Online Collaboration with Writely

It's fairly recent news that Google has acquired online word processing program Writely. As a result, Upstartle (the company that created the tool) has frozen new registrations until the migration to Google's service is complete. Once access is restored, I'm sure I will be among the first to explore the new setup.

There's been a positive explosion of tools like this one in the last few years. I'm not sure if this explosion has driven interest in online collaboration or whether interest in online collaboration has made it possible for people to create these tools. Whatever the case, Writely is an idea that has legs. However, not having had personal experience using it, I can't give it an unqualified recommendation. Yet, the idea of it certainly intrigues me -- especially in the context of using it for group projects for classes that are partially or fully online.

I like the idea of the instructor creating a registration for each group that is accessible only to the group. Members of a group can then sign on to Writely and edit the group document. The final document is then easily submitted to the instructor via secure email. I know that there are other ways of creating these kinds of group documents already -- wikis are a popular example -- but I think the format of a word processor is particularly appealing because students are already familiar with it. In online courses, instructors need to consider the "lowest common denominator" student (in terms of familiarity with technology). For groups, the transition from offline to online word processing looks to me like a shorter step than from word processor to wiki. (I've used a wiki as a student in an online class, so I can speak anecdotally about its merits and frustrations. While the experience was empowering in some ways, we also tended to delete each others' contributions when adding our own, meaning we had to reconstruct the document several times from scratch.)

I know this isn't really a local story. But I'm thinking Logan and SIU instructors would benefit from hearing about a tool like this one. There's so much potential for online learning these days, much of it coming from the power that the Internet has for facilitating collaboration. Even classes taught primarily in traditional classrooms can benefit.

Man in the Gay Flannel Suit

iWon News: "A computer disk that the Minnesota Republican Party prepared to support a ban on gay marriage has another purpose: gathering data on the politics of the people who view it.

. . . GOP officials said the final version of the CD that's due to be mailed soon to hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans will contain a notice that the information gathered may be used by the party.

The disks contain video clips from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, State Auditor Pat Anderson and House Speaker Steve Sviggum. They talk about what they consider the dangers of gay marriage and why they believe a constitutional amendment is needed to ban it.

To watch the video, a person has to go to an Internet site and punch in an ID code that tells the party who is viewing it. Once the video is going, viewers are asked questions on subjects like abortion, gun control and party preference.

Party officials distributed what they called test copies of the CDs to the media on Monday. Those disks contained no disclaimers saying that data was being collected and transmitted.

Political parties used to collect voter information by canvassing citizens one by one or paying for subscriber lists. Minnesota GOP spokesman Mark Drake said the CD is just the latest way to collect information.

Bloggers beware

Cyber libel suits on rise: "Unlike a newspaper or a television broadcast, something on the Internet is available to anyone in the world.

While a definitive court definition of what constitutes 'broadcasting' has yet to be made, anyone posting anything anywhere on the Internet can be considered to be a broadcaster, unlike a decade ago when it was restricted to TV and radio stations holding a government licence.

Lawyers also say people posting on the Internet may think they are anonymous when, in fact, they are anything but. That perceived cloak of anonymity leads them to post opinions that they would never put in a signed letter to the editor, for example. "

To Complain is Human, But to Blog . . .

To Complain Is Human. But to Blog About It . . .:

"For McLean-based BearingPoint Inc., which is trying to rebuild its business after an accounting scandal and with a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation still underway, the musings of a disgruntled blogger might be a small problem. But it's a reminder that in the information age, no viewpoint is private, no slight unavenged and no joke too tasteless."

Regional Wireless

Reported in the DE: "Carbondale isn't the only city in southern Illinois thinking about wireless Internet access. Rex Duncan, a research project specialist at SIUC, is working on wireless and broadband Internet access throughout the rest of southern Illinois, including areas like Du Quoin and Chester. He's part of a group called Connect SI.

It's still in the early stages, but Duncan said the group has secured nearly $100,000 in grants to install wireless or broadband Internet."