Social SharePoint

SharePoint is the most widely used collaborative platform in corporate environments. There's a lot of tools to enhance it social features.

Companies have been using SharePoint as a collaborative platform for years now and today is the leading communication and productivity corporate solution. This Microsoft software, originally designed for the business world, was used as an integrator of productivity tools to create collaborative environments. With more than ten years old, SharePoint is prior to the Web 2.0 phenomenon and all social networks.

The sustained growth of Internet penetration coupled with the rapid adoption and popularity of social networks like Facebook or Twitter and even YouTube, have profoundly changed the habits of use of new technologies by people. Users are now accustomed to friendly interfaces and applications that organizes content with a different approach, where the focus is on activity, popularity or content virality level. These are the values ​​of a digital and social culture.

These changes have a strong impact on the uptake of corporate tools like Intranets, that must play an important social role within an organization to encourage participation and collaboration. These principles of the social and digital culture should be taken into account when designing a collaborative corporate solution.

There are several alternatives to enhance the social capabilities of SharePoint. First, the fact that Yammer was recently acquired from Microsoft confirms that they are very sensitive to these requirements and it is likely that both products will soon be really integrated, maybe as a unique product. But there are other independent companies that are designing social applications specifically for SharePoint. Here we present some of the most popular and useful to be consider. 

SharePoint is more social with Yammer

Yammer is defined as "The Enterprise Social Network" and aims to bring the power of social networks to companies. And precisely the promise is that Yammer is as asy to use as Facebook or Twitter, but as a software specially designed for collaboration within a company.

Yammer now integrates with SharePoint allowing access to certain content and features from both platforms and in both directions. Surely Microsoft will incorporate the Yammer social features within SharePoint shortly.

The most popular social tools in SharePoint with Social Attini Suite

Attini has created a collection of templates for SharePoint for adding social functionality to the platform. For example the type of Twitter microbbloging or the ability to post, share and discuss videos in Youtube style. There's a complete set of interesting tools offered by Social Attini Suite.

Community sites with Bamboo SharePoint Central Community

It allows to create a community website on SharePoint easy and fast. The application is completed with forums, blogs and social networking functions common as rankings and ratings for the most active users. Bamboo Community Central can be used to create internal or external  SharePoint community sites to centralize business communication with customers or suppliers, for example.

Promoting innovation with SpigitEngage

This application offers a simple and intuitive interface to create an intelligent ranking of ideas in order to help companies to identify an transform the best ideas into concrete initiatives promoting innovation within an organization through collaboration-style Web 2.0. SpigitEngage is built on SharePoint so no integration is needed.

Increase productivity by improving communication with SnapTeam

The idea is to gather information and processes of a company with social functions to increase productivity, assuming that is people, not technology, which carries on a business. SnapTeam promises to improve SharePoint communication capabilities for users within an organization. The application is not available as it is in beta and not open to the public yet.

These are just some chosen initiatives. There are many more available. And each of them can add significant value to create powerful social tools with SharePoint.

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Fight piracy with laws?

The cultural industry need to think a completely new business model not based on copy and distribution.

By Luciano Schlaen, General Director of Paginar.net Europe

This year started heavy with new chapters in the struggle between consumers and the cultural industry lobby for records, films and books downloads control. The first one was the digital blackout that stopped the anti-piracy law known as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) at the U.S.Congress and Senate respectively. A few weeks later Megaupload, the famous file sharing portal, was shut down along with the imprisonment of its founder, Kim "Dotcom" Schmitz - in New Zealand by the FBI. And this kind of things are likely to continue occurring during 2012.

But legal action will not solve the cultural industry problems.

First, because the cultural industry was never based on copyright. The true nature of the business model of the cine, music and literature was based on effective control of the copying and distribution of these copies. For years, producers, record companies and publishers held an monopolistic dominance on the technical media of reproduction and access to content. And the consumer had no choice but to buy the physical object (book, tape, disk) or go to theaters or concerts to see, hear or read.

Second, because it will be very difficult (if not impossible) to control the ability that people now have to share digital content with laws. The technology destroyed a business model based on the copy and distribution that sustained the cultural industry for decades. It became meaningless at the minute in which a content could by copied and distributed with a single click. And the culture industry is not yet adapted to this new scenario.

