Comments on: Collaborating over Google Docs

By: Christine Martell

Christine Martell — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:47:42 +0000

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.

By: Christine Martell

Christine Martell — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:42:36 +0000

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.

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:45:15 +0000

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.

By: Virginia Yonkers

Virginia Yonkers — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:26:44 +0000

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).

By: Christine Martell

Christine Martell — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:25:12 +0000

Miki,
Glad to hear you had such good results.

By: Miki

Miki — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:23:19 +0000

Imagine Peace! I love it.

Vista a.k.a. Miki

By: Ash

Ash — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:21:02 +0000

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.

By: Miki

Miki — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:20:25 +0000

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

By: Christine Martell

Christine Martell — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:15:50 +0000

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?

By: John

John — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:13:45 +0000

@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?