Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with collaboration

Superhero Help Needed

An Infinity Of Monkeys — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:16:43 -0800

Imagine coming up with an idea for a new superhero, but having little artistic talent. How would someone pitch an idea to a comic artist, or find a collaborator willing to draw it?

wow me with the wonders of web2.0

brandnew — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:13:54 -0800

collaborative tools, "web 2.0", community - evidence that the tech is really worth the price? I want to propose the development (or adoption) of a set of intranet collaborative tools for my company that I think will support better communication, and knowledge persistence across work groups. I believe these technologies work, because I use them myself, but I want some hard evidence that supports that position.

Where can I find the hard evidence that online collaboration tools (i.e. web 2.0) actually increase knowledge transfer and productivity. Is it possible to calculate a ROI?

Also, I had read somewhere that only x% of site users create site content. Where can I find that finding?

Sharing Windows computers on a home network

lunchbox — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:54:59 -0800

What's the best way for two people to collaborate on their Windows computers that are on the same home network? My parents work together at home. One has a Vista computer and the other has XP, both with Office Ultimate 2007. Their work is tightly integrated, and they have no information that needs to be kept separate. Ideally, it would be great if both computers shared all documents, including OneNote notebooks, and "My Documents" (XP) or "Documents" (Vista) folder. In other words, the more unified and in sync the two computers are, the better.

What is the simplest way to achieve this unison? I am thinking of just putting "Documents" from the Vista computer on a network share so that it becomes the de facto "My Documents" for the XP computer. But I am concerned that this will not be a seamless experience for the person on the XP computer. Also, since OneNote will always be open on both computers, there might be some file locking issues. It would be great if these OneNote notebooks could be shared so that they could be open on both computers at the same time.

I have access to SharePoint, Groove, and several other groupware applications. What's the simplest and best solution to unify these two computers?

the Dr Frankenstein of collaborative software

brandnew — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:18:17 -0800

Easiest, most effective way to stand up a collaborative portal? I'm interested in standing up a collaborative portal for a new digital community. I want to take advantage of new advances in web software over the last 3-4 years.

I want to include as many of the following "features" as possible (in order of preference): membership profiles, social relationships, social bookmarking, search, content management, file storage and sharing, wiki, messaging, discussion boards, ratings & rankings, chat, sub-group creation, whiteboards, project management, time management, web-casts, surveys, polls, blogging, collaborative filtering, and Q&A.

Sure, I can implement these features from the bottom up myself - it would take awhile and be quite expensive. However, I really don't want to re-invent the wheel. I know most, if not all, of these features already exist in some form or another, either as either hosted services or separate web products.

So, a few questions:

1. First, is it even possible to mash up all of these various hosted services into something that looks like one cohesive site?

2. If yes to 1, are there patterns, best practices, examples, or support groups to help execute such a thing?

3. Otherwise, if I host it myself (to protect sensitive data), would it be easier to build it from scratch (assuming I'm an expert developer)? Or hack together a bunch of separate products?

Quick, easy group chat with Facebook integration

Skwirl — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:02:26 -0800

What is the most user friendly and computer accessible way to set up group chat for a Facebook group? There is a group of conference attendees that I'd like to stay in touch with, share best practices and moral support. Currently we have a Facebook group, but it would be cool to integrate and schedule group chat sessions. To my knowledge, Facebook's standard chat doesn't allow group chat.

Is there a simple way to accomplish this? Can you add Facebook apps to group pages, or would it have to be a separate link or an app on a particular users' page?

What's the most widely used, most accessible or most user friendly app for this? Few headaches on the user's end means more people will use it and it will be more sustainable.

I see articles about Meebo Rooms integration in Facebook, and I've seen at least one Facebook Game App uses Meebo Rooms. Meebo Rooms seems nice because it would link Facebook users' accounts to the service on one hand, but still allow non-Facebook users to chat via other protocols, if I understand Meebo's MO. But, I don't see any clear way of setting it up short of integrating it into my own custom Facebook app. I can code, but learning a new API and finding hosting just to reinvent the wheel sounds not-so-fun.

