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Unit 6: Collaboration Tools

viewed synchronously or asynchronously. Often disjointed, tweets are valuable because of their Notes
brevity, their spontaneity, and the context generated by familiarity—either through actually
knowing someone or from following their tweets.
For all its potential annoyances, Twitter gives its community (often called the twitter verse) the
ability to connect and share deeply. Individuals are able to keep up with the latest updates of
friends and colleagues from all over the world. Integration of Twitter with other tools allows
sharing of rich media including URLs, pictures, videos, and other items. Twitter is easy to use
and versatile, and its community is constantly finding new uses for it.

6.2.4 Image Sharing

Sharing images or photographs is emerging as a new way to establish a common starting point
with potential collaborators. Image-sharing sites allow individuals to selectively share pictures,
which can become social objects around which users can congregate.

Flickr

The photo-sharing site Flickr is ostensibly a place to share experiences. Through its use of
technologies that enhance sharing, however, Flickr qualifies as an online collaboration tool
centred on images and visuals.
Flickr accounts are free, and users are encouraged to upload their photos to the site. Using local
photo-management software to seamlessly put their pictures online, users can share images
with the entire online community, with small groups of colleagues, or with no one at all.
Viewers and creators alike can annotate photos, add comments, or even assign freely chosen
keywords as tags. Using a “notes” tool, users can highlight parts of a photo by drawing a box
around it and then attaching a note. Pictures can also be commented on and collected into groups
where discussions can be facilitated. These features have made it a popular tool for art courses,
where it encourages people to post their work for the community to review and make
suggestions. Scientists have used the site to share, critique, and analyse visual information.

Flickr incorporates Web 2.0 communication tools and has become a site where people meet to
share and discuss images. Some people also use the site to emulate the activity of working
together on an image. Analysis, comparisons, annotations, publishing, and remixing can all be
facilitated using Flickr.

6.2.5 Document Construction

Doing away with the traditional—and often laborious—process of peer editing by exchanging
multiple drafts, today’s electronic documents allow collaborators to work in a synchronous
environment on a single document, essentially peering over each other’s shoulders as they type.
Co-writing a shared document in real time can prove an effective tool for brainstorming and
collectively articulating ideas.

Google Docs

Google Docs is one of several online tools that allow individuals to work together on a shared
document. The experience mimics working on a document through word-processing software,
except that the work is conducted online and other collaborators can work together in real time.

In the past, collaboration on a document would involve passing a document back and forth
between authors. Each author would take a turn at improving the work, often correcting,
modifying, or building on the work of the other authors. Even with the use of features that track

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