Connect!: A Guide to a New Way of Working from GigaOM's Web Worker Daily [Paperback]

Anne Truitt Zelenka (Author), Judi Sohn (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0470223987 | ISBN-13: 978-0470223987 | Edition: 1

If you use the web to reach out beyond the confines of your office, cubicle, or home to connect and collaborate with others doing the same thing, you’re a web worker. In this book you'll learn how to use new web tools, discover sites and services you might want to try, and meet the social web where people are as important as corporations. You’ll learn how people are working in new ways because of the web, and how you can too.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"This is a book about the future that is arriving now. It will transform your work habits, productivity, and attitude."
— Richard Ogle, Author, Smart World

"Zelenka gives every web worker—be they corporate or indie—an array of invaluable tips and insights to survive what surely is the beginning of a golden era of work."
— Steve rubel, Senior Vice President, Edelman and AdAge Digital columnist

"Zelenka demonstrates how putting the web to its best use can actually boost your productivity, if not entirely transform your career."
— Gina Trapani, Editor, Lifehacker

"Full of great tips and terrific suggestions, it's a must-read how-to guide for the digitally minded."
— Kara Swisher, Technology columnist, Wall Street Journal

"This is an awesome resource for independent web workers!"
— Tara Hunt, Founder, Citizen Agency

Are you a web worker?

You are if you use the web to reach out beyond the confines of your office, cubicle, home workspace, or seat at the coffee shop to connect and collaborate with others doing the same thing. In this book you'll learn how to use new web tools to improve your work life. You'll discover web sites and services you might want to try. You'll meet the social web, where people are as important as corporations. You'll learn how people like yourself are working in new ways because of the web, and how you can too.

About the Author

Anne Truitt Zelenka is a writer and web technologist. As editor at large of Web Worker Daily, Anne brings a mix of career and technical advice to readers looking to find success and satisfaction in the new ways of working enabled by the web.
Anne has been in software and web development since the nineties, and worked through the dot-com boom as a database and web application developer. She lives in Denver with her husband Rick and three children. You can reach her via her website at annezelenka.com.

Judi Sohn, editor of Web Worker Daily, has over 10 years experience as a homebased graphic designer, technology consultant, and blogger. Now remotely managing a patient advocacy nonprofit organization, she truly lives the web worker life and brings her practical experience to Web Worker Daily readers.
Judi lives in Central New Jersey with her husband Eric and two daughters. She maintains a personal blog at momathome.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470223987
• ISBN-13: 978-0470223987
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #891,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid recommendations and interesting ideas about how the web changes how we work and connect with people. January 23, 2008

By Dawn M. Foster

Format:Paperback

I just finished Connect! A Guide to a New Way of Working by Anne Zelenka. Connect is all about web workers, those people who spend all or part of their time working remotely over the web either as telecommuters, freelancers, or some other online working arrangement. I spent about 6 months working remotely, and I could have used a book like this. Based on what I learned from my experience, this book was right on target and offers great advice to people interested in working over the web with good coverage of both the good and the bad aspects. While the flexibility was great for me, you can go a little stir crazy, and Anne has a lot of ideas to help minimize the issues inherent in working from home.

In addition to the basic information about web working, some of the related ideas in the book really helped define some of what I have been noticing over the past couple years that seem to he changing the way people work. Anne makes a great distinction between knowledge work and web work. With knowledge work, the focus has been on the corporation, proprietary technologies, desktop tools, and knowledge, but in contrast, web work is focused on individuals, open technologies, web tools, and relationships. When I was at Intel, the focus was more on knowledge work, but I am noticing that at my current employer, the focus is on web work as Anne defines it with collaboration, openness, and relationships being of utmost importance. As an community person, I am definitely more suited to the web work model.

Busy vs. bursty is also a common theme throughout the book. Busy work is based on work hours, email, company relationships, inflexible long-term planning, and web surfing as a time waster, while bursty work is about getting the job done regardless of hours worked, collaboration tools instead of email, relationships that are broader than just your company, agile planning, and web surfing as fuel for ideas. This isn't to say that you can replace all of the busy work with bursty work; you still need some amount of busy work to get through the tedious, but necessary tasks. However, bursty work also has a place, and again it is more suited to my personal style of working.

I will admit to skipping over a couple of sections, like technology recommendations for home work systems, since I have an in depth knowledge of some of these topics based on my recent experiences as a web worker. Even if you aren't a telecommuter or freelancer working mostly over the web, I still recommend the book and Web Worker Daily, the companion web site. It has a lot of interesting ideas for how work is changing as we move more and more of our lives online.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, practical, balanced, and exciting - a new way of viewing work January 12, 2008

By Anne Gentle

Format:Paperback

This book articulates concepts and beliefs that I didn't even know that I held or believed - but there they are on paper. I have instinctively been employing a connected web worker approach in many of my professional and personal pursuits and Anne Zelenka has nailed the joy of balancing work and home life while offering encouragement for others to find their own way.

The book is clear, well-written, and includes tables and other reference materials that let you dive in deeper. It doesn't sugarcoat the experience of working at home and offers suggestions for starting from scratch or blending an approach that fits you.

Plus, this book offers terminology for the web worker (such as the Tidy Web) to make it easier for us to communicate with others about the priorities and selections you can make when connecting with others online. There's a great chapter on different alternative career paths (kaleidoscope, organic, slash, hero's journey) that was very informative as well.

It's hard to describe the energy I get from my current work/life balancing act to many of my friends and family, so I appreciate well-written pieces. I want to buy this book for all my coworkers and managers and their managers so they can understand that a connected, bursty lifestyle can work for many of us.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Empowering and Comprehensible July 16, 2008

By Hallenda Slattery

Format:Paperback

This book impacted my view of the internet in an empowering way. It caused me to reevaluate my approach to both work and family, and how to blend (even sometimes separate) those worlds in a more smooth and efficient manner. I learned many tips and tricks that have assisted me in accomplishing goals and meeting deadlines. This book also prompted me to consider going out on my own as a freelancer. I don't know if I would have given much thought to such a venture without the discussions and concepts the author brought forth. What I like best about the author's writing is that it is comprehensible for a relatively low techie, like me, to understand.