When considering how information professionals use digital collaboration tools, I admit I have little to go on. In my experience, librarians tend to use little more than e-mail, most likely due to the wide range of computer literacy amongst staff members. In my professional career I will definitely try to abide by the Librarian’s 2.0 Manifesto, which states “I will recognize that libraries change slowly, and will work with my colleagues to expedite our responsiveness to change”, because it’s a major flaw in most systems. So instead, I decided to interview someone in the technology industry, a marketing director at Intel Corp. (who also happens to be my dad), about what tools they use to work on projects together. Since much of the company’s work is done across large geographical differences, collaboration tools are essential.
Firstly, across the intranet: for collaboration across the company, both nationally and globally, they use programs like MS Live Meeting in conjunction with teleconferencing. They share projects such as Powerpoint presentations, or use the virtual desktop feature. I also remember, from a previous call center job, that this tool was a great way to chat at work without installing extra software that would get us in trouble, heh.
When they need to do more than just phone conferencing with collaborators outside the company, it seems that the most popular tool is WebEx, which hooks up to the phone as well. This Cisco service is similar to Live Meeting, except it is web-based instead of intranet-based.
Finally, when they want a more intimate, “natural” feeling conference, they use the fancy shmancy Telepresence System, also by Cisco. Want your conference room to look like the Holodeck? Have a bucket-load of money to spend on it? This is the service for you! Seriously though, it’s pretty awesome. Up to six people can sit around a half-moon shaped table, while on the other side are three plasma screens where you can view six other people, making it feel as much like a real meeting as can be (Hrm…is that a good thing?).
All of these services are subscription-based, which is fine and dandy when a corporation is backing you, but obviously cost-prohibitive to the average person. But there isn’t a huge divide like there used to be. These types of collaborative technologies have trickled into our personal lives. While we may not have WebEx, we do have Skype, costing us only pennies a minutes to have international video chats, including conferencing, however buggy. Sharing documents is as easy as dropping them into…well…a box, with Dropbox. And, as many in LIBR559M have pointed out, Google Docs is a great way to collaborate in real time, something none of the above applications do nearly as well. My sister, who lives in Spokane, is planning her wedding with my mom in Portland, and they edit Google Docs daily, whether its adding people to the invite list or hashing out “Save the Date” wording. And it’s EASY, even for people who are computer illiterate (sorry mom!). It’s exciting to think about all the cool new stuff that will be created in our lifetime. It’s not Star Trek, but we’re getting there.
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