Category Archives: Social software

Web 2.0 comes to the NHS

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News just in from Dr Mark Greenhalgh Clinical Networking Strategy Lead, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement:

“A social network pilot for the UK renal community will be going live in March, all being well. This is internal to the NHS, but will utilize a full complement of social networking tools. This is among the very first of initiatives to bring the Web 2.0 philosophy to health in the UK – particularly within the NHS.


“The site will support two communities during its pilot phase – the Practice Partner Network – a network supporting early adoption and trial of the products and output from the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and also the informal UK kidney community – clinicians and patients, plus other support staff involved with the care of patients with kidney disease. It may help to support the renal National Quality Improvement Initiative – a move to raise the standard of kidney services in the areas doing less well, towards the standards achieved by the best services – there are 53 services in England.

“If this goes well, it may influence the adoption of the approach across the NHS.” Another

Cluetrain Mainfesto’s unpredictable thoughts

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The Cluetrain Mainfesto which has inspired social software, has also inspired me. I have found the concept of markets as conversations useful, though it’s also difficult to put into practice with business models which aren’t based on this premise. So seeing how to move from a traditional e-commerce and support model to one on a Cluetrain premise will be interesting. My guess is that this should with strategic nudges happen gradually on its own accord (‘by accident’) but I could be wrong.

I also like the part about ‘small piece loosely joined unpredictably’. Normally you would for business remove the unpredictable of course. Business is based on predictability so its interesting that talk about ‘the edge of chaos’ approach is fashionable in some business circles. Again, I can see the positive influence of small amounts of unpredictability, balanced within the context of a traditional business model – allowing for the possibiloity of evolution to a more fluid way of working (‘by accident’). But making the transition is painful at times so there’s no easy way, no piece of software to do the job for you. Though I am tempted to say there are books and people who can help there is no escaping the need to bite the bullet if you want to work in a more ‘unpredictable’ way.