It all began when the Internet came, when can access large amount of information at our fingertips. Then we learned more, transformed more, and expected more. Today, our lives are changed forever and many of us find it painful to live without the Internet even for just one day!
Online collaboration has become popular not only in business organizations, but also government and education institutions. There is a whole spectrum of services to choose from, including browser-based team dashboards, online conferences with video capabilities, resource and document sharing, calendars, and scheduling of events, etc. Companies including Microsoft, IBM, and Google are competing intensely on their offerings of collaboration products to gain market dominance.
The Obama administration has place heavy emphasis on transparency and open government, and appointed the first CIO and CTO for its country. Propelled by the open source software movement, the administration promotes the concept of open government and uses collaborative technologies to solve collective problems at various levels of government.
Today, education institutions throughout the country are focusing more in technology education. More and more students are learning to use web 2.0 technologies to communicate, collaborate, and work together in and out of classrooms. Tools such as the wiki, blogs, videoconferencing, and online chat are adopted to induce creativity, and encourage communication and collaboration among students worldwide. This transformation is also aimed at better preparing the students when they join the workforce.
Like many organizational changes, online collaboration can be successful only if it is embraced by a supportive corporate culture. Such a culture must possess elements that foster trust, such as
- Offering flexible work schedules to employees (and allows telecommuting and off-site workers)
- Willing to share corporate information and project artifacts with others
- Willing to be available for discussing work matters beyond office hours
- Building a team of technically savvy employees
- Providing management support to this new mode of co-working
- Not every student has a computer at home to collaborate after school
- Students tend to waste time and become distracted easily when online
- Students use non-authoritative sources and inappropriate materials
- Loss of efficiency caused by technical glitches with computer tools and limited bandwidth
- Restriction placed on web access
Sources:
Alloway, Kristen. "Students Discovering Online Collaboration." New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ.com. 07 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
Clancy, Heather. "Collaborate Using Online Tools - PCWorld Business Center." Reviews and News on Tech Products, Software and Downloads - PCWorld. 20 Apr. 2008. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
Kelly, Will. "Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration." WebWorkerDaily. 23 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
Lathrop, Daniel, and Laurel Ruma. "Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice." News for Greater Kansas City - Kansas City InfoZine News. 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
Orenstein, Gary. "The Cloud Collaboration Wars Ramp Up." GigaOM. 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2010.
I think it's interesting that you brought up the Obama administration and their use of collaborative technology. Most of the articles we've talked about have been about smaller, defined groups using collaborative software to communicate (school classes, work groups, etc.). In the case of Obama, he's using it to communicate to the masses, and in turn, getting input from the masses. That seems more revolutionary to me than first graders using the stuff.
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