In the last ten years there has been a change in the ways people work. Traditionally, people worked in silos with little cooperation between departments, or even between members of the same department with roles being very individually-focussed. Jobs tended to be routine, with much the same tasks repeated over time. Nowadays, much mundane, routine work has been automated, leaving people free to work much more in cross-functional, project-based teams. This change is support by a new category of software known as collaboration platforms. It includes applications for video and audio conferencing, instant messaging, email, wikis and blogs, file synchronisation, and task management.
The main categories of collaborative working are:
* Social computing
* Messaging
* Team collaboration, and
* Real-time collaboration and communication
Social computing
Social computing is the term for applications such as RSS, blogs, shared bookmarks and tagging. It is a static form of communication and is geared to one-to-many communication. Blogs provide repositories for ideas and commentary which often outlive the life of a project, and RSS feeds describe the methods for regular, frequent updating of websites such as blogs and news sites. Shared bookmarking allows teams to build up a network of useful references. The principle of social computing is that it is non-real-time, one-to-many or few-to-many.
Applications and suppliers: Delicious social bookmarking, Google (blogspot)
Old-fashioned method: newsletters
Messaging
The best known messaging application is email, but it also includes SMS, scheduling and calendaring, and maintaining contacts. The principle of messaging is that it is not real-time, best for short communications, requesting and providing information, and communicating one-to-one or one-to-many. The scheduling and calendar facility has grown up with email and, while perhaps more specific in its application, utilises the same principle.
Applications and suppliers: Microsoft Outlook, Nokia ,Unisys
Old-fashioned method: notes on people’s desks, answerphone messages
Team collaboration
Team collaboration provides for individuals to communicate and cooperate on a set of common tasks. File synchronisation ensures that deliverables being developed by a number of people can be compiled without anyone’s input being overwritten. Wikis provide common repositories for ideas and notes that can be updated by all team members. Full-text search facilitates efficient information retrieval, and task and project management allow for the tracking of work progress. The principle of team collaboration is that it is time-independent and supports any configuration of interaction, though is probably least suited to one-to-one.
Applications and suppliers: Sphinx, Microsoft, Mindtouch deki wiki
Old-fashioned method: meetings, approvals process
Real time collaboration and communication
Real-time collaboration differs from team collaboration mainly in that it is real-time. Applications such as web, audio and video-conferencing support real-time communication for teams where people are not physically co-located. For one-to-one communication, instant messaging is quick and easy. When individuals are working together on deliverables, application, file and desktop sharing provide access. The principles of real time collaboration are real time, one-to-one or many-to-many (not one-to-many) interactions. Best for discussion, consideration and recording of ideas, actions etc.
Applications and suppliers: Polycom audio conferencing, Adobe, Microsoft
Old-fashioned method: physical presence in face-to-face communication (ie being there), telephones.