Collaboration tools revisited
A hallmark of the Net is the availability of a wide array of collaborative tools.
We have come across tools for sharing files/folders (like e-snips), conducting audio/video conferences (like Skype/gtalk) and for collaborative writing (like Jotlive - http://www.jotlive.com//Writely -http://www. writely.com/). A few more innovative collaboration tools are discussed here.
Remote meeting tool
Assume that you and a few of your colleagues want to discuss a project from different geographical locations. For this, you need to exchange messages, transfer files and jointly write on a shared board.
Tools like Skype will come in handy for many of these tasks. But Skype or other IM/Net telephony tools do not provide a shared board where all the participants can simultaneously draw/write.
The on-line meeting tool Vyew (http://vyew.com/) assumes significance in this context. Vyew helps you start an on-line meeting session where you can invite up to twenty participants.
The service provides a sharable whiteboard where each participant can write/draw in real-time. When a participant writes on the whiteboard it will automatically be accessible to the others. Besides the whiteboard feature, Vyew provides facilities such as chat, storage space (20 MB) to upload files and so on.
Another feature of this innovative service is the shared Google search. Using the `Google Search' box integrated with the service, you can conduct a Google search, which can be viewed by other conference members in real-time.
This will be useful if you want to provide some search tips to your collaborators.
To use this free easy-to-use web based service, you need not download any software. Just go through the registration process and click on the `Start Meeting' button.
Conference management
Anyone who has ever organised a conference or seminar will be aware of the travails in the process. The coordinator of an academic conference has to monitor submission of abstracts, assign reviewers for each of the submitted papers, inform the participants about the status of his or her paper and so on.
Obviously, this complicated process presents a formidable challenge to a conference organiser.
One solution is to create an automation system that can perform the different conference management tasks.
The open source, conference management tool, OpenConf (http://www.zakongroup.com/technology/openconf.shtml), is a good product worth a try.
OpenConf software provides facilities for automating various aspects of a conference. The system allows a participant to register and submit abstract/paper with her browser. The software provides total control of the system to the course coordinator, who gets facilities for creating topics, assigning reviewers and interfering with the programme schedule of the conference at will.
This conference management package is built on PHP/MySQL and to implement the system you need access to a web server with PHP/MySQL support.
For a demo of the software, access: http://www.zakongroup. com/technology/openconf2/open conf. php.
Drawing tool
The Windows Paint program lets you draw simple pictures. Similar to the paint software, the web based drawing tool `Imagination Cubed' (http://www.imaginationcubed.com/LaunchPage) allows you to draw pictures from anywhere on the Web. Also, while experimenting with your artistic skills, you can invite your friends to join you. The service permits you to save the drawing and e-mail it to others. For a demo, check out: http://tinyurl.com/amzqb.
Skyfex: A remote assistant
While using your PC, at times, you may come across software bugs that cannot be easily communicated/explained to your helpdesk or system administrator. If you can show the expert the screen shot of your desktop when an error occurs (instead of an oral description of the same), the expert will be able to offer you appropriate advice without much hassle. The free Windows-only on-line service SkyFex is designed with this purpose in mind.
Skyfex (http://www.skyfexfree.com/) helps a registered user (expert) capture your desktop with your consent. For this, first you have to access the service as client (by clicking on the `Get Assistance' button). When you access the SkyFex as a client, it will display a client ID. Using this client ID, your administrator or helpdesk can capture your desktop by logging-in as `Expert'. A simple tool, if you want to monitor the activities on a remote machine.
On-line chatroom
Want to float a chat room for your favourite subject instantaneously without incurring any cost? Access Ajax Chat, a free chat generation service. To create a chatroom, just visit the service (http://www.ajchat.com/, type in the name of your chatroom and click on the `Enter' button. The chatroom created thus can be accessed directly with its link. For instance, if the name of the chatroom is `netspeak', you can access it at: http://www.ajchat.com/chat/ netspeak.
Mouse-less browsing
As mentioned in the past, if you use the keyboard more often than the mouse, you can speed up the work and avoid inflicting pain on your wrist. In this regard, check out the piece on `Mouse-less Firefox' (http://www.lifehacker.com/software/feature/hack-attack-mouseless-firefox-139495.php) that describes several useful keyboard shortcuts for browsing with Firefox. Caret-browsing shortcut `F7' and `Find as you type text' shortcut `/' are some of the useful shortcuts noticed by this author.
Folder size
Though Windows Explorer (with the `Details' view option enabled) displays the size of the files in a folder, while you browse a drive, it does not show the size of the folders. Obviously, the folder size information will be helpful while managing the disk space.
The free utility `Folder Size' (http://foldersize.sourceforge.net/) can be used to add this feature to Windows Explorer. After installing the program, you need to enable the `Folder Size' option by right clicking on the `Column' header.
Source: NetSpeak
posted by srividya at 6:27 AM
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