Get your holler on!

Recently, I have become aware of a really neat online collaboration tool called EtherPad. EtherPad is a tool that allows you and many other participants to collaborate in the creation/modification of a text document. It’s much like working in Notepad, Gedit, Kate, or any of the other basic text editors, but what makes it different is that you and your colleagues can work together on the document in an online setting (from the comfort of their own computers) and make changes in a real-time environment. You can save the document at any time, and you can also revert back to a previously saved version. There is no special text formatting allowed as this is a text tool, but you could easily dump the final version of the document into OpenOffice.org (or whatever your other favorite office word processing tool is) and format it to your liking. EtherPad also incorporates a chat tool so that you can easily communicate with your colleagues while editing the document (or you could also use a telephone).

Due to a very popular response to this tool, the folks at EtherPad have set up a wait-list which you will have to sign up for if you wish to try the beta version of this free software. I just received my email from them today letting me know the following:

“20 days ago you signed up for the EtherPad Beta.  Thanks for being patient!  Now here’s a link that will allow you to create new pads immediately…”
[you can get your own link by signing up]

Below is a screenshot of EtherPad in action. Notice that the different colors represent text that was either written or modified by a different user. The text that is highlighted in green is the original version of the document. Click on the image to see a larger version.

You can also read more about the product on their product page and at their FAQ. I am really excited about the release of this new tool and can see the potential for its use in the fields of education, research, and numerous other industries (as well as for personal use too).

Just upgraded from 2.1.2 to 2.6.5.  Had to blow out some of the cob webs, but all seems to be fine.  Will try to post here more often.

Also, I enabled reCaptcha, which I like because when you translate the image, you are helping to digitize books that have been scanned in.  Cool!  Captcha images are used to prevent spam-bots from spamming you through a form field.

Recently I attended a conference in Raleigh-Durham.  The topic of “social networking” seemed to be on everyone’s minds, including services such as Twitter, Second Life, del.icio.us, Facebook, MySpace, and more.

Social Bookmarks: I can see the benefit of creating social bookmarks and using a service such as del.icio.us.  By creating a searchable bookmarks page online,  not only can you visit your bookmarked websites from any computer that has access to an Internet connection, but other people can see what it is that you find to be interesting.  This is a good way for colleagues to stay abreast with each other’s research.

Second Life: This 3-D virtual world seems to me to be a little bizarre as well as time consuming, but I can certainly see the advantages of being able to meet with others in a virtual environment and share in communication.  You can go sit down (virtually) next to other virtual people, watch a movie or view a presentation, and then discuss with others issues that surround the presentation.  Pretty neat way for people to come together and communicate or collaborate.

Twitter: At first, this seemed to fall into the category of stupid activities, in my opinion.  After reading more about it, I read that other people usually feel that same way at first.  Now, I find that it’s interesting to read what other people are doing throughout the day, as well as post some of the activities that I have been accomplishing throughout the day.  This is a form of micro-blogging, and each “tweet” is 140 characters or less.  It would be fun to see other friends on this service and be able to catch a glimpse into their daily lives.  Also, it’s interesting to see colleagues tweeting and see what they are up to throughout the day.  Tweet me @hilltop_yodeler.

As for Facebook and MySpace, I just can’t seem to like either of these sites.  Any MySpace or Facebook site I’ve ever visited is painfully difficult to look at; they usually score a 10 on the ugly-factor, they’re difficult to read, and they’re full of comments from “friends” who are generally stating nothing of particular importance (but I guess that’s the whole point).  Seems like a complete waste of time to me, except perhaps for people who have no idea about how to build their own website.

Let’s not forget about blogging.  This is also a form of social networking, however can often be a more informative form of communication than some of the services listed above.