Knowledge sharing and communicative tools

This is part two to my facilitated page, Collaborative environments for sharing resources, which contains general links and discussions and focuses on the social aspect of collaborative environments. This page contains a more detailed and technical look at some common collaborative tools.

This page is greatly in need of input and contributions. Please feel free to add any relevant information and links.

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Contributions to this page

This page owes much of its existence to many generous (past and future) contributions.

Anyone can contribute to this page and reuse its content under the default knowledgeGarden Copyright license. Please read the knowledgeGarden copyright page for more information. Please share your thoughts and ideas about this topic (URinvited2). Please leave your name underneath the section/comment you have written. Please also add your name to the list of contributors below. Thank you for contributing, your comments are much appreciated.

Some of your comments will be directly integrated into the write up for each section. Once again all of your comments are very welcome and extremely appreciated.


knowledgeGarden members:

Justyna Asra Yasmeen Penelope Thompson Janet Bradley?

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Wiki pages

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Free wiki pages and what they offer

Feel free to edit the list below. You can add your comments about each site where indicated or leave a general comment on my first page, Collaborative environments for sharing resources.

You can see a list of some of the wiki farms available on wikipedia. You can also go to http://www.wikimatrix.org/ to compare different services.

I've gone through many of the sites and created sample pages, but due to time restraints, I only actually developed only three of them. If you've used any of the wiki sites below, please leave a brief comment underneath.

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PBWiki - http://pbwiki.com
- max 20Mb for free (10 Mb + 1Mb per each person invited) - which is not a bad amount of space for text based files such as MSWord and PowerPoint (with limited images)

Pros:

• WYSIWYG editor
• ad-free
• public or private
• unlimited number of users
• no choice in type of access for new users
• no membership required – private wikis are editable with just a password
• in-text attachments
• easy to insert table of contents
• editing takes getting used to, but in general is quite self-explanatory
• discussion forums are limited to one thread per page (only seen when the comments button is pressed)
• file upload is very fast and easy

Cons:

• no separate discussion forum (it has to be manually created on a separate page)
• site menu must be manually set up (although that is not so bad as long as new pages are created directly by editing the menu, but you must first get * used to editing the page)

Related knowledgeGarden pages:
pbwiki

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pbwiki - Wikipedia's article on PBWiki

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	Justyna Szluinska	I like this service because it's fairly easy to use and has good features, but the 20Gb limit can be a problem for larger collaborations.
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Wetpaint - http://www.wetpaint.com
- site size is limited to 40 attachments (regardless of size)

Pros:

• WYSIWYG ditor
• public or private
• unlimited number of users
• choice in type of access for new users
• separate discussion forum
• many discussion threads (different conversations) per page possible (visible on the bottom of each page)
• easy site organization
• really easy to edit and add content (because the options are a bit limited)
• automatic menu (a page appears in the menu after being created and can be moved to another place in the hierarchy easily)
• the calendar page is easy to edit and includes the whole year
• spellcheck in editor
• file upload is very fast and easy

Cons:

• no in-text attachments (instead they’re on the bottom of the page)
• no table of contents on each page
• slightly distracting Google ads separate the main content from attachments and discussion threads
• membership required (but it’s free and easy to set up)

Related knowledgeGarden pages:

• wetpaint

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetpaint - Wikipedia's article on Wetpaint

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	Justyna Szluinska	This is a great service if your collaboration doesn't require many attachments. It is extremely easy to use and can be set up very quickly. However, it lack several important features such as tables of contents. The ready-made discussion forum is great though.
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Netcipia - http://www.netcipia.com
- site size 2GB - unlimited attachments (up to 10MB each)

Pros:

• WYSIWYG (still a bit complicated) or wiki markup
• ad-free
• public or private
• unlimited number of users
• choice in type of access for new users
• membership required (but it’s free and easy to set up)
• offers both wiki and blog functionalities
• in-text attachments possible
• very flexlible and full of options (including tables of contents and in-text attachments)
• editor window has "save" and "save and exit" options, so you don't have to keep closing the editor to save

Cons:

• discussions are limited to one thread per page (comments are on the bottom of the page)
• site menu must be manually set up - although that is not so bad as long as new pages are created directly by editing the menu, but you must first get * used to editing the page … there is a sitemap menu available that lists all of the pages on the site
• editing takes getting used to and can be a bit complicated and technical for inexperienced users

