Replacing the day 1 binder

So we hired someone new today they won't start for a while, but the question was asked "where is the The How-to-binder? " We all have a binder somewhere in our office that we received on day 1 of our jobs. If you work in higher ed like me you might have 3 or more that you received on day 1. Heck, all 4 binders I received were outdated when handed over.

• Benefits/HR Policies - Consider removing lastupdate stamp
• Departmental Procedures - DITTO
• ERP Manual - Prior owner lost all the college specific info
• CRM Manual - It was a version behind

For one of binder they actually handed me a manila envelope with replacement pages and an instruction sheet for replacing them myself.

Thinking about this today it hit me. We all want to communicate with our external constituents better and in a more technology savvy methods. Are some of these day 1 binders a test case for new technologies?

To worried about features for those on the outside, I didn't realize the potential inside. From wikis to RSS feeds, even social networking. Here is an example if you work on a system of any type you most likely have a book mark list of trusty sources for when your in a pinch. Would those same sites help the guy or gal in the cube next to you? Mine would and I'm not sharing those on delicious or digg, but you can find the most recent Fark.com story I read.

What new technology test bed is sitting on that bookshelf beside you that could kick start a learning experiment on social media and knowledge sharing practices for your office?