A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy

We've had social software for 40 years at most, dated from the Plato BBS system, and we've only had 10 years or so of widespread availability, so we're just finding out what works. We're still learning how to make these kinds of things.

Shirky, Clay. Shirky.com (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Social Networking

Off Site Reviews: Six Ways to Exchange Edits

Coordinating a document review can be a tedious process. However, the task is even more difficult when reviewers work in another location and can't quickly exchange comments via paper. Fortunately, technology is presenting writers with new options for handling off-site reviews.

HelpScribe (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Editing>Online

The Perils of Our Digital Communications

When 90% of what you do for work is based online, there are bound to be some glitches, and not just the technical ones. How do you handle the inevitable misunderstandings that come with today’s rapid-fire digital conversations and communications in the workplace? I’ve put together a few ideas for how we can all minimize misunderstandings or at least diffuse the fallout.

Sherman, Aliza. Web Worker Daily (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Online

A Real Nowhere Man: Managing Remote Teams Remotely    

Provides advice on how to effectively collaborate with remote teams through communication, flexibility, sensitivity, and courage. He also points to the use of tools, such as email and videoconferencing, as a significant method for managing remote teams.

Sokohl, Joe. Intercom (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Teleconferencing

Let Them Eat Tweets - Why Twitter Is a Trap  

Twitter can be entertaining, and useful — and, really, who doesn’t like the illusion, from time to time, of lots of company? I have only lately begun to wonder whether I’d use Twitter if I were fully at liberty to do what I liked.

Heffernan, Virginia. New York Times, The (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Social Networking

The Generational Effect on Social Media    

In his first column for Intercom, Rich Maggiani discusses the onset of social media as a significant new form of communication, and how the youngest generation is now setting the tone while Baby Boomers struggle to keep up.

Maggiani, Rich. Intercom (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Social Networking

Enabling Collaborative Design-and-Decision Discussions, Online

What if it were possible to manage the tendency of discussions to branch ad infinitum? What if it were possible to use those discussions to surface the important issues, identify the alternatives, make reasonable choices and, above all, provide a readable history of discussion that made it easy for someone coming along later to understand the basic architecture and find out why things are the way the are? There is an interesting coalition of technologies that could provide those very benefits.

Armstrong, Eric. Sun Microsystems (2008). Articles>Collaboration>Online

Best Practices for Online Review

Marking up paper is still the most common way to review documents, but online review is critical if you work as part of a distributed team. There are advantages to online review even if you sit only a cubicle away from your reviewer. Here are few tips for making your online reviews go smoothly.

Smith, Terry. Carolina Communiqué (2009). Articles>Editing>Online>Collaboration