Research for our white paper proposal was minimal, as we basically worked with knowledge that our group already contained. After posting and receiving feedback on our proposal I can see that we really need to identify a single intended audience. Our other most important aspect is researching and explaining in a non-biased fashion the competing technologies that compete with SharePoint.
The main focus of my research will be on the competing technologies of SharePoint and I will research some of the lesser known features that SharePoint has to offer. I will utilize many forms of research in order to locate information about other technologies similar to SharePoint. I assume that there are many white papers available detailing these technologies. I will also utilize some of the well known search engines to locate this information and I will utilize the actual corporate websites of the viable alternatives I locate. There are many resources available on features of SharePoint, but I will make it a point to identify the lesser known of features it has to offer. I will attempt to locate white papers from the manufacture of SharePoint (Microsoft). The most important thing I will remember is ensuring my sources are reliable and keeping my information on track for this white paper.
Audience research will also play an important role in developing this white paper. It will be designed mostly toward a business user who is looking at possibilities for collaborative technologies. It will be difficult to keep the white paper unbiased, but I will do my best. While identifying viable competing technologies I will make sure to only utilize those that are actually “on-par” with SharePoint. The identification of “on-par” competition may be a challenge, but I’m sure there are some decent open source options along with other similar possibilities.
Thanks
-JFlitt
Working with the readings
Note: you need to be sure to incorporate the assigned readings into these reading reports. There is no other way to determine if you have done the assigned readings.
KNOW your audience well.
Our group had a similar concern as yours in terms of our audience. We didn’t really think about the audience when we did our proposal so we probably lost some points in that general area. After receiving feedback we then realized that the audience is one of the main concerns of this project. If you don’t know what audience you are gearing the project towards, it will most likely not be an effective white paper. The Thompson Handbook has been pounding “know you audience” stuff into our heads basically the whole time we have been in this class so I guess it is time for us to actually listen to what they are saying and use that to create better writings.
Agreed, it would certainly
Agreed, it would certainly seem that especially in the marketing white papers that the audience would be of high importance. One must treat their potential customers with a great deal of care thus a marketing white paper should focus more on its audience than a government white paper in my opinion. Another thing I was thinking about is the formatting itself within these white papers. Out of all of the white papers I have seen thus far there is a similar format. I suppose it will be of upmost importance for us to follow these formatting rules when writing ours.
www.JFlitt.com
It is very nice that you and
It is very nice that you and your group already have know a great deal of information on your topic, that will make it a lot easier for you to create your white paper, however I think that it is still important for you to do some traditional research. Your group could have a biased opinion on the particular topic and if you do not do look up some credible research you might overlook something. I liked that you mentioned using other white papers as a form of research; I think that would be a great way to find an unbiased opinion on the topic.
I must agree with you also on
I must agree with you also on the fact that our opinions and current knowledge may be biased. You make a very good point that we will have to be careful in our research so that we do not look over any important items. Perhaps I will go about my research with a fresh mindset on the subject, and hopefully discover some new information. Other white papers do seem like a good source of unbiased information and I fully plan on utilizing them whilst writing this paper. The only thing we will have to be careful with in doing this other whitepaper research is that we don’t overuse the other whitepapers information.
www.JFlitt.com
Researching the audience
I think my group was in the same place yours was when we first turned in our project proposal. Since receiving our instructor feedback we have had to change and refocus on who our audience would be. Once we were able to narrow who are potential audience is, the importance of researching the audience was very clear. What would be the point of spending all this time and effort writing a white paper, only to have it miss its mark with our intended audiences. Because of this I plan on doing research on the audience of our paper as well as the different solutions we are proposing.
Patrick Griffin
pgriffin@purdue.edu