Online collaboration

September 10, 2005 5:26 PM

I have been exploring web-based services allowing me to share data/information with family, friends, business associates, and clients. I have narrowed down my choices (see inside) What are your favorites?

Here is a rundown of what some of my picks are so far. My main decision criteria include ease of use, cost-effectiveness, active/responsive development, and visual appeal.

With family and friends
• Links: http://www.furl.net and http://del.icio.us
• Simple Notes: http://www.tadalist.com
• Files: http://www.foldershare.com or http://www.strongspace.com/
• Photos: http://www.flickr.com
• Calendar: http://www.trumba.com
• Files, Notes, Photos: http://www.backpackit.com
• Multimedia Files: http://www.streamload.com or http://grouper.com or http://www.yousendit.com
• Weblog: http://www.typepad.com
• Conversations: http://www.imeem.com or http://www.quicktopic.com or http://www.conversate.org
• RSS Feeds: http://www.bloglines.com and http://www.rojo.com

With business partners
• Files: http://www.groove.net or http://www.kingdesign.net/tasks-pro/ or http://www.scheduleonline.com

With clients
• Invoices: http://www.blinksale.com
• Files and Projects: http://www.basecamphq.com
• Wiki: http://www.jot.com
• Links: http://wists.com and http://linksnarf.com
• Photos: http://www.smugmug.com

posted by Voyageman to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

The most popular right now is probably Basecamp
posted by travis vocino at 5:32 PM on September 10, 2005

I apologize, [enter] submitted but I wasn't done...

...Basecamp. I've seen it used for family communications in connection with the file uploading services (you need your own hosting, though) for photos and whatnot.

I love Flickr, of course, along with most, but the increasing Yahoo integration scares me.

As for additions, you covered anything new that I could think of. Your list is pretty handy, I think I'll save a copy myself.
posted by travis vocino at 5:39 PM on September 10, 2005

Self-link, but try Upcoming.org for sharing events.
posted by waxpancake at 7:44 PM on September 10, 2005

For any kind of one-to-one or one-to-many communication: QuickTopic - this can neatly replace e-mail when e-mail does not work

Wiki: PBWiki, WikiSpaces, Schtuff
posted by yclipse at 8:18 PM on September 10, 2005

We've used groove for the last couple of years internally at the start up that I work at. I tend to despise it myself, it's a major processor hog when its up and it takes forever to startup and shut down.

The sales guy types seem to like it though, as its slick and pretty easy to use. So it has the visual appeal and ease of use that you're looking for. I just find that as your groove space grows in size it becomes very slow. Plus there have been multiple synching problems that we've run into from time to time.

I prefer using a wiki (whatever flavour you like, we ust JSPwiki, which is just OK IMO) for the file sharing and note taking activites combined with IM (trillian) and Microsoft Outlook (on an exchange server) for scheduling, shared task lists, and e-mail.
posted by freshgroundpepper at 2:06 AM on September 11, 2005

I've use many of the services that you've mentioned, and they're all good for there individual niches - but what about a Yahoo! or Google Group? I've successfully moderated and been a member of several groups for both personal and work related topics. Messaging, picture and file sharing, polling etc. are all neatly integrated with a total cash outlay of zero. you control the members, but they control their own preferences and you have an archive of all email communications among members that use the group email address.
posted by marc1919 at 1:25 PM on September 11, 2005