So the clock, which was invented by men who wanted to devote themselves more rigorously to God, ended up as the technology of greatest use to men who wished to devote themselves to money. Sproull and Kiesler explain that second-level effects occur because the technology changes what people attend to, and how they depend on and relate to other people. We argue that the second-level effect of intranets is to lead to new patterns of online communication and the emergence of the online, virtual workplace. These technology developments and the phenomenon of second-level effects will accelerate virtual, online working through intranets, both within and between organizations. Knowledge and information are linked to a person, and communication with that person is only a click away.
People can link intranet pages to web conferences.
Online discussions about information are only a click away from the information itself. It's easy for people to communicate around shared data and common tasks and goals. Intrapreneurs can create exciting intranet pages fully explaining their proposals, creating interest and finding out who'll sign up. They form their own informal working relationships with distant colleagues which criss-cross departmental boundaries. The ideas are refined online and the work is conducted online.