What: Computerworld article on telecommuting
Posts to Which it is Related: Confessions of a Telecommuter, So You Think You’d Like to Telecommute?
Bottom Line: This article is about how to be aware of and avoid some possible problems with implementing a plan for telecommuting. In order to avoid sending workers out into the world of telecommuting without the proper tools, policies and procedures in place, telework experts and IT managers offer some basic questions to answer before starting a telework program.
1. Should full time telecommuting be an option? In other words, is the job one that doesn’t require a lot of interaction and can be done from a desk anywhere? This includes the question of should the job be done remotely?
2. How will performance be measured and defined? This includes defining a clear expectation around the hours an employee will be available and actually working or whether meeting certain daily goals is enough, regardless of time required to meet the goals.
3. Will creativity suffer? If creative ideas are an important part of an employee’s deliverables, how will you be sure that the employee is in the right place to be intellectually involved in the work?
4. How will telecommuting affect collaboration? Does your organization rely heavily on informal communication that can happen as people meet each other in the halls? Are the people that will telecommute important for “jump starting” ideas with others?
5. How will telecommuting affect those still in the office? Will it bring down job satisfaction and perceived equity? Will unfair demands be placed on office workers because they are around?
6. Is there an exit strategy? Are precautions put in place so that if either party is unhappy with the telecommuting situation it can be revised or canceled?

What: Blogpost at Kiva.org, a non-profit that makes small micro loans
Posts to Which it is Related: Leading Virtual Communities: Do We Have the Answer?
Bottom Line: This is an example of how online communities can be powerful tools for organizing people, even if the people involved don’t really know each other outside of the online community. 101 Cookbooks is a popular cooking blog that received around 1 million hits in August of this year. The owner of 101 Cookbooks decided to find a way to leverage the blog’s visibility and evolving community in getting involved with helping others. She set up a lending team at Kiva.org, an organization that allows individuals to make small micro credit loans to people in developing countries for starting businesses. Within the day the team had 100 lenders, mostly new Kiva members. Within two weeks over 400 people had joined the team and more than $7,000 had been dispersed in micro-loans. In fact the team has become one of the top lending teams in terms of dollars. This all takes place through Internet technology and among people who for the most part are strangers to each other. Kiva connects would be lenders to those seeking a loan over the Internet and teams can come together from all over the world through Internet technology, in this case through an “online recipe journal.” You can see the Kiva Update from 101 Cookbooks here.

What: Harvard Business Review article on business use of virtual worlds
Posts to Which it is Related: So Far and Yet So Near, Wonderland: A Tool for Online Collaboration, Rethinking the Value of Virtual Worlds for Virtual Team Collaboration, The Future of Virtual Teams: Collaboration in 3D Web, Time to Think Differently About Collaboration in Virtual Worlds
Bottom Line: In this article Paul Hemp discusses how businesses should use virtual worlds.  He suggests that in order to effectively use virtual worlds businesses should concentrate on creating and exploiting virtual spaces that mirror reality, as opposed to becoming involved in fantasy worlds.  His main point is that right now virtual worlds are best used in businesses as a collaboration tool. In order to succeed at this he suggests that companies need realistic and secure environments that they manage themselves, such as an in-house virtual world. Hemp points to the increased social awareness of virtual worlds and their ability to facilitate impromptu social meetings as reasons that they succeed as tools for collaboration. Interestingly, he also suggests that virtual worlds are not just interactive but “active” when used for tasks such as training because people are able to move around in the virtual world and possibly retain more knowledge from having activities there where the knowledge might be used in the future.