Battle of the Collaborators

Which collaboration tool is right for you?Sam Johnson, John Alexander, and Trisha Gordon explore

many of the online collaborative tools and services in use

at the University of Virginia

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We will compare:

• skype v elluminate

• sakai v sharepoint v wordpress

• google docs v nowcomment

• community v committee (??)

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Round 1

• Skype v Elluminate

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Skype

• A screen snap shot of us using Skype to collaborate about this presentation could go here.

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Skype is Nearly Ubiquitous

• There are millions of Skype users.

• There were 12,149,991 people using it when I made this slide.

• If you are going to collaborate with someone, chances are very good that they use Skype.

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Skype is Free

• You just down load it and you are good to go.

• You can also pay for extra features like calling a land line or cell phone if you so desire.

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Skype is Easy to Learn and Use

• Most actions are intuitive (like click on symbol of a phone to make a call)

• You may need to use Skype to communicate with your collaborators to help set up Elluminate

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Skype is Somewhat Robust

• You can Chat (i.e., instant messages), talk, have a video call or make a conference call.

• Two people can have a video call, but video is not available with more than two participants.

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Skype can Transfer Files

• You can easily transfer files and then edit files while talking on a conference OR video call.

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Skype is Always Improving

• The makers of Skype are continuously updating it.

• Some times these upgrades can be frustrating especially when un-requested.

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Skype some times messes up

• Sometimes Skype garbles or losses the sound.

• Sometimes the picture freezes.

• Often Skype will ask you for feedback regarding the quality of sound or picture.

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Elluminate

• Elluminate description could go here

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Online Collaboration Goals and Issues

• Share content

• Real-time and asynchronous discussion

• Collaborative editing tools

• Communication

• Authentication and authorization– Security and barriers to access– Public or private

• Ease of use3/18/2010 13ACCS Spring 2010 Conference

Use Sakai’s Built-in Tools

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Standalone or Integrated

• Sakai can take advantage of APIs to integrate other tools (and functionality) into the Sakai site toolset

• Handles user authentication and authorization from Sakai to external apps

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Integrated Link to External App: ELGG

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Simple Link to External App: Google Docs

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Create Elluminate Sessions

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Join an Elluminate Session

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Elluminate Live!

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Part 2 SHANTI Community Tools

• SHANTI Pages: WordPress

• SHANTI Spaces: Confluence

• NowComment

• Zotero

• Coming Soon– Kaltura (for Audio/Video)– KnowledgeBase

SHANTI Community Tools

• SHANTI (Science, Humanities and Arts Network of Technological Initiatives)• Faculty-led initiative • Promotes and supports Web 2.0 digital tools• Community-based support via the ‘Knowledge Base’

SHANTI Community Tools

• SHANTI Pages-WordPress– Free browser-based website/blog platform – Quick and easy websites– Style separate from content—makes

changing look effortless– Extensible—anyone can write “themes”– Worldwide community of users means

extensive knowledge base

SHANTI Community Tools

• SHANTI Spaces-Confluence– Powerful wiki environment– Collaborative creation of documents– Rich text and wiki editing modes– Storage and organization of uploaded media– Macros to display file organization– Wide community of users means extensive

knowledge base

SHANTI Community Tools

• NowComment

SHANTI Community Tools

• Zotero

Part 3

• SharePoint

When you start out

A different picture same topic

After Saving some files