Collaborative Working

Setting up meetings

Gathering a group of people for a meeting is a great way to get across a message. The trick is presenting a topic that a group of people wants to hear. It is wise to ask questions previously to your target audience to find out this information before setting up your group meeting.

When you need to communicate a message across to group of people holding a group meeting is an extremely efficient way to do so. When you are talking to a group of people it is likely that they won’t share all the same interests, so in order to maintain interest is to present something the group wants to hear.

Before you hold a group meeting it is key that you plan out the meeting first by setting up an agenda for the meeting. This will help keep the meeting on topic and help achieve the purpose of the meeting. It is also important to keep minutes of the meeting to make sure information shared in the meeting can be called up at any time.

Meetings can be applied to any situation whether it be business, educational, personal etc. For example, a company may decide to hire a web designer which would mean having to set up a meeting before hand in order to inform the web designer what it is you’ll require for your website.

Wikis

Wikis is a commonly used piece of server software which allows people to add, modify or delete its contents which can be done using a web browser using a simplified mark-up language.

Many businesses, charities, people etc. use this as a way to increase their awareness or better understanding of their brands, products, services, personal life etc.

Blog

A “Blog” (or previously called web log) is a form of online diary where a user can post text, images, videos etc. onto their personal blog.

Many companies have personal blogs which aim to keep people up-to-date/posted with what is happening within the company. For example, IGN has a blog set up which keeps you up-to-date with what is happening within the gaming industry.

Collaborative editing

Collaborative editing is a great way for a group to synchronise their work together. Through sites such as Wikipedia you can create a group page which only allows specified users to view/edit. This is a great improvement as before in order to make changes to a single document you either had to email the text to someone to past it into a document, or all work on the same computer. This server technology has drastically improved the efficiency of collaborative editing which is why more and more people are using this method to do group work.

Instant messaging / Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging is the exchange of typed messages between two or more systems via an instant messaging service provider e.g. MSN, Skype, Yahoo Messenger etc. This messages are sent instantly within seconds of you hitting the send button which is great for a group brain storming process (e.g. when coming up with a name and/or a slogan for a new product/service).

Online whiteboard

This online software allows a group of people enter an interactive environment which allows them to draw their ideas on an online whiteboard the same way you would in person. This is a form of collaborative working as it allows a group of people to brainstorm and share ideas.

For example, if a group of people are trying to design a new logo they could do so using this software and present any rough ideas they may have and also allow other to make any changes they feel are necessary.

Online collaborative organiser

This is an IT tool which can be used in order to collaboratively to carry out a range of simple project management functions.

This tool allows you to;

• ·       set up to do lists
• ·       post implementation notes
• ·       post photos
• ·       attached files

This is a great tool for business use as if any changes need to be made midway through a project they can do so and you would have to send the entire group the revised organiser manually as it would automatically update itself.

Virtual learning environment

Virtual learning environments (or VLEs) are most commonly used by educational facilities such as schools, colleges etc. They provide restricted access so only those who are allowed can access the sites. For example, a student who is enrolled on BTEC ICT level 3 will only be allowed to access those course resources whereas a BTEC Drama student would not.   

Intranets

Unlike the internet which can be accessed by anyone who wishes to do so an Intranet can be used to make sure only people who have permission can access that specific network. This is a common choice for businesses in the present time as this makes sure all the people who have to access the information can do and those who shouldn’t be able to access the information cannot. This is what makes an Intranet a ‘Private Network’.