team collaboration tools (“groupware”)
DESCRIPTION
Team Collaboration Tools (“groupware”). Some trends in virtual and electronic meetings. Several large corporations (e.g., Cisco, Apple) have reduced conference sponsorship and attendance. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
PowerPoint Presentation(“groupware”)
Your team will need to collaborate on your project, and here are a collection of online tools to assist your communication and work. Google Docs, Google Sites, Skype, and Blackboard are recommended. You should test them on your computer to make sure they work for your browser, platform, and configuration. If there are difficulties, please check with the CSS Helpdesk, and discuss alternative collaborative tools with your team.
1
Several large corporations (e.g., Cisco, Apple) have reduced conference sponsorship and attendance.
Instead of spending $1 million for training, one company will hold its July training virtually.
And event and meeting department for a billion dollar company last year reduced staff from five to one.
Virtual attendees (“avatars”) can enter a virtual conference center, attend virtual meetings, download papers, hold group discussions, browse virtual exhibits, get prizes, and even go to a lounge.
Companies can save 50-80% of costs of renting space, hotel, transportation, and packing and shipping displays.
A physical event could generate a lead at a cost of $200-$1000, while virtual contact might cost only $20.
Even at F2F meetings, attendees may be given PDAs to download papers, network with others of similar interests, or send messages to a large screen.
Arslander, B. (2009). Virtual meetings will erase face to face. Business week. http://www.businessweek.com/ debateroom/archives/2009/01/virtual_meetings_will_erase_face_to_face.html
These approaches to innovative meeting formats provide much more flexibility, interactivity, and creativity to teams and organizations. Here are some examples of special features and cost savings that they can also bring.
2
http://allcollaboration.com/home/2010/3/4/keep-it-simple-on-the-collaboration-tools.html
Over 450 respondents participated in the survey conducted by All Collaboration in January and February 2010. Respondents came from all levels within organizations, all functional areas, a wide range of organization sizes, a wide range of industries with some concentration in consulting, and different regions although mostly North Americans.
Let’s examine some recent research on various collaboration tools. Notice which tools are most highly rated– although some of the results here contrast with other information we will examine about such tools.
3
http://allcollaboration.com/home/2010/3/4/keep-it-simple-on-the-collaboration-tools.html
The same study also examined which tools were evaluated as least effective. You will likely notice some inconsistencies between these reports and others you may find online. Such inconsistencies in what people find effective may in part be due to the way such technology is used as well as the quality of technology. For example, some video conferencing with slow transfers or frame rates makes images very jumpy and delays synchronization with voice. As bandwidth increases, real-time, high resolution and fidelity conferences are very effective.
4
5
Access the docs from your computer or smartphone anywhere
Several team members can work on the document simultaneously (son long as you don’t get in each other’s way)
Safely store your work
Control who has access to it
Access it through your CSS Gmail account from any computer on/off campus
For this course, there are many collaborative tools that your team should explore. One of the more common and readily available is Google Docs which allows you to share and work together real time on Word or powerpoint documents. Word is much easier to work on than powerpoint, but both can be worked on and shared. Be sure to upload powerpoint in the 2003-2007 version. See the links for more examples.
Google docs and Google sites will require you to open an account in Google, but it is free and you can access it through your CSS gmail account. Docs allows your team to store and work on a document online. This seems to work best for Word or other word processing documents, and not as well on Powerpoints. The advantage is that the document is available anytime online for members to work on, rather than being stored on a member’s computer. It also allows several people to work on the document at the same time, although you will need to make sure you are not getting in each other’s way on the same paragraph.
6
Google Sites is a structured Internet application tool that can be used for wiki and web creation.
Free registration enables you to create and store up to 100mb of material.
Pages are slightly limited by themes, colors, and fonts available.
Please browse the links below for more information:
Google sites is recommended for your development of a website or wiki. Sites has templates available and there are also brief tutorials and manuals online to help you with constructing and revising pages, adding graphics, making links, and so on. You are welcome to use other programs instead of Sites, but this is convenient in sharing the same platform as your gmail, sites, and other google tools.
7
Skype is a free service for online voice and video collaboration that can be conducted over computer, mobile device or tablet.
Up to five members can be logged on for a team meeting
It does not enable file transfer, but can be activated while other applications are also running
Skype is a voice-over-internet service that allows people to collaborate by voice, video, and text from your computer. Calls between Skype users is free, but requires registration, download installation, microphone, and optional camera. Up to 10 members can communicate at a time on Skype, and it is an excellent way for a distributed team to conduct a meeting.
8
Google+ Hangouts
Hangouts is a video chat in Google+ that supports interaction for up to 10 people
Focus is on face-to-face interaction, is free, and does not require additional fees for more than one-to-one interaction
It can be used on desktop, laptop, and some mobile devices.
