If you're enthusiastic about new media's potential, consider mentoring like-minded IT and business-side employees. New media is really a bottom-up paradigm: For it to work, you can't dictate from the top.
The first step is to produce some quality content, to show new media's potential. Find a small group of peer leaders who care about and want to use new media at work, and let them go for it. Let the content grow organically. Start small, and as more people get on board, the rate of adoption will increase exponentially.
Encourage employees to promote their work, and invite in other co-workers. Suggest they place their blog URLs on business cards. Above all, be a consumer of the content yourself: Read employee blogs, post comments, make mention of topics discussed on their podcasts. Let the producer feel as if you're listening, reading and caring about the work.
You should also champion giving the employee time to post. This doesn't mean that blogging has to be considered a high priority item, but posting should be considered "real work."
You should also know when to pull the plug. Not all people are suitable to the medium: Poor writers will make poor bloggers; they may be better off podcasting, where they can get their ideas across without worrying about typos.
Remind users that practice makes perfect: Listen to any podcast series, and you'll notice that the hosts become more comfortable and better over time.
Michael J. DeMaria is an associate technology editor based at Network Computing's Syracuse University's Real-World Labs®. Write to him at [email protected].
