Defining collaboration does not need to be very difficult. It is simply the act of working together. The hard part is explaining what tools are available and how they work. There are many different collaboration tools on the market. Examples are Microsoft’s SharePoint, Box.net, Wiggio, Doodle, and Groupswim are just a few. Each of these have their own little niche features, however, the basics are similar.
Collaboration tools have certain basic items that the users need. Examples are shared calendaring, discussion boards, contacts list, and document storage. Let me explain each one.
Shared Calendaring-simply put, it is a calendar that is shared by many people. Typical collaboration sites will have a calendar that all members of the group have access to. This enables all group members to add appointments to the calendar. Everything from regularly scheduled meetings to group members availability can be placed on the calendar. As a benefit, many of these online collaboration tools have a way to “tie” into the users existing calendar, making it easier to manage.
Discussion boards-is a place to capture group conversations. There are so many ways a discussion board can be used. It can be used to help replace those long email threads. You know the ones where everyone is copied and it is forwarded around to 40 different people, then everyone starts responding to all and the thread turns into knot very quickly. Using a discussion board as a replacement to this keeps all the information in one central location. Members of the group simply check the discussion board for content and respond accordingly. The discussion board can keep track of each “broken thread” and keep it in order, making it easier for the group to follow. A discussion board can also be used to submit questions in order to obtain feedback. One use can be trying to schedule a meeting with multiple group members. Simply post the date/times that are available and let everyone post their availability.
Contact Lists-this one is easy. A list of contacts, period. You decide which contacts. Maybe there are several lists on your site. One for all group members and one for vendors that are used by the group for the project. Keep track of address, phone, email, IM, whatever fields you want. Many of the collaboration tools allow customization of the contact list enabling the group to really capture any info about the contact they want to capture.
Document Storage-shared storage space for the group members. Generally, members may need to share documents with each other while working on their project. Document storage allows the members to post their work, view other member’s work, and even edit other member’s work, depending on how the security is set up.
These are just a few of the features that are available with collaboration tools and by no means an exhaustive list. Other features that exist are things like texting, emailing, IM, video conferencing, phone conferencing, and more.
Hopefully this makes collaboration a little easier to understand and explains why more and more people are using it.
Til’ next time.