It can be used to share documents, YouTube videos, scratchpads, and images
It requires a webcam and you will need to download the latest plugin
YouTube tutorial (4:30”). Notice that more detailed videos are available on the YoutubePage.
Syllabus, weekly assignments, resources, announcements, e-mail, and team resources will all be located there
Team resources include journals, blogs, chatrooms, and wikis.
BB help can be found online or by contacting the help desk at x5911 ext1
You can get a free download at evernote.com
Although it is individually “owned” by you, you can share your notebooks with your team.
You can have a small link resident on your computer for instant linking of material.
Best of all– you can just keep making notes and everything is searchable by keyword or term
Evernote is a terrific tool for your individual use as a student or for sharing ideas and links as a teammember. It is a repository for notes, ideas, random thoughts, downloaded papers, photos, videos, and just about anything else you could otherwise shove into a drawer. Its advantage for all this collected stuf is that you can conduct an immediate search and retrieval by using tags or key words.
Dropbox is an online service for storing documents, such as journal articles, photos, videos, online papers, etc., and share them with others.
You must register but the service is free up to storage of 2 GB of space.
Although you cannot work on the documents (you will have to download them), you can store them and access them from any computer remotely
Dropbox has the advantage of not only being free, but having a lot of storage space in the online “cloud” for all sorts of documents, photos, videos, and other items. You can store them in folders and be selective who you share them with, such as your team. These collections can be accessed from any computer you use if you download Dropbox to it. This service is an excellent one for your individual use for courses and work, as well as sharing information with your team. However, others cannot post to the storage as they can to Google Docs.
12
Google Groups is a free Google service that enables groups of people to carry on an online discussion.
Discussion posts can remain on the website or members can be notified by e-mail of new posts
Membership can be restricted or expanded, and access to other discussion groups on the internet is possible
Google groups is a free service for hosting groupwork. It can be used to share calendars, videos, papers, discussions, and more. The team host to sets it up will need to invite the other team members as well as enable them to post information or save files.
13
Each team will select a collaborative tool for detailed review
The tool should be conveniently available at no cost
Select a tool that will help you with your group project (e.g., communication, document sharing, project management, etc.)
Use the tool among your team members and evaluate its utility
Make a powerpoint presentation to the class on your findings
Collaborative team tools will likely continue to change at a rapid pace, but there are some common criteria for selecting effective tools. For your handbook you might construct a list of criteria for selecting collaborative tools. After you construct the list, apply it to your own team and see what the ideal tools you could use would be.
14
Your team will need to collaborate on your project, and here are a collection of online tools to assist your communication and work. Google Docs, Google Sites, Skype, and Blackboard are recommended. You should test them on your computer to make sure they work for your browser, platform, and configuration. If there are difficulties, please check with the CSS Helpdesk, and discuss alternative collaborative tools with your team.
1
Several large corporations (e.g., Cisco, Apple) have reduced conference sponsorship and attendance.
Instead of spending $1 million for training, one company will hold its July training virtually.
And event and meeting department for a billion dollar company last year reduced staff from five to one.
Virtual attendees (“avatars”) can enter a virtual conference center, attend virtual meetings, download papers, hold group discussions, browse virtual exhibits, get prizes, and even go to a lounge.
Companies can save 50-80% of costs of renting space, hotel, transportation, and packing and shipping displays.
A physical event could generate a lead at a cost of $200-$1000, while virtual contact might cost only $20.
Even at F2F meetings, attendees may be given PDAs to download papers, network with others of similar interests, or send messages to a large screen.
Arslander, B. (2009). Virtual meetings will erase face to face. Business week. http://www.businessweek.com/ debateroom/archives/2009/01/virtual_meetings_will_erase_face_to_face.html
These approaches to innovative meeting formats provide much more flexibility, interactivity, and creativity to teams and organizations. Here are some examples of special features and cost savings that they can also bring.
2
http://allcollaboration.com/home/2010/3/4/keep-it-simple-on-the-collaboration-tools.html
Over 450 respondents participated in the survey conducted by All Collaboration in January and February 2010. Respondents came from all levels within organizations, all functional areas, a wide range of organization sizes, a wide range of industries with some concentration in consulting, and different regions although mostly North Americans.
Let’s examine some recent research on various collaboration tools. Notice which tools are most highly rated– although some of the results here contrast with other information we will examine about such tools.
3
http://allcollaboration.com/home/2010/3/4/keep-it-simple-on-the-collaboration-tools.html
The same study also examined which tools were evaluated as least effective. You will likely notice some inconsistencies between these reports and others you may find online. Such inconsistencies in what people find effective may in part be due to the way such technology is used as well as the quality of technology. For example, some video conferencing with slow transfers or frame rates makes images very jumpy and delays synchronization with voice. As bandwidth increases, real-time, high resolution and fidelity conferences are very effective.