And thirdly because it is easier for many consumers to access illegal than legal content. In several places around the world are precisely those producers, record companies and publishers that choke the legal market limiting rights for commercial distribution of their content electronically to force consumers to go to the store. But for consumers it is easier to click than to go to the store. Of course it is also cheaper because the pirate copy is free. But mostly it's easier.

This new scenario involves rethinking the business model completely. If we accept that the traditional chain of adding value in this industry is production - copy - distribution - consumption we have to think of a business model that focuses on production and consumption. Copying and distribution doesn't add value any more. It's as simple as that.

The cultural industry always took care of production, so they know better than anyone how the machinery of creation of records, books and movies works. But there is no experience at the consumption instance. And the focus should be putted at this one not to be under Amazon or Apple wishes.

These are the keys to reinvent an industry that feels in check and still have not found the right answers to the crisis. Perhaps because they have not dared to accept this new reality and not asked the right questions. And it continue to battle on the legal front instead of doing it down in the market with good products and services that adds value for consumers. A value which they are willing to pay for.

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The post PC era

The days of the PC are numbered. 
We are experiencing the beginning of a new era. One dominated by mobile devices. 
Welcome to the post-PC era.

By Sebastián Tedesco, Director of Business Development of Paginar.net

In the coming years we will experience a deepening in convergence of devices. In this convergence process many devices will disappear and new ones that today we can't imagine will appear. If, for example, we take as valid the studies anticipating that by 2014 78% of Internet access will be through mobile devices, we can say that this growth is actually the cancer of the traditional devices.

In the same way that today much of the desktop computers have been replaced by notebooks, notebooks and netbooks will be replaced by tablets, that will be more powerful and more integrated with other devices such as monitors, keyboards and printers. Maybe in three years we'll see the disappearance of netbooks, declining of notebooks, and in six years, notebooks and desktop will be endangered species in the PC world.

In this way it is also likely to see the demise of media players and digital cameras (except professionals), all this being replaced by the "smartphones". We will also witness the emergence of new devices such as media centers and some forms of integration of Internet access in other products such as appliances or vehicles. Today we can see how this trend is appearing in TVs and high-end cars, for example. Some call this "The Internet of things", where objects will be smarter and inter-connected.

Anyway, today we can see that in many homes the place once occupied by the old desktop PC is now a dead and abandoned area. We are clearly at the beginning of the "post PC" era.

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The activity fever

Every day 140,000,000 messages are tweeted, 800,000,000 people connects to Facebook to share content and generate tons of comments on millions of sites on the Internet. How much of this is really useful, interesting or relevant? How can we handle this volume of information?

By Schlaen Luciano, Director General for Europe of Paginar.net

Article published in Media-tics.com > View

I connect to Twitter and see 14 tweets from the same user: 1 minute ago, 1 minute ago, 1 minute ago, 2 minutes ago, 2 minutes ago, 3 minutes ago and so on. Looking at the posts, some are created by the user and other are retweets. All of them have links. And then I wonder if this user has read what recommends to their followers or just has the need to send three messages per minute at all times all day. It's the activity fever.

On the Facebook corporate webpage activity is in second place, just below the number of users, with the following figures: 900 million items of content created by the users, each of them follows an average of 80 pages, makes 2 billion comments and publishes 250 million posts. Per day.

The activity is to become a good in itself. The criterion is to keep moving. Comes in second to what is published. You have to be first in the timeline. A quick look at the messages posted on Twitter, Fabecook or even LinkedIn and you'll see someone celebrating a delicious meal, one that has labeled a bad photo and a third that has updated his profile :-(

Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon of the activity to compete for the attention of users. The activity has a positive value in itself. And activity criteria goes against the quality of the content being generated.

However, we are reaching a point of maturity and we are becoming more demanding with our contacts. We want to avoid contamination with irrelevant messages. Social networking and web 2.0 tools can become really useful. A source of valuable information. The key is to select well to our sources. That is, the friends with whom we connect. If your business is full of interesting content to us, then we will be well informed, entertained and updated. Satisfied.

We need to constantly refine the list of contacts to get only what we really want. And so it gets interesting.

Try it.

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Spain still has no strategy for Internet

Spanish is the third largest language on the Internet. The rise of new technologies in the world in general and in Latin America in particular, had created a unique opportunity for Spain to lead a 150 million online community. This is the first of a series of articles about the need for a Spanish Strategy for Internet.

