25th July 2008

Collaborating over Google Docs

posted in Diversity & Intercultural |

We have resorted to using Google Docs for our virtual team project in the Culture, Technology, and Communication in the Global Workplace at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC) in Portland Oregon.

Great idea. We could all access it. We could all edit it.

And so we discovered another way we could get into trouble. We only had a couple of days of sitting in a class together. We thought we trusted each other. But simply editing brought us to a halt. We dumped all the information into the document and had a mess. Was it really OK to cut and reorder each others work? And what was each others work? There were no indicators.

The other thing I found difficult was there were some references sprinkled throughout. But I couldn’t tell which parts of the text was referenced, or by who, and which was the work of my colleagues. We talked about using my blog to put the final documents on, but since it is my business blog, I want to make sure anything we put on it is properly attributed. And I can’t tell.

We still can’t get the German Google chat to hook up with the US Google chat. We did get Skype working with our German member. But the other US member can’t install Skype on her work laptop. So I attempted to work in two chat windows and be the go between. I have also resorted to kicking my colleague under the table to get him to notice his chat. The other group in the room has given up and is simulating a conference call. Now we are distracted, in multiple chats, trying to edit a messy Google Doc together.

So we decide to go outside where we can talk. Smooth out the difference of opinion I was cutting and pasting between chat windows.

Exploring Culture and Technology

Exploring Culture and Technology: Day 2

Exploring Culture and Technology: Day 3

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There are currently 16 responses to “Collaborating over Google Docs”

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  1. 1 On July 25th, 2008, John said:

    Hi Christine, great blog you got here.

    Being the one who created the document, I felt great that we had found a way to work in the same document simultaneously, one at the top, the other at the bottom. When a big chunk of text was copied into another place in the document it created a conflict for google, as it received to contradicting inputs for the same spot and both inputs were discarded –> chaos and confusion for a minute. Also I wondered, “why does someone make major changes in the sequence of the document I set up and structured without asking me?” Even better, today we agreed in a f2f meeting to use my sequence again, but it would have been too draining (and not worth it) to do that via chat.

    The other big issue is citing correctly. I considered our document for in class use only, thus citing only whole paragraphs, also doing proper citation would take a long time. But you cannot ethically publish material without proper citing, so we had to reject the good idea of sharing our google doc on your blog. Learned for the next time :)

  2. 2 On July 25th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    John,
    I think you did do enough citing for putting it up, but yes, when you write for a blog it’s a really good idea to link to the site who supplied the information. We also integrated things from our colleagues and those who have been commenting on the series, so I will mention that in the post. I think the blogosphere is forgiving if you try— it’s only when you ignore people that it is really not OK.

  3. 3 On July 25th, 2008, Susan McCuistion said:

    Hi, all! I’m on Christine’s team at SIIC, and this is my first posting on a blog! I’m definitely the technologically shy person in the group, but Christine and our other teammate have been very patient with me.

    Regarding Google docs - my opinion has definitely changed throughout the week. On Monday, I was so excited to see there were ways to share documents instantaneously, and I was hooked! After 4 days working with our team doc, I’m ready to find another tool. When I cut and paste sections, the formatting on the pasted section is different from when I cut it. When I want to remove number sequencing, I hit the button, and the number 1 randomly shows up at the beginning of another paragraph, versus removing the numbers from the paragraph(s)I want them removed from. The margins are too large for the screen, so I have to keep scrolling right and left to read what I’ve written. I could go on and on. I am a perfectionist, and I have yet to find the words to describe exactly how frustrated I am with this tool. (A couple explicatives come to mind, but I don’t think Christine would appreciate it.)

    The funny thing about all of this is that in my day to day job, I work virtually. I am used to what I need to do within that environment, and I am familiar with the people and the tools with which I work. Of course, we have our problems, but nothing like what happened within this simulated environment at SIIC. Also at work, we have our “approved technology,” which has its limitations. (For instance, I am the one who couldn’t put Skype on my computer, and I’m probably breaking some rule now even commenting on this blog.)

    My big learning this week is that there is some really cool technology out there, and I am really excited about the possibilities for collaborative virtual teamwork. In the end, though, it still comes down to people and human interaction.

  4. 4 On July 25th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    Susan,
    I hate to tell you that after all your struggling with the formatting, it gave me more trouble when I tried to transfer it to the blog. Every time we move from one format to another, it seems to take junk with it in the background.