AIM, MSN, ICQ, IRC, Yahoo and all are nice, but everyone is likely to have a different favorite and, since these discussions might take place from work, I have to assume some users' computers are locked down to new software.

New Examples of Collaborative Document Editing?

Jeff Howard — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:30:56 -0800

I'm looking for examples of collaborative document editing. I've read through most of the older threads on this topic, but many of the examples seem to have gone out of business. Are there any newer examples out there? It would be good to have a document "owner" that integrates comments and changes from many contributors, so I'm thinking that a wiki might not be ideal. The ability to compare revisions is a must-have and it'd be nice to have it show not only text changes but image changes. Doesn't have to be hosted, or even online, though if it is, that's probably better. If it matters, this is in a scientific context, writing articles on botany and zoology.

Online web collaboration 101

markkraft — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:10:40 -0800

What is the easiest way to collaborate realtime on a web document online with someone who isn't technical, ideally with some sort of free web app rather than special software? Is there a way to do this without requiring both people to sign up for an account, etc?

Help me pick the perfect web calendar app

luser — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:14:05 -0800

Help me find the perfect web-based calendar tool to combine a lot of groups' event calendars in one place. A dozen or so separate groups in my community maintain events calendars on their own websites (church, school, youth athletics, etc.) Many of these sites' users are interested in more than one sites' calendars, but it's unreasonable to expect them to check all of them for conflicts.

I'd like to install a calendar app on my own server that all these groups could use to post their events. Requirements are:

- users shouldn't be required to log in to view the calendar (If I absolutely had to, I could provide a generic login for everyone to use to view events, as long as they didn't have any kind of write/edit privileges)
- users could check or uncheck boxes corresponding to each group, to hide or display the events of specific groups
- the calendar could be iframed in to groups' website pages, or just exist unbranded in a popup window
- event contributors could edit their own group's, but not other group's, events
- ical import & export
- not too fugly
- events could be clicked to bring up details on the event

best CMS for discussion/collaboration site?

philosophistry — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:50:03 -0800

What's a good CMS to make a slashdot/kuro5hin/plastic.com/digg clone? The features I want the site to ultimately have are:
- users
- moderation/karma system
- queue for articles
- ajax/digg-style voting goodness
- fast

Scoop seems good, but is there something else I should be looking into?

Social networking for research collaboration

blueyellow — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:16:33 -0800

Social networking for research collaboration? I've been toying with the idea of building a site to facilitate research collaboration. I'm recently out of academia, phd in computers/ math/ neuroscience. I think that doing research is very rewarding, as it is interesting, exciting, challenging, creative.... Now I am out of academia, not working in something directly involving research and am missing it. I am sure I am not alone either. The number of phds that actually get jobs with a significant research component is not high. I'm trying to figure out if thats really a problem though. It seems like someone who goes to art school to be painter is a painter whether they exhibit their work at a gallery or not. In research though, your context seems to make a difference, you're a researcher if you are active in a place of research, a context. A place offers resources and an environment to be active within. But really, the most important ingredient of a research context is people to talk to. A good collaboration can make a huge difference in research. Someone to sound ideas off of, to brain storm problems with, to share in their ideas, creativity and enthusiasm. While good collaborations are very rewarding, even within academia, building such relationships is not easy. Its not clear who has similar interests, wants to collaborate and is available to do so.

So I am toying with the idea of a way to facilitate the formation of research collaborations... and I am not sure what a good way to do this might be, which is why I am asking for your help and ideas. The target audience is people actively involved in research or with a research background that are interested in forming research relationships. Potentially, a way to do this is to form a kind of social networking site, maybe with a mefi flavor or a facebook one. With my limited brain I can only envision so much.. so I guess I have a few questions for you, but any opinions on it would be useful:
1) Is this something that would interest people?
2) What ingredients should it have to be useful?
3) What pitfalls would need to be addressed?
4) What information would people want to put up and not put up?
5) How do you keep it open while keeping it relevant and free from unwanted solicitations?
6) What kinds of collaboration structures (online or otherwise) could it facilitate?

