Open source or proprietary? It's an ongoing debate, with no right answers. I'm a huge fan of the open-source ecosystem, but I also use a lot of proprietary (closed source) software. Three things that might help you choose one over the other for your organisation: 🔸Security The theory is that open-source software is more secure, because the code is open to be looked at, and fixed, by anyone. This is true, but generally it's only the larger projects, with active development communities that take advantage of this. With closed-source software, you're reliant on the provider identifying and fixing issues quickly. You'll just have to trust them. 🔸Interoperability Open-source projects are generally much more capable with regards to getting data in and out in multiple formats. There's no incentive to keep you locked in, and the development communities will find solutions to common data transfer problems. Closed source software usually has a commercial imperative to keep you using their system and theirs alone. You might be able to import from competitors, but it's rare that you'll be able to export in a way that lets you leave easily. 🔸Usability Most open-source software is designed by developers to meet a need. Usability and the user experience is rarely at the top of the list of priorities. User interfaces might look as if they're from the previous decade, and are often cluttered. The biggest groups of contributors missing from many open-source projects are those who can write clear documentation and those who can design user-friendly, modern interfaces. Closed source software, by comparison, lives and dies on the quality of the user experience, from initial installation onwards. (That is, except for the large, enterprise-focussed companies, who often seem to suffer the same problems as open source in this respect). What you choose will depend on these factors and many others, unique to you organisation. Get in touch if you'd like someone to help you through the process. 🔸🔸🔸 I'm Mark Berthelemy, a consultant solutions architect working across learning, business and technology. I help technical and non-technical teams communicate - supporting supplier selection, product development, troubleshooting, software implementation and data analysis. Image credit: This_is_engineering on Pixabay: https://lnkd.in/e-pXtaVA

I wish that everyone I follow on LinkedIn would instead write a blog that I can follow with an RSS reader, like Feedly (https://feedly.com/) That way I wouldn't be subject to LinkedIn's algorithm telling me which posts I should see. If you do publish a blog, please let me know so I can add you to my reader. You can always feed your blog to LinkedIn automatically if you want. Dlvr.it is a good option.

What is your favourite tool for drawing business diagrams? I feel like I've tried most of them... 🔸Visio - supremely competent, but over-complicated for most people, expensive, and Windows only 🔸Omnigraffle - just lovely to use, very sophisticated, but MacOS only 🔸Lucidchart - browser-based, great to use and very flexible, but fairly costly 🔸Dia - open-source, but difficult to get results that look good 🔸OpenOffice Draw - also open-source, uses styles really nicely to enable consistent diagrams, but the end results never quite look as good as I'd hoped 🔸Whimsical - my current go to tool, for diagrams and mindmaps. Minimal flexibility on styling, but that's not bad for the artistically-challenged, like me. End results look great, and it's browser-based 🔸Miro - great for workshops and brainstorming, similar to Whimsical but without the mindmap capabilities (regardless of what Miro say) 🔸PowerPoint - only if I have to, if I'm doing a slide.presemtation. Maintaining consistency within and across diagrams is difficult. 🔸🔸🔸 I'm Mark Berthelemy, a consultant solutions architect, working across learning, business and technology. I help technical and non-technical people to communicate effectively - supporting supplier selection, product development, troubleshooting, software implementation, project management and data analysis. Image credit: Rosenfedl Media on Flickr - example of a swimlane diagram - License CC BY 2.0 https://lnkd.in/ewGPtHHD

Lovely post from Neha Baj Assoc. CIPD drawing the parallels between the film industry and freelancers in the e-learning industry. I especially like this quote: "If there’s no defined end point to your squiggly career – you’re not aiming to be CEO of the company – doesn’t that open up a wonderful new set of possibilities?" https://lnkd.in/gu3UggXG

