Collaboration tools at Newcastle Caleb Racey [email protected].
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Transcript of Collaboration tools at Newcastle Caleb Racey [email protected].
Collaboration past/present practices
Email As Communication platform Distributed File system Versioning repository Calendaring suite (without a calendar) Task manager Backup/archive system
Maybe a website failed CMS experiment failed forum experiment
Past/present problems
Email is “source of all evil” Massively over utilized Co-opted (corrupted) to many causes
The 100meg file problem The file type problem “I want my .exe”
No identity assurance = Spam Phishing More spam False positives
Websites “Hard to write” Out of date Abandoned One way communication
Past/present Positives
Email “gets job done” Very low barrier to participation
setup = get address Usability is good
Websites Visible Searchable Durable
Enormous demand for collaborative tools Low expectation = easy to exceed
What we use/want
What we presently use• Blogs• Mailing lists• Wikis
What we want• Calendaring (CalDAV??)• WebDAV community file spaces
• Mod_dav_svn?
• Suites: Sakai, Mindquarry? • IM??
Group Blogs
Sympa mailings list
Mediawiki
Does it work?
Benefits: Simple User interface Good technology
versioning, recent changes, notification Trendy Understandable Federatability Easy joining process
Problems:• Interface not simple enough• Group info locked away• Yet more email
What we need
Approach• Generic platform• Loosely coupled collaborative tools• Allow behaviour to emerge
Group management•Reusable across platform• Scalable (not .htaccess)• Federation aware
Group Management User interface• Self service •By invite•By manager with delegation
What we are doing
Looking at Grouper to admin collaborative suite
Gfivo project:
• “Grouper to support Federated Identity for Virtual Organizations”
• JISC funded 2 years• National demonstrator• Outputs free to HE + FE • http://gfivo.ncl.ac.uk
Questions
Can we wean people off email?• Are they aware of their own problems?• Do they care about real identity?
Is loose coupling something users “get”?
Do people only care about access control when it bites them?
Good Collaboration is “emergent” from behavior• do the tools really matter?• Is it just attitude that counts?