4
5
Access the docs from your computer or smartphone anywhere
Several team members can work on the document simultaneously (son long as you don’t get in each other’s way)
Safely store your work
Control who has access to it
Access it through your CSS Gmail account from any computer on/off campus
For this course, there are many collaborative tools that your team should explore. One of the more common and readily available is Google Docs which allows you to share and work together real time on Word or powerpoint documents. Word is much easier to work on than powerpoint, but both can be worked on and shared. Be sure to upload powerpoint in the 2003-2007 version. See the links for more examples.
Google docs and Google sites will require you to open an account in Google, but it is free and you can access it through your CSS gmail account. Docs allows your team to store and work on a document online. This seems to work best for Word or other word processing documents, and not as well on Powerpoints. The advantage is that the document is available anytime online for members to work on, rather than being stored on a member’s computer. It also allows several people to work on the document at the same time, although you will need to make sure you are not getting in each other’s way on the same paragraph.
6
Google Sites is a structured Internet application tool that can be used for wiki and web creation.
Free registration enables you to create and store up to 100mb of material.
Pages are slightly limited by themes, colors, and fonts available.
Please browse the links below for more information:
Google sites is recommended for your development of a website or wiki. Sites has templates available and there are also brief tutorials and manuals online to help you with constructing and revising pages, adding graphics, making links, and so on. You are welcome to use other programs instead of Sites, but this is convenient in sharing the same platform as your gmail, sites, and other google tools.
7
Skype is a free service for online voice and video collaboration that can be conducted over computer, mobile device or tablet.
Up to five members can be logged on for a team meeting
It does not enable file transfer, but can be activated while other applications are also running
Skype is a voice-over-internet service that allows people to collaborate by voice, video, and text from your computer. Calls between Skype users is free, but requires registration, download installation, microphone, and optional camera. Up to 10 members can communicate at a time on Skype, and it is an excellent way for a distributed team to conduct a meeting.
8
Google+ Hangouts
Hangouts is a video chat in Google+ that supports interaction for up to 10 people
Focus is on face-to-face interaction, is free, and does not require additional fees for more than one-to-one interaction
It can be used on desktop, laptop, and some mobile devices.
It can be used to share documents, YouTube videos, scratchpads, and images
It requires a webcam and you will need to download the latest plugin
YouTube tutorial (4:30”). Notice that more detailed videos are available on the YoutubePage.
Syllabus, weekly assignments, resources, announcements, e-mail, and team resources will all be located there
Team resources include journals, blogs, chatrooms, and wikis.
BB help can be found online or by contacting the help desk at x5911 ext1
You can get a free download at evernote.com
Although it is individually “owned” by you, you can share your notebooks with your team.
You can have a small link resident on your computer for instant linking of material.
Best of all– you can just keep making notes and everything is searchable by keyword or term
Evernote is a terrific tool for your individual use as a student or for sharing ideas and links as a teammember. It is a repository for notes, ideas, random thoughts, downloaded papers, photos, videos, and just about anything else you could otherwise shove into a drawer. Its advantage for all this collected stuf is that you can conduct an immediate search and retrieval by using tags or key words.
Dropbox is an online service for storing documents, such as journal articles, photos, videos, online papers, etc., and share them with others.
You must register but the service is free up to storage of 2 GB of space.
Although you cannot work on the documents (you will have to download them), you can store them and access them from any computer remotely
Dropbox has the advantage of not only being free, but having a lot of storage space in the online “cloud” for all sorts of documents, photos, videos, and other items. You can store them in folders and be selective who you share them with, such as your team. These collections can be accessed from any computer you use if you download Dropbox to it. This service is an excellent one for your individual use for courses and work, as well as sharing information with your team. However, others cannot post to the storage as they can to Google Docs.
12
Google Groups is a free Google service that enables groups of people to carry on an online discussion.
Discussion posts can remain on the website or members can be notified by e-mail of new posts
Membership can be restricted or expanded, and access to other discussion groups on the internet is possible
Google groups is a free service for hosting groupwork. It can be used to share calendars, videos, papers, discussions, and more. The team host to sets it up will need to invite the other team members as well as enable them to post information or save files.
13
Each team will select a collaborative tool for detailed review
The tool should be conveniently available at no cost
Select a tool that will help you with your group project (e.g., communication, document sharing, project management, etc.)
Use the tool among your team members and evaluate its utility
Make a powerpoint presentation to the class on your findings
Collaborative team tools will likely continue to change at a rapid pace, but there are some common criteria for selecting effective tools. For your handbook you might construct a list of criteria for selecting collaborative tools. After you construct the list, apply it to your own team and see what the ideal tools you could use would be.
14