Where are the armchair detectives on the Internet?

cda — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:40:25 -0800

Where are the armchair detectives on the Internet? I've been to America's Most Wanted and CourtTV. People talk about real crimes but they don't really get to solving any.

Is there someplace on the Internet where people collaborate to try to solve real crimes?

Wiki for Writing Books?

alms — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:23:49 -0800

Is there wiki software that is specifically designed for writing books? By "book" I mean a long piece of writing designed to be read from start to finish, possibly broken up into chapters, and possibly with a TOC at the start and index at the end. Every wiki tool I've seen is designed to allow authors to create websites i.e. non-linear and often relatively unstructured collections of pages. I want a tool that is specifically designed to allow multiple authors to work on a single linear text, possibly divided into sections and chapters. Of course, it should also support cross-references and other non-linear tools.

WikiBooks seems to accomplish this through a set of self-imposed style guidelines. I guess that works, but I'd rather have a tool that actually supported writing structured documents. The closest I've found is DokuWiki, which at least makes it natural to create a book, even if it doesn't enforce the structure. It would also be nice if this was an open source tool and if it supported standards (e.g. DocBook).

Does anything like this exist?

If it doesn't exist, I might write it. Think anyone else would want it?

How do I store/catalogue digital photos in a workplace?

tobtoh — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:37:30 -0800

I work in a (university) residential college and we have an archive of digital photos of College events that is growing exponentially. What software can I use to catalogue/store all these photos? As you might imagine, a residential College has a lot of events that happen each year, and at every event, you will have numerous students/staff taking photos. A small subset of these photographers copy their photos to our server for the College's historical records and/or publicity. Even though it's a small subset, we still have thousands of photos and this is constantly growing. Currently, the photos are stored in a directory on the server (with subdirectories for each event etc). This used to acceptable ... but it's really proving ineffective as the number of photos increases.

What I am after is something like Picassa or Adobe Lightroom ... some software package that can maintain, store, tag, catalogue, and search our photo library.

Here's the catch ... I need it to work with multiple users on multiple computers. Is there any software package that does that? The likes of Picassa and Lightroom (from what I have read) only really handle individual use - they aren't designed as collaboration tools.

So ... any suggestions? The work environment is Windows based. However, happy to hear OSX and Linux suggestions as well. Thanks.

Collaborative maps online: does it exist?

mrhaydel — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:42:16 -0800

What's the best possible way to plan out a series of trips on a map, preferably online, by two people in two different locations? So let's pretend that I and my lady friend are always coming up with places we want to go, and things we want to see when we get there.

Sure, we could just create a Google doc or spreadsheet, and start a list in that fashion (actually, we've done that already), but what I'd really want to do is be able to collaborate on a shared map, with both of us being able to put points of interest and notes on it.

I feel like I've played around with Google's "My Maps" enough to determine that I don't *think* it's possible there, but, I might also be missing something.

So, HiveMind, does anyone have any solutions to this conundrum? And, for what it's worth, it doesn't necessarily *have* to be online; I'd also love to hear of any off-the-shelf products, if they exist, or even less, uh, technical, ways of doing such a thing.

Online project management tool

diastematic — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:56:29 -0800

Can you recommend an online collaborative project-management tool (one that is not Basecamp?) We are looking for a web-based project management tool that can allow us to create/manage multiple projects and tasks, map and link tasks to a time line/calendar, assign roles/resources, and allow clients with private, read-only access to our project plans.

This tool would ideally be cross-platform (Mac and PC), and it would be a bonus if we could extend this to serve as a client extranet site, with project file storage. And ultimately this tool should work great for small and large teams, onsite and remote.

