address, or if you already have a bubbl.us account your username on the site. I will be sure to either send you an invitation, or add your account to the mind map. I'm going to be actively adding to it over the next couple days and it will be constantly consulted during the process.
Monday, November 12, 2007
As the intel community continues to try to make the transition from a "need to know" culture to a "need to share" environment, Web 2.0 principles are increasingly being utilized to help in the shift. This interesting article from Government Executive.com talks about how government researchers are embracing virtual worlds - like Second Life - to exchange information and better the decision making process.
