Thing 9: Online Collaboration Tools

Wow -- I've really enjoyed looking at these applications! Finally I've got something to recommend to our patrons who need a good word processor -- not just barebones online typing (like Writer, from bighugelabs.com) -- and find that all of our "full-service Internet" stations -- the ones with Microsoft Office Suite installed -- are being used.

What a great opportunity for kids working in teams on school projects!

Would that I have had such a tool 28 months ago -- when putting together the invitations list for my son's wedding. That and online chat would have saved hours messaging back and forth to my inlaws!

Individual use aside, one work application jumps out at me. Every three months or so, we start taking patron registration for the next round of computer classes we offer. We announce the start date for registration, and patrons call, or come in, to register. We handle registration centrally -- at our Roseville location -- and use a longhand notebook to record registrant's names and phone #s. Our portable computer lab has 12 laptops, so registration is limited, and fills up fast. Calls and in-person registrants come in fast and furiously during the initial hours of registration, and passing the paper record book back and forth among librarians is, to put it mildly, a hassle. What we need is a document that multiple librarians can add names into at the same time -- and view edits in real time. To the rescue GoogleDocs (rather than Zoho Writer, which appears to have more editing versatility) just because it appears to be easier to keep as an internal, non-public document.

I'm going to try this out with a fellow reffie next week -- and blog here about the results.

Thing 8

Share Your Creations: Photo presentations, Powerpoint-type slideshows, Databases, and Portfolios

Having already spent so much time getting a Flickr slide show to work properly (see Thing 6), I decided I'd look at some of the other sharing options available. I was not at all impressed with Lazybase. I did not find it intuitive, and the lack of instructions, hints, FAQs, or suggestions for use other than the few examples you are supposed to look at for an immediate understanding of the process made me abandon this tool quite early. The idea of cooperatively adding to and editing a database is particularly attractive, though, and I may go back and take another look.

It looks like another productivity and collaboration tools provider, Zoho (http://zoho.com/index.html) also has a database tool (Zoho Creator) which would be worth exploring. I'm impressed with the same site's online presentation tool, Zoho Show, and the possibilities that offers for publishing brief tutorials for staff or patron use. Time doesn't allow me to develop a whole tutorial, but here are the first few slides of one that I wouldn't mind spending time working on:



I don't seem to have quite the hang of all of the editing features, but I've managed to fix the HTML code! to adjust the margins of the show as it displays within the blog. Now if I could figure out why it doesn't seem to automatically republish in my blog when I make changes in the ZOHO SHOW original...

Efolio Minnesota (http://www.efoliominnesota.com/) was an eye-opener. What a wonderful way for Minnesota students and jobseekers to showcase their accomplishments. Or library staff members to introduce themselves, their backgrounds, projects, specialities, and reading interests, to patrons. I'd like to see a link to this site from the Careers area of our website!