I’ve recently explained on MakeUseOf.com how to use Google Maps as a tool for distributed teams. In this post I am going to review other tools that support and improve the work of distributed teams. The tools will help you improve the way you share files, communicate, and work collaboratively with people not near you.
File sharing
One of the basic needs of a distributed team is the ability to share files. For ad-hoc teams, who do not work together on a regular basis, Drop.io is a great solution. Drop.io is a private sharing and collaboration web app. It lets you instantly create a mini site, called ‘a drop’, into which you can upload any type of file. You can annotate the file with comments or sections of text and use the chat feature for synchronized work sessions.
Two weeks a go I gave a lecture in a social media seminar. Now I’ve translated the presentation I used into English and made it easier to understand without seeing the actual lecture.
The presentation describes 20 social media practices that will help you in your daily life. It includes tools to monitor your web presence, ways to track interesting topics and conversations, methods to find people and to get answers, and more.
It revolves around the following seven categories:
People Database
Keeping in touch and more
Conversation
Search
Collaborating
Monitoring and News
Self monitoring
I’ll be glad to get your feedback and thoughts about it.
Numerous Collaboration tools and online storage applications offer a variety of collaboration abilities. Online collaborated editing, synchronization across computers, multiple file sharing , and on-the-spot windows and document sharing are just some of them. The following review will help you know and choose the right collaboration tools for your needs.
More and More new web apps enable us to do things that once required installation, registration, expertise and, of course, payments. The following tools will allow you to instantlyvideo capture your screen, Share files, create a chat room, photo album, web meeting environment, or a MindMap – all within a few mouse clicks.
ScreenCastle is a Video screen capture tool that works directly from your browser. To start recording your screen (and microphone) just enter the site, click the start button, choose the region to capture and press “start recording”. Once done, you will be given a link to view the video or a code to embed it into a website.
If you’re thinking of setting up your own personal Website or blog, or considering using one as a collaboration tool for you team, using WordPress or Google sites must have crossed your mind. These two platforms has some overlapping abilities but they actually suit for totally different uses. Here is a review of WordPress and Google sites that will help you choose the right platform for your needs.
WordPress
WordPress is an open source blog tool and publishing platform. It is the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world.
Google sites
Google Sites is an online application for easy creation and sharing of webpages. It allows you to gather information (such as videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and text) in one place and share it for viewing or editing with others.
If you’re lost into the clutter of web 2.0 buzz words and definitions, CCH’s recently published survey report might come in handy. The objective of the report is “to gauge the effects that Web 2.0 and user-generated content are having on the way professionals access, absorb, and disseminate information”. It offers short and clear definitions for “Web 2.0″, “Blog”, “Wiki”, “RSS”, “Social Bookmarking”, and “Social Network”. What’s more, it presents paragraph-long scenarios for using each of them in professional settings (starting page 9), which can be useful if you’re looking to make a case for these kind of tools in your organization.
If you’re interested in social media in corporate settings, this post is for you. A paper by Deloitte, presented in a Workshop on Social Networking in Organizations, briefly reviews the design and deployment of social networking tool, D Street, in the company.
D Street is a web-based application created with the goal to increase the points of connectivity among Deloitte’s professionals. The tool allows them to create profiles that share their professional and personal brand.
D Street is described as “a ‘mash-up’ that takes data from human resource systems and combines it with employee-generated content.” It is comprised of selected elements of social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIN, which were applied to the specific business environment of the company.
What does it offer?
The following are a sampling of the data included on each personal profile (see screenshot):
Firm directory data including geography, contact information, service areas, service lines, function
People affiliations
Personal interests including hobbies and personal favorites
Suggested restaurants, things to do and places to see when visiting
Blog module
Presence awareness
Resume, publications and content
Work interests including affiliations, certifications and specializations
Deloitte programs, community and affinity group participation
![3845644631_655f36e931[1]](http://www.productivewise.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/collaboration.jpg "Collaboration")
I’ve recently explained on MakeUseOf.com how to use Google Maps as a tool for distributed teams. In this post I am going to review other tools that support and improve the work of distributed teams. The tools will help you improve the way you share files, communicate, and work collaboratively with people not near you.
