Online collaboration
I’m posting this under “training,” but again, the correct choice of a tool may be key to how involved the “training” is. For instance, if a mailing list is used to exchange working documents, there need to be all kinds of protocols devised to say
- How are messages related to the project “tagged”
- Who keeps the “one true source” and incorporates all the changes
- etc., etc., etc.
On the other hand, with the proper choice of a tool/environment these problems go away — handled by the workflow embedded in the tool — or at least are raised up a level that don’t require such attention to the details of the process.
One tool just recommended on the NTEN discussion list is www.airset.com. Others are listed in the Groupware section of opensourcecms.com. If you’ve got recommendations or experience with any tools that would be appropriate for a geographically diverse group of AAUW members (e.g. a state or national committee) please do comment.
http://docs.google.com is a new player in this space that may solve 90% of the problem since it handles Word and Excel files.
Comment by Nancy — November 10, 2006 @ 3:26 pm
Thank you, Nancy!
Reading through comments/posts over the past 3 years I realize how much I have learned. Now I understand them! At first reading they were beyond me, but I kept stretching my skills just for the fun of it. When I think how long it has taken to become comfortable with these tools, even to gain some skill, I wonder if we are expecting too much of our member-users.
Now I am TUAG chair, considering ways to bring user-members and our electronic information together. A big job. This background helps.
Mary Rack
Comment by Mary Rack — June 28, 2008 @ 5:39 pm