Using technology for Effetive Project Communication

Tomorrow I attend an event by the above name. The event is being run by Netskills at the request of JISC to support projects in communication. The blurb states the following;

For some projects, the first and only contact with the community is a final report. However, a project is more likely to be successful if it engages with the community throughout its duration, promoting ongoing reflection and allowing audience feedback to direct the project.

Emerging web technologies such as blogs, wikis, pod casts and social networks can provide an effective way to do this. This event will consider best practice in using such technologies in the context of communication and dissemination for your JISC project.

By the end of the workshop participants will have created an action plan for how technology can best support their project communication and dissemination activities.

Really, I think the title for the workshop may be really misleading. Perhaps something more about communicating with your community via technology would have been more appropriate.

One element that I am not sure that is being covered is identifying the community. I know that some projects do not widely disseminate their information, but perhaps this is due to them not knowing who to communicate with.

It is okay having all the technology at your finger tips, but if you are not sure about your target audience then how do you select the most appropriate tool for communication. Not all the tools out there are going to be successful. Why would you create and host a forum, if your target audience is not likely to communicate using it. Also the failure of one medium will not ensure the success of another.

I know that this blog is successful in some respects. This is due to the fact that I collect stats, but also that comments have been left and some of the topics of the posts have been the source of discussion else where. But if I were to alter this blog and move to a wiki, where I would have less control and other peoples opinions may obliterate my own and not be relevant to the work of the WebPA Project, then the success would diminish. I might also find that I would be treading all over other peoples toes.