By Luciano Schlaen, Director for Europe of Paginar.net.

Article published in Media-tics.com > View

In March 2010 I published an article in Ejecutivos Magazine which posed the opportunity it represents for Spain this privileged position that is a legacy of its colonial history. This advantageous situation could the starting point for implementing a strategic plan that could have enormous benefits for Spain.

In this first of the series of articles about the need for a Spanish Strategy for Internet, I will briefly review the arguments supporting this idea and the main advantages for Spain. The following articles will be dedicated to develop each of these opportunities with the intention that it may be the program on which to base a Global Strategy for Spain on the Internet.

Language is the main communication tool

Currently, Spanish is the second language on the planet. There are over 500,000,000 people who are native speakers, of which 153,000,000 are already connected to the Internet. This makes the Spanish the third most used language on Internet, after English and Mandarin Chinese.

As I mentioned above, this position of Spanish at the TOP 3 is a heritage of the Conquest of America over 500 years ago. Spain is not doing anything about it. Imagine what would the French or the Germans do...

It is true that the Spain developed very valuable initiatives in both the language and the information technology fields. The Cervantes Institute, which works constantly to strengthen the Spanish around the world, and Red.es, which does an excellent job to develop the Information Society in Spain. But there is no overall strategy for Spain on the Internet. Cervantes and Red.es should be joined to implement policies with two clear goals:

1) to consolidate and extend the advantage of having one of the most widespread languages ​​on the Internet; and
2) take advantage of this benefit.

Spain needs to develop a coherent and long-term strategy to gain influence at the online world. An influence that Spain does not have today, but may have.

Increase the base and create the offer

A Global Strategy for Spain on the Internet should have two basic areas:

1) Facilitate access to the Internet in Latin America.
2) In conjunction with a policy to grow the Hispanic community on the Internet should be another, complementary, aimed to produce and distribute content according to Spanish interests.

Of the 500 million Spanish spoken, only 153 are connected to the Internet. So a first step to ensure the dominance of Spanish on the Web could help increase the number of Spanish-speaking Internet users. The goal, then, are the 347 million still lack access to the Internet.

This would increase the target audience and create the proper channels of communication and interaction with this huge mass of users to offer content, services and products.

The privileged position of Spain

There are three reasons to place Spain in a position to do this:

1) Spain is the first economic power of Hispanic world. By far. No other Hispanic country can aspire to do this.
2) It is the connection point between Europe and the Hispanic world par excellence.
3) It is the natural reference to the Latin American world, by cultural identity and history, despite having lost weight before the United States, and now China, in the region.

With such strategy Spain would achieve a unique and privileged position in the world. Would be "dominating" public space "in Spanish," guided by long-range goals: to connect the world with Spain and Spain to the world, building links with Spain based on commitment and trust through knowledge and also to position Spain as cultural, educational, scientific and economic reference.

10 key advantages for Spain

What advantages would bring to Spain? I think there are 10 key points that can serve as the programmatic basis for a future strategic plan.

1) Distribution of large-scale cultural products.
2) Promotion of Spain at all levels (tourism, education, research, entertainment, etc.).
3) Attracting investment.
4) Improve the perception of Spanish companies and products in Latin America,  potential market of the entire Spanish economy.
5) Influence on the political and economic vision of reality.
6) Creating direct channels with potential investors and capital markets.
7) Creating an online community with Latin American countries to establish common interests in the world.
8) Construction of agenda on issues of strategic importance to Spain in the region and the world.
9) Promote the Spanish telecommunications industry.
10) Promote a Hispanic lifestyle in the world.

The list is huge and probably could not be exhaustive in a first approach to the subject. But it is clear that to carry out only one of these ten objectives the strategy would be already successful.

A unique opportunity

Given that this is fertile ground where the only really important actors are private companies and, generally from United States such as Google or Facebook, it seems that Spain has a free space that can be occupied.

Clearly we are facing an incredible opportunity. Something that very few countries can dream about. The first would be to call attention to this great opportunity to put it on the public agenda. And, from there, generate a discussion that will define the priorities for Spain. What would lead directly to establishing a clear and simple a Global Strategy for Spain on the Internet, with precise objectives.

Spain can occupy a privileged place in the international arena and Internet is the natural environment to make it happen.

