by Alejandra Europa
Introduction
Today’s global business structure has complicated communication between colleagues, suppliers and consumers. Many businesses are involved in projects in which the clients and group members are all over the world, which makes face to face communication nearly impossible. This has encouraged the introduction of new technology tools, such as Google Drive and Skype, which facilitate virtual communication. In order to save time and money, companies are starting to take advantage of these technologies to make far distance communication more effective.There are thousands of new technologies that serve the purpose of connecting people that cannot meet face to face. Most of them are based on the same concepts: synchronized communication, a-synchronized communication, and document sharing. However, no single one of them contains all the features needed to experience all the advantages that come with face to face communication. Therefore, it is on your best interest to use a mix of these technologies to obtain the best possible communication when all the people involved cannot meet in person.
Based on my experiences from working in groups, the most useful and helpful features are: messaging system (instant and store-forward), video chatting, document sharing, to do lists, calendars, and drawing system. As a mentioned before, you will never find a tool with all these features. The trick is to find a set of tools that complement each other and together provide you with all these features. I believe that the following mix of technologies will help you and your group remain strong with a well-defined and common goal.
- Group Me: Used for quick communication: make reminders, last minute changes, and urgent questions.
- Blubb.us: Make graphics to help you brainstorm or share your ideas with others.
- Google Drive: Great way to store, share, and access your documents at any time.
- Project2Mange: Facilitates project management: keep up with deadlines and tasks.
- Vyew: Video conference that provides the closest experience to in person communication: work ideas on a white board that everyone else can see.
Collaborative Technologies
In this section, I will explain in more detail why I believe this mix of tools will provide the best possible far distance communication.GroupMe
GroupMe is a phone application designed to assist group communication. It works on almost every cellphone, via push or SMS, and it is absolutely free to get. It can be compared to a reply-all email since all group members receive all the text messages sent to the group. This is an easy way to communicate quickly with your group. It is great for remainders and last minute changes since it is quick and more reliable than email in the sense that people do not need to log in to check their messages. Also, it can also be used to answer urgent questions. It is most likely that one person will reply via GroupMe than regular email.
This application is greatly recommended for groups to set up group meetings, send reminders, or have a short discussion. GroupMe allows groups to make a quick decision. Although it is a reliable application, it is possible to get fifteen messages in an hour, which can get a little annoying.
Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is a free website that facilitates collaborative brainstorming by allowing members to map out their ideas and sharing them with the rest of the group. The website offers easy to use features that allow you to create several types of graphics such as: flowcharts, lists, cycles, hierarchy charts, and anything else of the sort. You can also save, email and print your working sheet, and even share it with other Bubbl.us members. The limitation to this is that group members cannot work simultaneously on the same sheet and there is no type of communication allowed.
This tool is perfect to initiate brainstorming for a project (individual or collaborative). Having a visual of your subject will also allow you to see the relationship between the topics and subtopics. This could be of great help when organizing your report.
Google Drive:
Google Drive is pretty much an online storage in which you can upload and share files with other people. It allows you to upload photos, videos, resumes, itineraries, PowerPoint presentations, and word documents so you can access them from wherever you are at whatever time you need them. You can also share any of these files with another Google Drive account holder by just creating a sharing folder and dragging the documents into that folder.
Google Drive is great for groups working on the same document collaboratively. It allows people to work on the same paper simultaneously. Even better, Google Drive will automatically save copies of the old drafts after a paper has been edited. This gives members the piece of mind that their work will not be deleted if someone changes something without their consent.
One of the disadvantages is that you have limited space depending on your plan. By just creating an account, you get 5 GB for free. Any additional space that you need will cost around $4.00 a month depending on how much more memory you want. Also, Google Drive does not have any additional features for group members to communicate with other while working/editing the documents.
Project2Manage
Project2Manage is pretty much a virtual agenda/storage. It is very similar to Google Drive in the sense that it allows members to upload and make documents that they can share with other people. However, it is more complex since it is intended for project management. This application contains several features to help groups organize the process of their project. It has a messaging system for members to leave messages and receive replies. This is better than email because all the messages will only be related to that specific project. The system also provided a “to do list” application in which you can create and sort tasks in order of importance. You can also create a list of milestones with deadlines to keep the group up to date. Finally, there is also collaborative writing application called SPOT2JOT that allows members to upload and share documents with others. Other people can edit and make comments on the report, and like Google Drive, old versions are stored to keep track of changes.
This is a very complex tool. It has pretty much everything a group needs to stay on track and to work on the same paper without having to meet in person. Although it provides great communication features, it still lacks the benefits of videoconferencing.
Vyew
Vyew is a web-based conferencing application that allows up to 20 members to meet in a chat room. It has features that make the conference as realistic as possible. You can have a video conference for you to see and talk to other members, while you show your work on a “live” virtual white board. The writing and drawing features allows you to share formulas, diagrams, etc. It also lets you upload and export PowerPoint’s presentations, word documents, videos, etc. You can also chat and leave text or voice messages.
This is great for groups that need to discuss important and complex topics but cannot meet in person. The white board facilitates the communication of these ideas and reduces confusion. The chatting and messaging system allows groups to store what has been said in meetings. Like any other video chat application, Vyew may freeze from time to time.
Conclusion
At some point in your career you will most likely be required to work with people you cannot meet face to face. Therefore, it is a good idea to get acquainted with the different collaborative communication tools out there. You cannot be an expert in all the tools out there. However, if you become familiar with a few you will be able to quickly figure out any other application since they are so similar. While working with other people, you will always employ common communication features, such as email and telephones. However, you will need other tools, like the ones mentioned above, to complement for the loss of face to face communication.Like any other thing, these technological tools have some type of shortfalls. First of all, all these tools need Internet access to work. Many of them are free, but will require you to make an account. Also, since they are free you can only expect so much: do not be surprise if the screen freezes or some tools don't work as promised! The most important thing to take into consideration is that no matter how well these tools work, they can only do so much. You are still in charge of setting up meeting times and figuring out the best way to communicate with your colleagues. These can become a major problem when people are located in areas across the world. The language, culture, and time zone will always bring barriers that you will need to overcome.
As you can see, the available tools have facilitated group projects since face to face communication is no longer required. Even if your colleagues are in the same city as you, these tools can save you money and traveling time. They can also be a great way to keep up with your progress, files, and ensure that you are staying on task.
