Web 2.0 and work environment

It has been a busy few weeks at work as we are fundamentally changing our production structure and processes in the newsroom. Other changes will follow in the coming weeks. The idea is how to become more efficient at what we do. That said, I feel sometimes that I am fighting a losing battle trying to integrate the available free technologies into the framework. For example, Google calendar is way reporters, photographers and editors can all view the assignments for the day, week, etc. This replaces the (in my mind) the huge grease board in the newsroom where someone has to be responsible for taking assignments, making changes and keeping the board current. The beauty of the Google calendar it is mobile. Photographers and reporters can check their assignments and update them from the road. Additionally, we have nine other newspapers in Florida. the talk is to go to a more regional management approach. Using Web 2.0 tools can make collaborating on assignments much easier so that newspapers 150 miles apart can easily know what each other is doing and share stories and resources. Back to my original point about the losing battle: I felt frustrated trying to convince a high-level editor that this method was better than her grease board. Eventually she yielded, but said she would need extensive training. I never realized that fear was holding her back all along.