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The future of internet

In December 1990 the world wide web was launched for the first time. It consisted of a website and a browser running on the same computer. "This simple configuration demonstrated a profound concept: that anyone could share information with anyone, anywhere in the world. In this spirit the Web spread rapidly." These are words of Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, considered the father of the Web.

By Luciano Schlaen, Director for Europe of Paginar.net.

Article published in the newspaper Cinco Días, edition of June 28th, 2011 > View

The Web gave face to the Internet and in these 20 years has revolutionized our ways of communication, information and consumption. During this time, the Web has reigned on the Internet so much that has been virtually the same thing. However, more and more ways to use Internet sites that are not. Soon we will stop using Web and Internet as synonyms.

Today we are entering a new era of Internet not likely to be dominated by the Web. The limits of Internet are constantly expanding into new areas. Today we use Internet even though we don't know that we are using it. Television and mobile are the protagonists of this new revolution: the expansion of the Internet beyond the Web.

Mobile applications, IP telephony or cable television are examples of formats that are commonly used and are not web. They are already part of the Internet. And in the coming years, increasingly, we'll be connected to the Internet through different formats, devices or interfaces that will make Internet ubiquitous in our lives. Even if we are not aware of it.

Many envision a world in which we are surrounded by interconnected objects. It is the Internet of things or objects. "If all the cans, books, shoes or parts of a vehicle are equipped with tiny identification devices, daily life on our planet would suffer a transformation," says in the Wikipedia entry. Where there also numbers: if each of us is surrounded by 500 to 1,000 objects, it will be necessary to identify, connect and control between 50 and 100,000 million objects. Will it be the next revolution?

We do not know what the future of Internet will be. What is about to happen may change and revolutionize everything again. And surely that is what will happen. One thing is certain: the Internet is in its infancy and we, who have already experienced the Web era, are just the witnesses of it childhood.

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Road to Success: Interview with Luciano Schlaen

Interview with Luciano Schlaen, PAGINAR.NET Director for Europe, in the CEIM Magazine - February 2010

In 2002, PAGINAR.NET, a consulting firm specializing in communications and web technology, landed in Spain to support the domestic market. Since then, Luciano Schlaen is in charge for the development and advice to clients of the company, first as director of PAGINAR.NET in our country and now, recently, as director for Europe. The company offers comprehensive solutions for the Internet in three markets: USA, Spain and Argentina, and now, coinciding with its fifteenth anniversary, has launched a strategy of expanding its activity in the European market.

PAGINAR.NET was born in 1994 in order to develop web projects in a context in which practically no one knew what the Internet was. They were advanced in relation to the needs of the market, and confident on the potential offered by the Internet saw that growth was inevitable. Time proved them right and today, PAGINAR.NET has done thousands of projects for large companies such as Grupo Planeta, Vocento, Citibank, L'Oreal, Yahoo!, UNESCO, CJ Johnson, Danone, Lufthansa and MAPFRE. Also for SMEs that are advocating the Internet.

"Unfortunately we didn't have any help to start the company. However, all partners of the consulting firm have a very entrepreneurial spirit, is part of our personality and this has made possible that we now have a team of 60 consultants, designers and programmers who provide services through three business units: Interactive Communication , Web Solutions and Development and Outsourcing," he explains.

Its greatest value is the proven experience, precisely because of its more than 15 years of existence, one of the few companies still going strong and expanding services to the thread of the development of new technologies and the World Wide Web (WWW). "We have learned to adapt to changes and complex periods have passed as the "Crisis of the Dotcom Bubble", in which disappeared nearly 5,000 Internet companies between 2000 and 2003," Luciano told us.

PAGINAR.NET provides a comprehensive service for the Internet, offering businesses a solution from start to finish, always adapting to its needs whether they are media (search engine marketing, search engine positioning, social network marketing campaigns, Internet advertising, campaigns, e-mail marketing, etc..) design and development for the Internet (corporate websites, promotional or community, hotsites, banners, presentations, demos, blogs, newsletters, etc.). or implementation of corporate web technology solutions (Intranets, management tools, custom development, etc.).

"The company offers everything imaginable to develop and implement various actions to tap the wealth of opportunities offered by the world of Internet and new technologies, to create new businesses or improve business competitiveness, especially now in times of crisis ... " he says.

