Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Reading Room uses collaboration, open source for online success

Brisbane-based company completes social media project with QUT

Fostering a collaborative environment while delivering social media and SEO solutions through open source platforms has been vital to the success of Brisbane based company, Reading Room.

Reading Room’s director, Sarah Vick, spoke to Computerworld Australia about the company’s success, saying the decision to expand operations from the UK into Brisbane was an easy one to make.

“Because lots of people are working in growing businesses, and because the city is a very friendly place to be, it has been really easy to network and meet like-minded people,” she said. “Brisbane is developing a worldwide reputation for its focus on innovation and technology and it's a really exciting time to be here.”

With collaborative technology cutting travel expenses at the National Australia Bank, Vick said Reading Room had recently undertaken a joint project with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

“In conjunction with a team of students undertaking a Masters of IT at QUT, we have just completed the research phase of a project to analyse and recommend solutions for effective internal social networking,” she said.

“We have been so impressed with the results of the research that we are continuing with the project into a second implementation phase where the students work closely with us to trial and evaluate their proposed systems into our work processes.”

Reading Room's client base includes Queensland Rail, Queensland Museum and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Office, and while some IT managers are grabbling with the issue of whether or not to block social media sites in the workplace, Vick said that trusting her staff to use social media in a responsible way has been key because collaborative technologies are vital in today’s digital workplace.

“Early adoption of social media in the workplace is one of the ways the company stays true to its values, allows staff to collaborate creatively on projects and shares knowledge across three time zones,” she said. “We put together the best teams with the most relevant skills to work on projects, regardless of where individuals are, and that means using social and collaborative technologies is essential.”

The Queensland Museum worked with Reading Room to turn its website into an online museum and as a result, created a new presence online.

“Their new digital presence not only opens a gateway to hundreds of thousands of specimens, but it also opens up exciting opportunities for immersive user journeys and connects with social networks,” she said.

While Vick said Reading Room sees itself as a digital communications agency rather than an IT company, the continued use of open source software and the use of HTML 5 is the next priority on Vick’s IT agenda. “We're doing some exciting new projects with HTML 5,” she said. “…obviously mobile technologies and apps are becoming increasingly important to our clients.”

Follow Lisa Banks on Twitter: @CapricaStar

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAu

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: etwork, National Australia Bank, Queensland Rail, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: collaboration, open source, QUT, Reading Room
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Get the Whole Picture Why Most Organizations Miss User Response Monitoring—and What to Do About It
    You can be armed with vast amounts of performance metrics, but if you don’t know what users are actually experiencing, you don’t have the real performance picture. While this measure is critical, it is one many organizations fail to consistently capture. This guide looks at the challenges of user response monitoring, and it shows how you can overcome these challenges and start to get a real handle on your infrastructure performance and how it impacts your users’ experience.
    Learn more »
  • Stopping Fake Antivirus: How to Keep Scareware off Your Network
    This paper provides insight into where fake antivirus comes from and how it is distributed, what happens when a system is infected with fake antivirus, and how to stop this persistent threat from infecting your network and your users.
    Learn more »
  • Guidance for Calculation of Efficiency (PUE) in Data Centers
    The benefits of determining data center infrastructure efficiency as part of an effective energy management plan are widely recognised. The standard metrics of Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and its reciprocal Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency1 (DCIE) have emerged as recognised standards. This paper defines a standard approach to collecting data from data centers and showing how to use it to calculate PUE, with a focus on what to do with data that is confusing or incomplete.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments