Datasheet

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Chapter 1: Social Computing
Enterprise Software Platform
There are many situations where another implementation of a social computing tool could be used, but
the real value in the enterprise is having a powerful and extendable platform such as SharePoint that
can leverage existing resources to create better tools for the organization. To build connected social com-
puting applications, the enterprise needs a platform that enables quick development of these powerful
applications. The platform used in this book focuses on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Share-
Point 2007 can be used as a platform for building social applications by enhancing the out-of-the-box
functionality or creating custom add-ons. This rich platform contains the entry points needed to enhance
applications where necessary. SharePoint includes direct access to data for developers through an
easy-to-use object model as well as remote access with a multitude of web services.
Building a YouTube.com-style Media Site
Before looking at additional concepts and definitions, look at the concepts of building an application that
provides social feedback to the users of the site and see how it would provide benefits in an organization.
Many organizations have training videos, videos from presidents or CEOs, or even employees providing
direction on a single subject. These videos can be difficult for users to watch and especially hard to find,
depending on where they are located. If they are located on a single user’s machine, the user will need to
email the videos or upload them to a file share that has proper rights for the users that will need to use
them. SharePoint 2007 can help resolve these issues.
The first step is open a SharePoint site and follow these steps to create a video subsite. Chapter 11 will go
into more depth on interactive media, but, for now, these will create a simple YouTube-style site.
1. Click View All Site Content, and then select Create.
2. Under the Web Pages section, select Sites and Workspaces.
3. Enter the title, description, and URL name.
4. In the Template Selection area, select the Collaboration tab. Then select Blank Site.
5. Keep the remaining options the same, and click Create.
6. In the new blank site, follow the same steps, but, this time, create a picture library named
Video Links, and add the following fields:
T Video URL: This will be used when the user clicks the URL to view the video.
7. Once again, click Create. This time, create a new document library named Videos.
8. Now upload the videos, add the video links, and place the video links on the default.aspx
page of the site. The site might look very similar to Figure 1-7 below.
You will probably not want to upload large video files to the document libraries. In
fact, you might want to have them on a streaming media server in a production
environment.
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