In this sense, explains the head of PAGINAR.NET in Europe, the business model is simple and straightforward: "We offer value added services. In early 2007, due to expansion and company growth, we propose a new scheme of running the company on a stand-alone business units, this model allows managers and professionals specializing in each team and capitalize on their knowledge in similar projects. So our added value is even greater. "

He believes that the keys to business success is customer service and adaptability. Also a shared vision and the good relationship between the partners of PAGINAR.NET. In turn, the added value of PAGINAR.NET - added Luciano- is in first place, "the experience and knowledge. Internet is not just technology, and therefore we are organized in teams dedicated to specific knowledge areas where technology is a means to an end. Second, the ability to work. We have a very solid team with adequate resources. Third, our methodology that allows us to guarantee the satisfaction of our customers. "

However, like any service business, "the problem is that sometimes the customer does not appreciate the value of the product (in this case our knowledge and experience). Fortunately, as the Internet market matures and consolidates it is increasingly appreciated the value we bring, " he says.

Moreover, as to the current economic crisis, Luciano explains, in part yes and partly no, this situation has affected PAGINAR.NET. "2009 was an excellent year for us and for the Internet in general. All of us in this business have experienced growth and maturity in demand in the past year. However, we could say that, on the other hand, it has affected us; as a result of the crisis we have seen increasing the portion of the overall budget of our clients assigned for Internet related projects, especially in advertising, but also for web development to create new services or businesses, and to implement management tools with the aim of making certain processes more efficient and save costs. "

As for the future, for PAGINAR.NET director for Europe, in Spain the companies still have a long way to go to discover the increasing potential offered by Internet. "Buzz marketing, social media marketing, online reputation management and viral marketing are just some of the most innovatory, but many more will come, and companies must be prepared to put up with only one goal: to connect with the consumer," he says.

In addition, Luciano comment that Castilian is the third language on the Internet, and we must remember that language is the main tool of communication. "In this area, the Spanish products and services have a competitive advantage unmatched in the global Internet . We are facing a spectacular opportunity to which we must take advantage. For the moment, Spain is not doing anything to take this huge advantage, " he says.

Today, PAGINAR.NET is working in more than 30 projects. Its aim is to strengthen the U.S. market and develop the European market (especially in the UK), which has the greatest potential for growth and profitability. Likewise, and despite the crisis, the future for PAGINAR.NET is promising as the sector is growing. "I think 2010 is going to be a good year for the web. In any case the ceiling is still very high so, fortunately, have a long way to go, " he concludes.

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Spain needs a comprehensive Internet strategy

By Luciano Schlaen, General Director of PAGINAR.NET Europe

Article published in the magazine "Ejecutivos Instituciones y Empresas" (March 2010)

Spanish is the third largest language on the Internet. What Spain is doing to realize this opportunity?

In 1492 an expedition financed by the Catholic Kings of Spain found a new world. Five centuries later Spanish is the second language on the planet with over 500,000,000 people, of which 125,000,000 are connected to the Internet. This makes Spanish the third most widely used Internet language, after English and Mandarin Chinese.

This privileged position is a "gift" of history, a fortunate legacy, not the product of a carefully designed strategy. What would the French or the Germans do for having such a situation? It seems incredible that Spain is not doing anything to exploit this advantage and promote it.

The government of Spain has very valuable initiatives both in the fields of language and information technology. The Cervantes Institute, which works constantly to strengthen the Spanish language in the world, and Red.es, does an excellent job in developing the information society in Spain. But there is not a Global Strategy for Spain online. I think we should integrate the Cervantes Institute and Red.es, and implement policies that allow the consolidation and extension of the advantage of having one of the most widespread languages on the Internet.

Spain needs to develop a coherent and long-term strategy to occupy an area of influence in the online world. An influence that Spain doesn’t have today, but might have.

There are three reasons to place Spain in a unique position to achieve this:

1) Spain is the first Hispanic economic power in the world, by far. It counts with the necessary technical facilities and also has no competition. No other country can aspire to this.

2) It is the connecting point between Europe and the Hispanic world par excellence.

3) It is the original reference to the Latin American world, for cultural identity and history, despite having lost weight in relation to the United States in the region.

But beyond these strong arguments, there is an obvious reason to develop this strategy. And the reason is that there is a shared language. Language is the first tool of communication.