I realize Basecamp is a very popular choice for many, and I've test-driven it and think it's fantastic at what it does. We may in fact may go for it. But it lacks one of the critical features we're hoping for (no task-mapping). Suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

Running a private combination blog/wiki?

TrashyRambo — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:32:31 -0800

I want to set up a multi-user blog / wiki resource for sharing information privately. What's the best way? So - I work in a team of three. We read stuff and talk to people with the aim of informing a bunch of other people who live in a different country. Reports are currently emailed around as a Word attachment on a mailing list and then forgotten about. This feels very last century to me.

I'd like to change that by setting up a password-protected site that will let us post reports of what we've been reading, thinking and doing (like blogging) and updateable entries on particular issues (like a wiki). I'd really like them to run on the same domain name if possible. TWiki and WordPress both look pretty good - but I have no idea how to get started or how they could be combined.

Whatever the solution, it can't involve any funky web 2.0 Ajax as our work computers block it. Nor can we install any software so IE (bah!) and Outlook are our windows on the outside world. And bonus points for editing / posting from Blackberrys. Free is not necessary but cheap is.

Thanks!

Online Collaboration and Interactive Madness

agropyron — Wed, 30 May 2007 07:52:56 -0800

What are some web sites that allow people to interact in unusual and awesome ways on the internet? Massively Multiplayer Pong was great, but it seems broken. Swarmsketch is another great example. Help me find others... One that I'm trying to recall: there was a big collaborative "novel" that was being written one sentence at a time. Visitors would be presented with two sentences, and would write a new sentence to go between the two. It was hilariously awful. Can anyone find the link?

Wasn't there a site where dozens of people were drawing on a sketchpad simultaneously?

Last example: Interactive fridge magnets.

I'd love to find more sites similar to these, or sites that fit the broader definition I started the question with.

Collaborative document writing

MsMolly — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:51:24 -0800

I need a software recommendation. A small group of people want to be able to edit a document and receive email or RSS notification when one of the other members has edited the document. Further reqs: only one person can edit at a time, so some kind of check in/out feature would be good. We'd also like to be able to export easily to a printable format at the end. Things we've considered:
1. Just email around a Word doc with "track changes" turned on. This could get complicated, though, if two people create separate versions at the same time.
2. MediaWiki. Good, except these people probably don't want to learn even the minimum wiki formatting rules before they start. Also, there's no good way to export from a wiki to a publishable format.
3. GoogleDocs. Good, except two or more people can edit simultaneously.

The system that they use to edit the document doesn't need to be the same system they use to exchange documents. They could edit a Word document and just check it in and out from some other system.

We're at an educational institution, so free is good, but we do have some server space to install something, so remotely hosted isn't a requirement.

Business Collaboration Using Excel

roundrock — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 09:52:30 -0800

Business collaboration help - how to share an Excel file so that multiple users can edit it simultaneously without being on the same network??? I'm looking for a way to share a Microsoft Excel File so that different employees (not on the same network and separated by hundreds of miles) can all access one copy of the file and edit it simultaneously. I've got a networked version that alllows people at the main office to access it and allow multiple people to edit the file at once, but for the life of me I cannot figure out a good system to share it both securely and cheaply outside the network. To date, I've tried LogMeIn Hamachi (no good)...any help would be greatly appreciated!

Document collaboration and assembly solutions?

mjbraun — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:05:22 -0800

I'm looking for recommendations for tools and workflows to simplify my firm's document creation and assembly processes. As part of my firm's operations, we frequently have to put together large bound reports on our performance or potential investments, and these document invariably require the efforts of multiple individuals, across many weeks or months. Invariably there are documents like PropertyReport1Jan07_FINAL.doc and PropertyReport_Newer.doc (which makes me crazy), lost versions, bothersome hand assembly, etc.