There are some people who speak the language of technology fluently. Others who speak the language of business and organisations, and others the language of learning. In all these areas there are specialists - people who are experts in their field. We couldn't do without them. But, as in academic research, it's the people who can cross boundaries that make connections and change things. These are the inter-disciplinarians, the generalists. I've even heard them called the "glue" recently. They're the people who sit in the middle of the Venn diagram - translating from one group of specialists to the others. It's really difficult to put them into boxes. Job titles don't fit. Without them, organisations won't fall apart, but they will tend to just continue going the same way as always. It's the generalists who will join the dots, see ways of doing things better, and gather the teams of specialists to make that happen. 🔸 🔸 🔸 I'm Mark Berthelemy - an experienced generalist working across the learning and knowledge space: writing business cases, designing solutions, liaising with suppliers, training and documenting, and getting my hands dirty with the technology and data. Get in touch if you need someone to help translate your needs to technology specialists or to explain how and why the technology works in non-technical language. For simplicity you might call me a "solutions architect". Image credit: Pixabay - https://lnkd.in/emGksPC9

Lesson learned... When you write an article for a non-technical audience, you also need to call it something that will be attractive to that audience. 😟 If you'd like to know how to talk to vendors about integrating systems like HR and LMS, or LMS and Ecommerce, you might find the post linked below useful. https://lnkd.in/ecSqXw9n

Systems integration for the non-techie - helping you to work with your suppliers and internal technical teams. There will come a point in everyone’s software journey when they’ll want two or more systems to “talk” to each other. This article describes the common approaches to software integration, and what you need to be aware of as a customer - often caught between two vendors. https://lnkd.in/eviSSw3S 🔸 🔸 🔸 I'm Mark. I specialise in helping technical and non-technical people communicate with each other - mostly in the learning and knowledge management spaces. Get in touch for help with troubleshooting, specifying, finding, creating and implementing systems.

I'm a big fan of Chromebooks, and the way they bring fast, secure access to the web in a simple, easy to use and support package. Judging by what I read and watch, it would be really easy to think that ChromeOS and, by extension, Linux, was taking over the world of operating systems. The reality seems to be somewhat different, unfortunately... Whilst Window's market share is on a definite downward trend, ChromeOS and Linux are still sputtering along in the basement. Regardless of how good they are as operating systems, they're just not making it into the mainstream, neither in the workplace, nor in the home. When, for most people, all they need is a browser, this makes little sense. Windows still, even after 30+ years, has the advantage of being the first mover in a mass market. People buy what they're used to, regardless of the evidence. What would it take, for example, for an IT department, to mandate that a Chromebook is the default choice for a new starter? https://lnkd.in/ey2QQX23

Do you run a website? Then you need to be aware of OpenGraph. It's a snippet of data (often called "metadata" that sits in the <HEAD> section of each page. With this metadata, other sites (like LinkedIn, Facebook and many others) can display useful information about your site when someone posts a link. The metadata would normally include an image, the page title and the page description. I use OpenGraph.xyz to test whether my pages are working properly and to provide a reminder of the data snippet to include. If you're using Wordpress, Grav or similar, look for a plugin that adds in this extra data automatically. On Wordpress I'd use Toast. On Grav, it would be Aura. If you're using a static site builder, like Jekyll, then it's an easy job to add the tags to your page templates so that each page contains the appropriate data. Then it's just up to you to write good titles and descriptions and to source an eye-catching image. 🙂 https://www.opengraph.xyz/ 🔸🔸🔸 I'm Mark, a learning and knowledge technology consultant. I'm fluent in the languages of business, learning and technology. Get in touch to prevent things getting lost in translation.

A standards-based approach is good for buyers of software. You can change supplier and have a lot less to worry about. The e-learning industry has a multitude of proprietary systems - whether content development or learning platforms. If you start working with one provider, and then move to another, it's likely that you will have to either rebuild your content, or rebuild any integrations youve made with your other software (eg. HR systems). But how do you get technical standards to be adopted? There are three ways, which can work independently, but are better if done in parallel: 1️⃣ Make them mandatory. This is where governments or regulatory bodies can really make a difference. Especially when working with an industry that doesn't want their systems to talk to each other. 2️⃣ Talk about them. Especially to customers - the people who will ask for interoperability and standardisation. When customers start looking for a standard, they'll avoid products that don't comply. 3️⃣ Make them open. This removes a significant barrier to adoption. When the standard is available for anyone to access, there's no excuse for failing to comply with it. Image credit: lloorraa on Pixabay: https://lnkd.in/ei8Mwwyu