Of the 500 million just 125 are connected to the Internet. So a first step to ensure the dominance of Spanish on the Web might be to help increase the number of Internet Spanish speaking users. The goal, then, are the 375 million that still lack access to the Internet.

A Global Strategy for Spain on the Internet should have two basic areas:

- Providing access to the Internet in Latin America, where is the bigger “reserve” of Spanish speaking users and where the limitations to get into the online world are harder.

- Produce and distribute content according to Spanish interests.

This would increase the target audience and create the proper channels of communication and interaction with this giant mass of users.

With such strategy Spain would deliver a unique and privileged position in the world. Would be "dominating" public space "in Spanish" guided by long-range goals: to connect the world with Spain and Spain with the world, to build links with of commitment and trust through knowledge with Spain and also to position Spain as a concerning cultural, educational, scientific and economic referent.

What advantages would bring this to Spain?

1) Distribution of cultural products on a large scale.

2) Promotion of Spain at all levels (tourism, education, research, entertainment, etc.)..

3) Investment Attraction.

4) Improving the perception of companies and Latin American Spanish products, market potential of the entire Spanish economy.

5) Influence on political and economic perception of reality.

6) Creating direct channels with potential investors and capital markets.

7) Creating an online community with Latin American countries to establish common interests in the world.

8) Construction of an agenda on issues of strategic importance to Spain in the region and worldwide.

9) Enhance Spanish telecommunications industry.

10) Promoting a Hispanic lifestyle in the world.

The list is huge and probably could not end in a first approach to the subject. But it is clear that carrying out only one of these ten objectives and strategies would be successful.

Given that this is fertile ground in which the only really important actors are private and usually North American as Google or Facebook, it seems we have a free space to occupy.

If the situation is so obvious the problem is probably lack of leadership or will, as if there wasn’t a desire to create such a large area of influence. However it is clear that Spain wants to occupy a privileged place in the international arena and it is clear that the natural global environment today's Internet. So why do not we do something to build that space in the Hispanic online world?

In any case it is clear that we are facing an incredible opportunity, something that very few countries can dream. The first thing would be to draw attention to this great opportunity to fill the space it deserves in the public agenda. And from there generate a debate to define what the priorities of Spain are. Which would lead directly to establishing a clear and simple a Global Strategy for Spain on the Internet with specific targets.

The first stone is thrown. Now we need two things: vision and desire.

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PAGINAR.NET leaders in Latin America according to "La Revolución Horizontal"

We just read the book "The Horizontal Revolution: The power of communication in the hands of the people" (original title "La Revolución Horizontal: El poder de la comunicación en manos de la gente") published by Ediciones B. Written by Alberto Arébalos, Director of Communications and Public Affairs of Google in Latin America, and Gonzalo Alonso, VP Operations at Globant (and former Google's General Director for Latin America). The foreword is written by none other than Dr. Vint Cerf, considered the "father" of the Web.

We had the honor in PAGINAR.NET to be defined in the book as "a design and technology company leader in Latin America", and to have a couple of pages in the book with quotes from an interview with Sebastian Tedesco, our Director of Business Development, on topics of online marketing and web development strategies.

The book is a thorough essay, detailed and entertaining on the keys to understand the change in the way that brands, companies and politicians interact and communicate with consumers, customers and voters through new information technologies as this defines a new paradigm of communication. The history of Internet, new models, peer social web, internet marketing, business reputation and credibility, PR and journalism are some of the subjects of this super interesting book.

We highly recommend reading the book both to those who consider themselves "experts" in these subjects as to those who just start. The ending quote that closes the book:

"The Internet and the Social Web are one of the greatest technological, social and cultural revolutions of modern times. A revolution that we feel and see developing around us, that impacts us, and sometimes confuses us. A revolution that by now we just intuit their effects on large sectors of the economy, politics and social development. A revolution that for the first time will leave more power in the hands of people, all of us, and that will drive many revolutions. A horizontal revolution."

REVOLUCION HORIZONTAL, LA (Spanish Edition) by ALONSO Permalink: http://amzn.com/9876271474

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The White House website is now running on Drupal!

Yesterday, the new media team at the White House announced via the Associated Press that whitehouse.gov is now running on Drupal, the open source content management system used by PAGINAR.NET in its websites and specially in "Collaborative Platform", the PAGINAR.NET solution for government portals in Spain and Argentina.