Related knowledgeGarden pages:
Netcipia

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XWiki - Wikipedia's article on XWiki, the software used by Netcipia

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	Justyna Szluinska	This is a very good service, but it takes some time getting used to and is not as user-friendly as Wetpaint when it comes to novice wiki users.
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Gratis Wiki - http://www.gratis-wiki.com

• 100Mb of space
• similar mark up to wikipedia
• a little compicated
• WYSIWYG editor is so-so

Wiki.com - http://wiki.com

• no WYSIWYG editor
• complicated to use

Wik.is – http://www.wik.is

• 1GB of space
• WYSIWYG editor is not bad to use
• no in-text attchments
• no forum

Wiki spaces - http://www.wikispaces.com

• WYSIWYG editor is easy to use
• pretty simple, but open for view to everyone
• in-text attchments
• side Goodle ads are not too distracting

Wiki spot - http://wikispot.org

• a bit complicated (some mark up required), but not too bad
• in-text attachments

WikiDot – http://www.wikidot.com

• no ads but you can add ads to earn some money

WikiLot - http://www.wikilot.com

• same software and the same look as Wikipedia
• no limit on number of accounts

Wiki-site - http://www.wiki-site.com

• same as WikiLot, but has a WYSIWYG editor
• no privacy settings

Some wikifarms are rather limited in what they give for free.

Central desktop - http://www.centraldesktop.com

• gives 25MB of space, but only 5 members are allowed

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	Penelope Thompson	I have just signed up for the free 30 day trial and noticed it was extremely easy to set up and use. I guess if the adminstrators were limited to 5 then that is not a problem as the other teachers could be just invited participants. That would probably work as most teachers probably wouldn't want to be bothered with adminstrative stuff anyway. Usually in these cases one or two people take on the repsonsibility for site maintenance. New content can be notified to all teachers via email.

Clear wiki - http://www.clearwiki.com

• gives 256Mb of space, but allows only 10 users

Conspire - http://cospire.com

• doesn't give a lot of technical info before signing up

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Web (HTML) pages

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Free hosting services

Below is a list of of some free hosting services (all are fully PC compatible and some work OK with Mac). If you've used one of them leave a comment on the bottom of the page or edit the writeup. If you've used another service, please add it to the list. You can find more services in Wikipedia's list of web hosting hosting services.

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Google Pages - http://pages.google.com

• The service offers a maximum of 100MB of space and file attachments (that's a really good amount if you don't have big sized images).
• It's really easy to use and edit. The WYSIWYG editor is really good and file attachment is really quick.
• The service offers an option to edit the HTML code.

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_pages - Wikipedia's article on Google pages

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	Justyna	This is my Google Pages site (still a work-in-progress). This is definitely one of the better hosting services I've played around so far because it's very simple adn very fast. It's very easy to use and edit. It has some flexibility (but not much) in design and templates. I edited the HTML code on some of the pages, in order to create menus on the top of the page and "back to top" links. I will definitely use this service from now on. (I'm still working on my own HTML site, but that requires a lot of time I don't have right now.) I would highly recommend this service for class web sites (where there is only administrator), especially for people who have very little design experience.
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Tripod - http://www.tripod.lycos.com/

• Hosted by Lycos.
• The WYSIWYG editor is really easy to use, and basic content is easy to create, but special functions require a lot of clicking (you have to click attach content, then go to the list of possible content, click on multi media, and so on).
• The site offers a really big variety of pre-made designs and templates, but it's a bit limited in terms of content placement.
• The site allows you to input some of your own HTML code and upload your own HTML site (by FTP - file transfer protocol).

