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There are a lot of no-cost ways to stay in touch with what's happening in the industry:

Subscribe to intranet and Web development newsletters or RSS feeds to get a high-level overview of what's out there.

Frequent online discussion forums to see what other developers and intraneters are using, how they're putting these technologies into practice, and how emerging technologies and tools are being received by others.

Keep an eye on different technologies' market share. If a particular technology has a significant market share and is being implemented in many high-profile companies, that technology isn't likely to disappear overnight.

It always makes me laugh to see the CEO or CIO of a software company predicting future technology trends. They publicly proclaim with all the confidence in the world that "this is where we're heading" and "that's going to be the future of the industry". But, not surprisingly, their so-called predications always seem to match their company's product development strategy and launch schedule. That's not predicting; that's marketing.

If you want to really know where the industry is heading and what technologies have the potential of becoming an established standard, you need to seek out independent and non-biased sources (such as those mentioned above). Company bigwigs have a financial interest in driving people to their products or services. You need to get information from the trenches, not from a commercial.

Experiment By Doing

There's no substitute for experience. You can only learn so much about a technology or tool by reading about it. Even if a particular technology or tool gets positive reviews from industry analysts and kudos from developers, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good match for your company's needs. Hype should never be a determining factor in your decision-making process. The only way to find out what works for you is to actually experiment with it. Just make sure that you don't do it on production systems because you'll wind up turning your users into unwitting guinea pigs.

You can download trial versions, or sign up for online demos, of commercial intranet suites. You can explore the inner workings of open-source frameworks and tap into the enormous pool of knowledge in open-source communities. And, time permitting, you can give yourself mini-projects in test environments using the technology or tool you're evaluating. The advantage here is that you can create small test modules related to your current projects. If, in the future, you decide to formally adopt the technology or tool, you'll have something concrete to build upon.

To Be Continued ...

As important as it is to stay abreast of the latest technological developments and trends, it's crucial you don't obsess over them. You shouldn't aim to understand every existing and emerging intranet technology (although if you have the capacity to do so, feel free!). If you try to absorb everything at once you're going to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information thrown your way. You'll wind up stressing yourself out and will accomplish little. But after doing some initial homework, you should have enough knowledge to separate the facts from the fads. You can then narrow down your choices and make more educated selections.

In upcoming articles, I'll be exploring some of these technologies and tools in greater detail, and how they measure up against one another.

Paul Chin (www.paulchinonline.com) is a freelance writer and journalist. He has previously worked in the aerospace and competitive intelligence industries as a software developer and intranet specialist. He currently writes on a wide range of IT topics, including systems development and security, digital communications and media, content management and web design.

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