Particularly telling are the reasons that the White House made the switch. According to the AP article:

“White House officials described the change as similar to rebuilding the foundation of a building without changing the street-level appearance of the facade. It was expected to make the White House site more secure - and the same could be true for other administration sites in the future....

Having the public write code may seem like a security risk, but it's just the opposite, experts inside and outside the government argued. Because programmers collaborate to find errors or opportunities to exploit Web code, the final product is therefore more secure.”

More than just security, though, the White House saw the opportunity to increase their flexibility. Drupal has a huge library of user-contributed modules that will provide functionality the White House can use to expand its social media capabilities, with everything from super-scalable live chats to multi-lingual support.

A big IT deployment like this requires especial considerations in terms of infrastructure in order to attend a high volume of visitors and activity. In order to fulfill this need the website uses Akamai as CDN (Content Delivery Network), the same solution that PAGINAR.NET uses for high-end Drupal deployments.

Original AP Cable: Link

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Buenos Aires, the first destination for outsourcing

Buenos Aires is transformed into one of the most viable cities for this type of practice. Because of the international crisis companies are increasingly outsourcing in the technology sector.

Capacity and low cost, appear as the ideal combination to compete in times of crisis. The instability and low access to international credit in many cities of the world have positioned themselves as potential new destinations for outsourcing centers, including Buenos Aires. The new wave of outsourcing in the IT sector is an opportunity particularly for cities in emerging economies, which rely on technology.

"The world seeks to capitalize on new ways of knowledge building on the skills and managing their costs," explains Eduardo Serra, a partner at KPMG IT Advisory in Argentina. In the report "Exploring Global Frontiers," held by the consultant, identified 31 cities that are targeting the interest as the main aspirants to the BPO crown (Business Process Outsourcing), now in the hands of traditional cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Shanghai.

The relative position on cost, communication structure and especially the existence of human resources with skills and training, are summarized as primary keys. Although Buenos Aires is the only city in Latin America identified as outsourcing hub of Creative Services, the full list of destinations including 10 cities in Latin America, including Curitiba, Santiago, Guadalajara and Queretaro. These, according to KPMG, were chosen primarily by the manpower available, the scalability, services and more mature handling of different languages.

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Finance your web project in 36 months at 0% interest rate

Many SMEs are already benefiting with loans of up to 50,000 euros provided by the Plan Avanza, one of many funding programs promoted by the Spanish government for those who wish to invest in Web projects, "said Luciano Schlaen, director of PAGINAR.NET in Spain. 

How to qualify 
It is very easy to obtain Plan Avanza loans in any of its forms simply provide appropriate documentation in one of the banks enabled and then wait until the loan is approved and granted. 

More information about the Avanza: Plan: Click here

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Advantages of accessibility

What is accessibility? 
Strictly speaking, is a set of criteria, techniques and technologies aimed at facilitating access to the Web to disabled people. In its broadest sense, this is a mechanism for defining Web standards (approaches, techniques and technologies) aimed to allow interoperability between systems and, therefore, that the Web is more accessible in general. 

Towards a standard on the Web 
The great advantage of accessibility is the interoperability through standardization. This allows return on investment because the site will be ready for possible integrations with other platforms or for reuse with new technologies. But in addition, there are a number of concrete benefits that are directly related to the application of these criteria, including:

• Increasing the number of users.
• Increased use of a site by users.
• Reduction of the maintenance of a site.
• Improvements in performance of the site and the server.
• Ability to view a site on different platforms (mobile phones, PDAs, television, etc.)..
• Better positioning of a site in search engines.
• Improvements in the image of an organization.
• Compliance with legal requirements of today and tomorrow.

All these advantages can be translated into cost reduction, ROI and a better use of resources thanks to the maximization the development (with the same budget it gives a greater scope) and compliance with standards (investment is secured by the support of W3C, an organization recognized internationally). 

Not all are advantages 
Often the criteria and directives that these standards set generate conditions, limitations and restrictions, especially in terms of image. This does not mean that a Accessible website is to be unfailingly ugly. You just have to take into account the limitations imposed by standardization. 

How to make a decision? 
The important thing is knowing what to do in each case. Not all projects require a accessible site, and not all sites must be visually stunning. As is known, decisions usually involve something to resign after a greater gain; it is crucial to respect the objectives of the project. 

Author: Luciano Schlaen - Director of PAGINAR.NET Spain

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