At work we sometimes use an electronic meeting system that consists of shared desktop and participant list. This system we use doesn't support voice or text chatting, so all the conversation has to happen with phone. It's only possible for one person or a meeting group to share their desktop at a time and changing the sharer is quite challenging. The participant list shows who are present and of course hearing them over phone helps too. All the participants can see the desktop sharers mouse pointer on the screen.
If I quickly think what I would change or add in this system, I would say that easier change of the shared desktop and conversation possibility (without extra phone). There isn't more support for awareness than the participant list, but that does't give any information about is anyone really listening or watching. But I wouldn't say that more awareness is needed in this case, since all the meetings are conserning work and everyone are (or at least should be) paying attention ;).
It would be nice to have meetings face to face when it involves explaining and brainstorming for example about pictures, but many times that's not possible because of long dinstances. When using these electronic meeting systems it is obvious that when they are designed well, it helps to reduce work time and of course users are happy too.
Showing posts with label Tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tools. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Google Docs
Google Docs is a free tool for document creating and editing and many more. It supports collaboration with other users and all the document handling can be done online. Documents are saved to Google's own servers and that way the documents are always accessible in the web interface. Documents can be edited and opened by many users at the same time. Besides online, documents can also be saved to users own computer in variety of formats. It is also possible to import documents to Google Docs. There is also a mobile application available.
If we look at Grudin's Time Space Matrix I think that Google Docs would fit in every category. Of course computer or phone and internet access are needed, but using Google Docs isn't dependable on time or place.
I haven't used Google Docs many times, but in one school project it was very useful since we weren't able to meet with our group so often. We used Google docs in writing different documents and sharing pictures of user interfaces that we had drawn. It was useful that there was no need to send edited documents by email and it was easier to manage different versions. What are your experiences about Google Docs?
References:
If we look at Grudin's Time Space Matrix I think that Google Docs would fit in every category. Of course computer or phone and internet access are needed, but using Google Docs isn't dependable on time or place.
I haven't used Google Docs many times, but in one school project it was very useful since we weren't able to meet with our group so often. We used Google docs in writing different documents and sharing pictures of user interfaces that we had drawn. It was useful that there was no need to send edited documents by email and it was easier to manage different versions. What are your experiences about Google Docs?
References:
Jonathan Grudin, CSCW: History and Focus, IEEE Computer 27, 5, 19-26. DOI
Google 2011. Google Docs Tour. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html
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