Online collabaration
EtherPad: Google-owned
Let’s first introduce EtherPad (http://www.etherpad.com), a not too familiar service, which has been around for a while but was taken over by Google at the end of last year. In the meantime, Google has integrated the technology into its own applications and even liquidated EtherPad itself.
Cloned. Fortunately, there are lots of clones around (http://etherpad.org/etherpadsites.html). We tried iEtherPad (http://ietherpad.com), MeetingWords (http://meetingwords.com) and PiratePad (http://piratepad.net), amongst others. These services are broadly identical: they give users a kind of whiteboard on which they make notes. Text can be edited by others and commented on. You can contact the people you wish to work together with via the Invite option, whilst Share this pad gives you a personal URL which you can share with others. Registration isn’t required, but we found that some options (for instance, importing Word documents) didn’t work during our test.
Our conclusion. The EtherPad clones are no-nonsense tools which are fit for purpose. An alternative is Writeboard (http://www.writeboard.com), which we recommended earlier. Alternatively, you can collaborate on documents with others using an online office service such as Google Docs (http://docs.google.com).
Collaborative designs
Simple drawing tool.FlockDraw (http://www.flockdraw.com) has a very simple interface, and you can use the service without registering. Designing is done completely online - you can’t upload anything. Your colleagues or friends can surf to the URL attached to your drawing to view and edit it.
More complex designs. Many more options are available at Dabbleboard (http://www.dabbleboard.com). Not only does it offer more drawing tools, you can also insert existing drawings and upload files. The free version is quite versatile already, but for all the options (for instance, configuring who is allowed to edit the designs) you will need to sign up to a paid for plan.
Extensive collaboration.An even more versatile - but also more complex - service is Vyew (http://vyew.com). Making online drawings, uploading files and inviting others to edit the drawings: anything goes. You can even give online presentations or organise webinars. However, the free version is limited to ten participants.
Collaborating via e-mail
Does your collaboration confine itself to an intensive exchange of e-mail messages? Check out Tgethr.com (http://www.tgethr.com). This online service lets you create one general e-mail address for each group. You can configure which individual e-mail addresses are to be linked to this general address. When you subsequently send a message to the group address using any e-mail program, you will automatically reach all the members of your group. Incidentally, configuring a group address is possible in all e-mail programs, but a Tgethr address offers several advantages: all group members can use it, whilst all the e-mails are archived online and are searchable. The free version limits the number of members to five.
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