Across the internet there are a considerable of numbers of collaboration tools. These tools provide effective methods for users to share several things such as files, folders and photos etc. Here are some of free online collaboration tools:
- Google Wave – an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and so on.
- DimDim – DimDim, an open-source meeting platform, offers web users a truly money-saving experience, with up to 20 users able to view a presentation, three of them with microphone access, with no software installations required. It’s a nice step up if you need something a little more professional than a social video chat room, and is surprisingly responsive on freehand drawing, text, audio, and screencasting across a variety of connection speeds.
- EditGrid – EditGrid is a web-based application that works a lot like Microsoft Excel. Special features include sharing, collaborating, and publishing capabilities.
- Palbee – Palbee is a free video conferencing tool with multiple capabilities. Users can conduct video meetings with other people.
- GroupTweet – GroupTweet is designed for Twitter users who want to be able to communicate and collaborate privately.
- Google Groups – Users of a group can rate posts for helpfulness, search out answers across their own groups or other similar-themed topics, and get their answers and responses delivered from an easily filtered email source.
- Edmodo – Edmodo is rather like a private Twitter. Teachers and students can use this free and private microblogging platform to communicate online. Edmodo also provides file sharing and file storage.
- Twiddla – Twiddla works very well for online meetings or co-browsing. Groups can use it to mark-up and comment on web pages, images, and other content.
- Zoho – Zoho able to handle both the lower-level tasks of group editing, document sharing, and other work, as well as the milestone tracking, group chat, invoice creation, and other tasks needed by teams that aren’t sitting right next to each other. It’s good stuff, and it’s free.
- Keep and Share – Keep and Share is a group file sharing system. Accounts are password-controlled and secure enough to store information.
- Mikogo – This free desktop sharing software can be used for online meetings, web conferences and presentations. Mikogo is simple to use and download.
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Bader Alahmadi
This is a great posting, I think.
I just want to add a comment by citing a book about online collaboration I have read.
David Coleman and Stewart Levine in their book, Collaboration 2.0: Technology and Best Practices for Successful Collaboration in a Web 2.0 World, state that the efficacy of collaborative tool can be measured from how well the tool integrates with and supports processes critical to the organization and how the organization manages its own systemic change process.
In building online or virtual collaboration, we cannot only rely solely on such online collaborative tools. Coleman and Levine assert that there are three critical factors for success in collaboration (in order of importance) should be considered: people, process, and technology. People factor includes behaviours, attitudes, culture; process factor means critical business processes with collaborative leverage; and technology factor offers good user experience, integrated and connected to many data sources.