The Education and Training Specific Interest Group (EdSIG) is part of the Project Management Institute (PMI®). It is a virtual and global organization with professionals worldwide interested in the field of Training and Education of Project Management.
The PMI EdSIG Vision is :
"The PMI EdSIG is the leading global resource for linking project management practitioners with educators and trainers in the project management community.
The PMI EdSIG Mission is:
"provides services to our members and people interested in project management through networking, partnering, learning, and other activities towards the advancement of the education and training project management community."
The EdSIG is governed by a Board of Directors under Bylaws approved by PMI®.
Sorin Gudea, a PhD student at Claremont Graduation University writes...
"I am conducting a study to understand whether country and national characteristics affect the choice of valuation techniques used for Information Technology projects.
The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. I would greatly appreciate you sharing this information with the PMFORUM readers, asking them to participate in the survey. A larger number of participants will definitely increase the significance of the findings. The survey is already operational, and will remain open throughout July 2004 providing ample time for participation. The results of the survey are intended for publication in one of the journals in the field."
The survey is available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=62670505805
Thank you kindly,
Sorin Gudea
PhD student
School of Information Science
Claremont Graduate University
USA
"Weblogs are for writing"
"Aggregators are for reading"
The PM Web Blog
The PMFORUM uses the convenience of Web Logging to post notices, Letters to the Editor and personal observations of our columnists and readers to the Web. A Web Log is a file that employs the more advanced web page tagging of Extended Markup Language (XML).
The neat aspect of Blogging, and the reason for the popularity of this technology, is that you do not need to know any html (web page)or other language programming. Using a Web Log client application, either as a desktop or on a remote site, straight text is inserted in the Blog application and an "RSS" file (programmed as a regular xml file) is published to the Web.
The file produced by the Blog application can be immediately passed to a recipient web site or depending on personal taste remain with the Blog application. The power of this new and convenient web publishing technology places in our hands the ability to publish and express opinions, on the web, without the hassle of preparing a web page and then posting to a web site. The Web Log application takes care of everything. Almost!
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are a great alternative to email newsletters. They work like newsletters by delivering the latest news to your desktop, but since you only get what you ask for, RSS feeds are a spam free way to follow blogs and newsy sites.
You need to be able to pick up the RSS file and read it. Most current browsers will read an XML file as raw tagged text which is really not very useful or simply refuse to load an .rss file. A RSS Aggregator is required to read this new format. Fortunately it is a straightforward matter to have an Aggragator right on your desktop.
For convenience the PM Web Logs of interest to the operations of the PMFORUM have been broken into two categories.
News Aggregators
Once these Web Logs are generated it is a simple matter to install the Aggregator on your desktop and read your PM Web Logs of interest.
Two Aggregators are in current use by the PMFORUM are:
Amphetadesk is a free, cross platform open-source, syndicated news platform while the FeedDemon is a low cost RSS feed reader for Windows that enables you to explore the world of RSS from your desktop without having to visit remote sites. Regular use of one of these Aggregators will allow you to read new postings to each of the installed "News Feeds".
There are many Aggregators available for download from the Internet. Some are free and others can be purchased as shareware or if commercial for a reasonable cost. A simple Google search on "Aggregators" will provide a substantial listing of free, shareware and commercial applications.
Amphetadesk is a good place to start. It is a simple download and the install is painless. When particular Web Logs are added as Channels then these are loaded into a Window and you can read the latest posting of the channels that you have. Limited configuration of the Window can be set up.
Our second Aggregator "FeedDemon" is a straightforward download and install. The presentation is more sophisticated than the serial presentation of Amphetadesk. The ability to categorize the web logs of interest eg. Project Management , Technology and Web Logs is a nice touch and it is a treat to click on the listed channel and read the newest update . That is, read the news. The real value is that you can browse and use the particular blog listed listed links for more information.
FeedDemon allows you to email a web log of interest for further use and the management of channels is a straightforward. The reading panels allow you to read the name channel, the listing of current and past postings and a full window to read the complete web log.
The PMFORUM Channels
The PMFORUM Channels installed in our version of Amphetadesk are:
The PM Web Logs now installed in our desktop FeedDemon are:
These are listed with connection detail in the [ PM Library ] --> Journals/Newsletters/ PMWebLogs. Other sydicated "news feeds" deal with non PM subjects as Web Authoring and other technology subjects of interest to Web development.
It does help to understand the concept of a PM Web Log, the use of XML, the RSS and syndicatinon and finally the use of a specialized web browser called an Aggregator. However it is not an imperative to worry about Blogging technology as they provide a springboard and technology free interface and web environment for a person or organization to publish to the web.
Internal Blogging
The use of blogs for external news aggregation is, of course, valuable in keeping up on "blogging" PM personal viewpoints. Blogging is not exclusive to external links. For example, Hal Macomber's "Reforming Project Management" Blog is an example of an external personal view on current PM matters.
For your project team you might install a personal blog for each member. Then you can have a personal desktop blog that allows a continual flow of issue reporting and task progress with each team member using a desktop aggregator, to keep up with each others blog entries.
Summary
Web Blogging provides a non technology rich environment for publishing personal observations, a Newsletter or an ongoing dialogue on a particular subject. The PMFORUM has used PM Web Logs to publish Letters to the Editor, personal observations of our Authors, Fast breaking notices like PM press releases, PM World Today Highlights and a regular PMPerspectives column on the current PM World Today.
References: Web Resources
Editor's Note: If you know of other PM Weblogs please advise us by using the following Letters to the Editor form. Additionally, you might have some observations or comments on the pragmatic use of Weblogs by PM practitioners.
On Plogs
Michael Schrage has an article in CIO online that provides an account of how "Plogs", that is project oriented web logs, can be used for internal project management communication. This article is subtitled " a modest proposal for using blogs to keep IT teams and management up-to-date on implementation. [ Read the CIO article for more ]
David Curling < >