Will The Semantic Web Have a Gender?
Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb looks at the risks of having a semantic web created by male computer scientists, with their inherent biases and values. “As machines learn to understand what the web means, what perspective will they understand it from? Who is teaching them? “Objective” descriptions of the world and the relationships in it can cause real problems, particularly for people with little power in those relationships. How will the emerging Semantic Web understand relationships and what will that mean for us as human users?”

The Olympics & Social Media Marketing
With the Olympics underway in Beijing, Richard MacManus checks out how some of the world’s leading brands are using social media tools in their Olympics campaigns. “Any major sporting event these days will attract big sponsors, and the Olympics has always been an event where global giants like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Kodak, et al can flaunt their wares. With social media, you could say that brands are just using the Internet to find ever more ingenious ways to promote their brand…”

Cloud Computing Q and A with Dave Girouard, President of Google Enterprise
CrunchGear’s Doug Aamoth presents audio snippets from a Q&A session with the president of Google’s Enterprise division, Dave Girouard. “Girouard talks about Cloud Computing, Google’s new App Engine, the Google Apps productivity suite, competition versus partnerships, and how Google faces the challenges of protecting its users’ privacy and security.”

Inside the CIA’s Extreme Technology Makeover, Part 4
Even the CIA has found use for social media in its ranks, and CIO.com’s Thomas Wailgum presents this in-depth report as the last of a four-part series on the agency’s newly adopted technologies.“The CIA, as part of its modernization efforts and anti-terror mission, is striving to use new applications like its Intellipedia wiki to share intelligence across formerly siloed government agencies… Unlike Wikipedia, there is no anonymity: Everyone is authenticated onto the system and quality control is high, reports Ken Westbrook, chief of business information strategy in the CIA’s intelligence directorate.”

China to lead SaaS adoption
A testament to their willingness to innovate, Chinese firms are poised to lead in the usage of software-as-a-service according to Forrester analysts: “SaaS is a priority for 74% of Chinese firms, the research found, with 29% planning to pilot SaaS projects in the next 12 months. In Europe, the majority of organisations are interested but have no plans to pursue SaaS, while in the US, adoption is at its highest but many companies are not even considering moving over.”

Government 2.0: An Insider’s Perspective
Mark Drapeau talks about his role in pioneering social media applications as an adviser in the US government. “The general goals of S3 are to inventory available technologies, demonstrate effective uses of such technology throughout the government, identify impediments to use in the military, engage with experts to outline possible solutions, and ultimately make recommendations to the Department of Defense leadership on an overall military strategy for using social software for national security.”

Government 2.0: The Problems of Empowerment
While transparency in government has its advantages, it also introduces challenges which Ted Cuzzillo of ESJ.com presents and discusses: “The promise of the so-called Government 2.0 seems clear: well-presented government data made available online, along with a new culture of openness among officials and inspiration among the public, will let citizenship bloom — resulting in citizen-produced information, ideas and insight. It will all operate with the same fluid ease and popularity as today’s Wikipedia, blogs, and social-networking sites.”

Cheap Broadband is the Oil of the Modern Economy
Mark Dykeman on the importance of broadband in today’s society: “These days, can you imagine using services like Amazon.com, eBay, YouTube, Facebook, or Flickr at speeds of 14,400 baud? Can you imagine podcasting or videoblogging ever happening without some form of high speed Internet connection? Would digital photography have ever become as popular as it did if you had to wait 5 – 10 minutes to upload or download a single photo?”

Can Enterprise Social Networks Work Within a Company?
Hayden Sutherland of SocialComputing tries to answer this question by citing specific examples of companies who have treaded the road less traveled: “Just having the technology or services available to you doesn’t mean you have a valuable tool instantly on your hands. For years companies have had different “‘Enterprise Collaboration’ tools available in the form of software such as Microsoft’s Office SharePoint Server, but are these really “social networking” platform?”

enterprise 2.0 … it’s this simple, see
Confused about Enterprise 2.0? Lawyer Mazy Hedayat shares, in this short post, an informative and fairly detailed diagram for the uninitiated: “If you like confusing diagrams (and who doesn’t?) check out this easy to follow guide to the looming world of Enterprise 2.0 (e2.0 to insiders like us).”