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripod.com - Wikipedia's article on Tripod.com

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	Justyna	My tripod site - Justyna … (I've been having problems accessing it lately). This is the site I've been using for a few years now. I've changed a lot of the content and layout of course. Also, because I designed a site using HTML that suited my needs better, I removed most of the content form this site. I planned to use the HTML one, but I didn't have time to finish it, so I just used this simplified one last semester. Now that I'm used to web editing and have worked with Dreamweaver, I find this site a bit limiting. It's not a bad place to start, but Google Pages is a much better service. This site (EC and Screen E.) is taking up 7.4 out of 20MB of my allowed free Tripod space, but the Screen English one has a whole bunch of images (which take up a fair amount of space).
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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GeoCities - http://geocities.yahoo.com/

• Hosted by Yahoo!
• It used to be the most popular hosting service before Google Pages.
• WYSIWYG editor with a lot of options and flexibility.
• There are two ways to edit your pages. One, use the "PageBuilder" (an online point-and-click tool to easily build a personalized multipage web site). Two, use the "PageWizards" (for a quick start, a click-and-build wizard to create a simple home page).
• The "PageBuilder" gives you a fair amount of leeway as to where to put content, but it takes time getting used to (for those not experienced with web design).

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoCities - Wikipedia's article on GeoCities

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Blogs

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You can see a fuller list of blog services in Multimedia Blogging in Education.

Common blog sites

Blogger - https://www.blogger.com/start

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogger.com - Wikipedia's article on Blogger.com

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Social networking

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Common social networking services

Facebook - http://facebook.com

Related knowledgeGarden pages
Facebook

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook - Wikipedia's article on Facebook
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7017.pdf - EDUCAUSE: 7 things you should know about Facebook

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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eLGG - http://elgg.org/

Related knowledgeGarden pages
eLGG: it's a social thing

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgg_%28software%29 - Wikipedia's article on eLGG

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Twitter - http://twitter.com/

Related knowledgeGarden pages
Twitter

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter - Wikipedia's article on Twitter
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7027.pdf - EDUCAUSE: 7 things you should know about Twitter

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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File sharing

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Google Docs - http://documents.google.com

Related knowledgeGarden pages
Google Docs

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_docs - Wikipedia's article on Google Docs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVFbqHhkb-k - Video: Collaboration in Google Docs

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Conferencing systems

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iChat (for Mac) - http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/ichat.html
Webex Conferencing Systems - http://www.webex.com
GoToMeeting Canada - http://www.GoToMeeting/Canada
Meet Me Now - http://www.meetmenow.com

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IChat - - Wikipedia's article on iChat

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Skype - http://www.skype.com

Related knowledgeGarden pages
Skype

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype - Wikipedia's article on Skype
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7032.pdf - EDUCAUSE: 7 things you should know about Skype

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Portals

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SharePoint

From Asra's Page - Sharepoint 2007:
"SharePoint is a very powerful application, it does a lot more than WebCT. It is a very comprehensive content management system. It integrates with Microsoft office hence you can easily create documents, check them out and edit them. A group of people can work collaboratively on a single document. Its integration with Outlook helps you to share documents easily across the organization. To explain it in simple terms, you can put it this way: SharePoint is the whole college, the building and everything in it the people, the resources, filing cabinets, etc., and WebCT can be compared to the classroom where the actual learning takes place.

As mentioned by Bhatia (2006) on her wiki page Sharepoint provides a powerful team collaboration environment with flexible tools; that help create sites for collaboration, productivity and information-sharing, facilitating large numbers of groups. It allows users to work together on documents and site content. Document versioning, approval workflow, check in and check out, setting alerts, facilitate easy collaboration on sites, projects, and tasks. Popular sites can be saved as templates that can be used to create a new site with modified/added features."

Related knowledgeGarden pages
SharePoint for a Collaborative Environment
SharePoint technologies
SharePoint Technology for use in Professional Development
SHAREPOINT 2007 - A great tool to Collaborate, Share and Build knowledge

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharepoint - Wikipedia's article on SharePoint

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Groups

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Yahoo! Groups - http://groups.yahoo.com/

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo%21_Groups - Wikipedia's article on Yahoo! Groups

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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Google Groups - http://groups.google.com/

External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_groups - Wikipedia's article on

Avatar	Userpage	Comment
	yourname?	Yourcomment
	yourname?	Yourcomment

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References

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Jasmeen, A. (2008). SharePoint 2007. In KnowledgeGarden: Our Learning Community. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from SharePoint 2007.

List of wiki farms. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 6, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_farms.

Category:Web hosting. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 6, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Web_hosting.

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This page was created by: Justyna Szluinska

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