There have been a number of Ask.Metafilter questions about collaboration tools, but most collaboration tools seem to focus on scheduling, tracking, chat, and document storage (not versioning or checkin/out). It looks like the legal field has some products that may serve my needs but I would think there would be some industry-neutral products. I suspect tools like K4 and QPS would be massive overkill, and tools like OJS seem very academic-publication specific. Wikipedia's page on Document Management Systems doesn't list any products. I'm not sure where next to look.

What options do I have for hosted project collaboration sites?

tdischino — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:16:39 -0800

What options do I have for hosted project collaboration sites? I've used Microsoft bCentral.com SharePoint sites for project collaboration with clients for the past few years. Now that Microsoft no longer allows for new bCentral/SharePoint sites, they are pushing Microsoft Office Live as the replacement. I've set up a trial account, and am poking around to make sure I can do everything in Live that bCentral did. The primary functionality that I utilize the most on the bCentral SharePoint sites is contact info, issues tracking, user accounts, alerts, and document sharing, behind a password protected login.

It appears, for the most part, that the same functionality is available under Live. However, the part that bothers me to the point of abandoning the MS solution is that if I add user accounts to the site to utilize these tools, they have to have a Microsoft Live ID in order to access the site and utilize the tools. I don't want to force my clients to create a Live ID (which is an MSN Passport account requiring personal information) just to use the site. bCentral didn't require this.

The more I tinker with MS Office Live, the more I despise it. That said, I think I need to look at other options.

Would like to hear from MeFites with experience with other paid, hosted, project collaboration sites. I've taken a cursory glance at basecamp. Although it looks promising, I need to sell my colleagues on whatever solution I decide on, and I fear that they will be concerned that it is not hosted by a "big name" company (think MS, IBM, etc). I work for a medium-sized but well-known company, so there is a concern that our tools should not be too obscure. Internally we utilize the Microsoft SharePoint technology (for intranet/team sites) quite successfully, although I am not bound to stick with MS for client-facing projects.

So, to reiterate, I need experiential feedback for hosted proven, secure, robust project collaboration sites.

Theories of Collaboration?

aladfar — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:39:24 -0800

ResearchFilter: As part of my thesis work, I'm trying to understand current theories for cooperation and collaboration - what motivates collaborative behavior, what are the pitfalls of collaborative action, etc. I've come across a number of studies that look at a specific instances of collaboration, but very little when it comes to generalized theory. Wood and Gray's Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Collaboration has been helpful, but I could use a bit more. Suggestions appreciated!

School needs centralized site for lesson plans

bronxteacher — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:00:03 -0800

I'd like to develop a searchable (by tags) database of leson plans for the 20 odd teachers at my school. Any ideas? The plan would be for teachers to be able to email their lesson plans (perhaps with the tags in the subject heading?) to a site, which would automatically catalog them. A teacher could then go a central location (ie, a website) where they could search for lesson plans based on keywords, like "outline", or "geometry". I wouldn't mind putting in the legwork, adding tags, if necessary, but the more automated the whole system is, the more likely it'll be adopted by the teachers here.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I'd like it to be free! If that's not possible, the cheaper the better.

Group Bookmarking

superfurry — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:17:08 -0800

Know of an online collaborative bookmarking tool for within a closed set of users ? Of course, there's I'm looking for an online service that will allow my small team in work to collaborate on a set of internet bookmarks/favorites (whatever you want to call them) but within our group only - not open to the public. Sort of like a hybrid between del.icio.us and irows, and equally free and easy to use. Any recommendations ?

Wiki Wasteful?

roofus — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 08:12:13 -0800

Are collaborative open-source projects (e.g. Wikipedia) inherently more wasteful of resources than their commercial competitors (e.g. Britannica)? I believe there might be I'm not a big Wikipedian, but from occasionally perusing the change logs and discuss pages it seems like hours of work goes into modifying many articles. Doesn't the EB method, in which one expert just writes each article, save lots of time?
Similarly on a manhour by manhour basis how much work has gone into Linux as opposed to Windows, or Firefox as opposed to Safari?