Team Collaboration Tools (“groupware”)

Some trends in virtual and electronic meetings 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. debateroom/archives/2009/01/virtual_meetings_will_erase_face_to_face.html

Over 450 respondents participated in the survey conducted by All Collaboration in January and February 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.

Which Collaboration tools are Least Effective?

Virtual worlds Tour of Virtual Worlds nTeams: Engage, inspire, innovate Virtual worlds for virtual work Business worlds

Google Docs Upload Word documents or other documents from your computer to the Google Docs workspace 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 Google docs overview Google Docs info and videos Docs Help Docs tutorial Tutor

Google Sites overview Tutorial for Sites YouTube videos for Sites Examples of Google Sites Google Sites is a structured Internet application tool that can be used for wiki and web creation. Google Sites 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:

Skype website for download and information Using Skype YouTube overview Support Step by step guide Skype is a free service for online voice and video collaboration that can be conducted over computer, mobile device or tablet. Skype 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

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. YouTube tutorial Graphic tutorial

Blackboard will be our primary online site for the course, and require CSS Cor login. 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 CSS BB Tutorial BB student help

Evernote Evernote Windows user guide Complete guide for Evernote Evernote Essentials (95p pdf) Evernote Essentials Beginner's guide and tips ing to Evernote Keyboard shortcuts Evernote is an online service for archiving and sharing notes, webpages, photos videos, and links. 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

Dropbox Dropbox guide magic box Ultimate Dropbox Toolkit Dropbox Shared Folders 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

Setup & overview GG Help Reference Guide Getting started Google Groups is a free Google service that enables groups of people to carry on an online discussion. Google Groups Discussion posts can remain on the website or members can be notified by of new posts Membership can be restricted or expanded, and access to other discussion groups on the internet is possible

Team Presentation Task: Report on Virtual Team Tools 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