Collaborative Modeling Tools

[R.M.Mooy@telecom.tno.nl]

Hi all,

For a project in which some SD-Modeling is going to be done, I need
to work together with some people who are in geographically dispersed
areas.

To make working together easier, we have begun using Instant Messaging
as a communication tool. This seems to work pretty well, but right now,
it is text-only, and text is not always rich enough to communicate ideas.
We need to draw maps and diagrams too. Sending these back and forth
isn't the ideal solution.

Do any of you have experience with such a setting? If so, which tools
are available and suitable for communication between modelers (or
modelers and experts)? I'm thinking of whiteboard tools, forums, online
drawing programs etc.

They may be synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous.

Kind regards,

Rutger Mooy
From: <R.M.Mooy@telecom.tno.nl>

[Finn Jackson]

Rutger,

I used to get on fine with Netmeeting,
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/

but there are lots of other tools available and some good
reviews/presentations of the options available at:
http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/workspaces.htm


Finn.Jackson@tangley.com

[Humera Khan]

Hello,

Netmeeting (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/) and Groove
(http://www.groove.net/ ) will both provide you this functionality. Groove
will provide with you with more functionality (directories, web browsing
together etc) and is also safer, however it really slows down your computer
if you leave it running constantly

-Humera
From: ""Humera Khan"" <humera@alum.mit.edu>

[Philip Keogh]

You might look at http://www.mindmanager.com

Regards

Philip Keogh
From: ""Philip Keogh"" <Philip.Keogh@leedsth.nhs.uk>
Pathology Information Officer
(see our website at www.leedsteachinghospitals.com)

[John Voyer]

The BlackBoard web-based program in use at many universities for
course-related matters (announcements, posting documents, file
exchanging) has a whiteboard feature. You would have to get your IT
people to agree to create a ""course"" for which your research colleagues
could ""register."" That would enable everyone to use the program in ways
that you might find meet your needs.



John J. Voyer, Ph.D.
Professor of Business Administration
School of Business
University of Southern Maine
96 Falmouth St.
Box 9300
Portland, ME 04104-9300

voyer@usm.maine.edu
phone: 207-780-4597
fax: 207-780-4662

[John Rodat]

Rutger & colleagues:

I don't yet know if how it would do in handling graphics, but we're testing
Drupal, (http://www.drupal.org/) which is open-source software for online
communities. Many of the essential elements for an online community are
available. They include:

Online collaborative documents (with different access and use privileges for
different chapters, sections, etc.)
Membership and list management
Mailing lists
Weblogs by unlimited numbers of individuals
Forums/threaded discussions
Polling
Site privilege management and ability to have ""moderators""
Newsfeeds (automatic notices of updating of other sites)
Calendars & events
Archiving of downloadable documents

Take a look. If you try it, we'd like to know how and what your experience
was.

Best regards.

John W. Rodat
President,
Signalhealth, LLC
Information Based Health Care Strategies
(518) 439-5743
jwr@signalhealth.com

[John Gunkler]

We had good luck with Windows SharePoint Services, but you need to have set
up a network with Windows Server to use it. The SharePoint Services
application was easy to set up and use and had very nice whiteboard features
for live meetings.

From: ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>

[Paul Holmström]

Suggest that you have a look at Groove, http://www.groove.net/.
It is a powerful collaborative tool, both synchronous and asynchronous. It
is becoming a standard for the group of consultants I belong to, for use
with customers in projects. It has modules and plug-ins which will allow you
to do what you are looking for.
Regards
Paul Holmstrom
From: Paul Holmstr=?ISO-8859-1?B?9g==?=m <ph@holmstrom.se>

[Bill Harris]

<R.M.Mooy@telecom.tno.nl> writes:

> Do any of you have experience with such a setting? If so, which tools
> are available and suitable for communication between modelers (or
> modelers and experts)? I'm thinking of whiteboard tools, forums, online
> drawing programs etc.

Rutger,

I spend the vast majority of my professional life in such settings and
have been using them for at least the last 8-10 years. There are lots
of such tools available, as you're hearing.

Perhaps the best summary (although still incomplete) is David Woolley's
list at http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/. Perusing that should keep
you busy for a bit. There's also a Yahoogroup called
onlinefacilitation; my colleague Nancy White of Full Circle Associates
moderates it, and it's a pretty helpful group of folk. Nancy's site at
http://www.fullcirc.com/ has a toolkit of articles on online work which
you might find useful. If you contact either of them, tell them I sent
you.

For synchronous spaces where you're seeking effective collaboration, I
like the HP Virtual Classroom best and Microsoft's Live Meeting (nee
Placeware) second best of the ones I've used. Of course, if you're on a
budget and only have a small group, VNC is cross-platform and free.
I've heard good things about Groove, too, although I think I've heard it
tends to be a bit of a resource hog.

There are a number of asynchronous spaces that might fit your needs. I
believe moin-moin and twiki, both Wikis, both have the ability to do
whiteboards, for example. Web Crossing is a great, general-purpose
commercial tool for asynchronous work -- perhaps my favorite
general-purpose tool -- but I've just been in a conference using
iCohere's product, and that worked pretty well, too. iCohere's product
has a bit of a synchronous and asynchronous feel.

While the selection of a tool is important, as with many things, the
particular brand of tool is only part of the story. Learning how to
work effectively in such settings is the other and most important part.

I have a couple of articles on my publications page
(http://facilitatedsystems.com/pubs.html) dealing with this issue.
Scroll down to the section on Distributed Work Groups: ""Online
Facilitation for Inperson Facilitators"" is an introduction to
facilitating effective work online, and ""Types of Group Work: A Decision
Matrix"" is a short intro to selecting the type of tool. I have a
slightly longer version of that message I have used, but I only do that
in person (i.e., online), because those slides need words to go with
them.

Contact me if you'd like to see the expanded presentation or if you have
more questions. Best wishes! It's a highly productive way to work,
once you get the hang of it.

Bill
From: Bill Harris <bill_harris@facilitatedsystems.com>
--
Bill Harris 3217 102nd Place SE
Facilitated Systems Everett, WA 98208 USA
http://facilitatedsystems.com/ phone: +1 425 337-5541

[Chris Rowe]

For good real time interaction I would use:

-www.RealVNC.com(cross platform), or any other VNC program that lets other
people see your screen, and control your mouse and keyboard (if you let
them)
-www.Skype.com(Windows) or iChat(OS X), for audio chat.
-FTP for file sharing.
-That nice thing about this setup is that you can use your existing design
and modeling software.
-MSN Messenger has these features, but always seems to have problems. Also,
RealVNC and Skype support multiple users at once.
-www.Groove.net(Windows) is a good all in one, online and offline suite,
that has lots of tools in it.

Chris Rowe
chr@rowe.com