    And some of those bad words are shared!

  5. 5 On July 25th, 2008, Norman Duarte said:

    Hi Class,Google docs is great but I think it requires previous coordination before everyone can get started editing the doc. We actually divided the tasks (in the google doc) in pieces and each of us collaborated independently, this allow us to do our work way faster and not to edit each other’s writing right away. This also allows more reflection on concepts, I think is important to consider this.Thanks for the GREAT time!

  6. 6 On July 25th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    Norman,
    That would have been a great idea. Just like everything else this week, we kept jumping into task way too fast. Good to hear it is possible to be successful with planning.

  7. 7 On July 25th, 2008, John said:

    @Christine: “we kept jumping into task way too fast”.

    I hear myself constantly thinking, yes, but we only had a week and no leader and no common technology platform. However, I’m afraid that this will also be the in many teams out there, isn’t it? How to make them aware of the fundamentals?

  8. 8 On July 25th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    Yes, it is exactly what I see team both face to face and virtual doing all the time. And the fact that we kept doing it here, despite repeated warnings by Terry, shows how socialized we have become to the practice?

  9. 9 On July 25th, 2008, Miki said:

    Hi Christine,

    I used VisulasSpeak in Study Abroad Program.
    Students enjoyed reflection session by using VisulasSpeak. We started very good conversation by using those images.

    Thanks much!

    Miki

  10. 10 On July 25th, 2008, Ash said:

    I have also recently enjoyed the joys and struggles of working in Google Docs. As a collaboration tool I found it great that anyone could put info in. I also found that I was very hesitant to edit/remove/change any of the information that other had put in the document. I think this is more of a challenge for me adjusting to a collaborative process rather than individuals that submit one idea to one main person who gets to make the final decision.

    Another challenge of the tool was that if not stated clearly in the text I was not sure who added what and so did not know who to direct questions to. The anonymous nature of the submissions really brought the issues around trust to the fore-front for me.

    I really did enjoy the ability to work in a shared space knowing that all the information would be saved and sharable at anytime. I liked the little indicator at the bottom of the document as well that shows who else was working in the document. I appreciated that this environment encouraged me to really focus on and improve my written communication skills.

  11. 11 On July 25th, 2008, Miki said:

    Imagine Peace! I love it.

    Vista a.k.a. Miki

  12. 12 On July 25th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    Miki,
    Glad to hear you had such good results.

  13. 13 On July 25th, 2008, Virginia Yonkers said:

    Christine, actually your problems with Google docs go deeper than the group process and knowledge of technology. Writing and our expectations of what “good writing” is, is culturally embedded with our idea of authorship (who “wrote” it), knowledge and rhetoric (how should information be arranged, what information is valid, whether or not information should be ascribed to a source, and authority–who is allowed to be an “expert”), and our idea of the purpose of reading (to record, as a legal document, to communicate, to create knowledge). I think you will probably find differences not only in ethnicity, but in professional and organization cultures. (This is an area that my dissertation is looking at).

  14. 14 On July 26th, 2008, Sue Waters said:

    Trouble is when working collaboratively we assume that people already understand the concept of collaboration and working together. The unfortunate reality is that each of us has a different concept as to what is collaboration and what’s involved.

    A classic for me was working on what was meant to be collaborative presentation using Google Presentation. There was no true collaboration and each person basically wrote their own slide.

    My tips for making it work are: restrict number in each group (2-3 max.); discuss together before beginning what is collaboration; expectations of working together and how it will be coordinated; and use different colored text for different people.

  15. 15 On July 27th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    Sue,
    You are so right about collaboration meaning different things to different people. Especially working across different cultures. The groups that were more successful with this did seem to have people working on different parts of a document.

    Now that you mention it, my previous more successful attempts at working on Google Docs did utilize different colors. Never even though of it when I was under time pressure. Wonder how often that happens? I found myself really missing the tracking features of a wiki.

  16. 16 On July 27th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

    Virgina,
    Glad to hear there are good reasons for our struggles. I found myself just stepping back and letting the others do what they wanted. I had some interest since it was going on my blog, but it wasn’t going to risk my reputation or anything. It would have been a very different story if we had been creating something for a client.

    I bet you do find differences across org cultures. We saw some of it in the class just between the business, education, and non-profit project groups. I’ll be very interested in hearing about your dissertation research as it develops.

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