Box.net and eSnips: Useful collaboration tools
I recently discovered another great online tool for collaborating—file sharing sites. I’ve been using “Box.net” (www.box.net) to collaborate with co-authors in 3 countries on a book project. We had been driving each other a bit crazy sending multiple versions of each chapter via email and then having to constantly re-check to see if everyone had the latest version. So, we looked around for a online site that would let us store and access files. We had several criteria. The site needed to be:
• Free or very inexpensive
• Easy to use
• Secure and private (so that the four of us could use it but others couldn’t access it)
We played around with two sites that looked promising: Box.net and e-Snips (www.esnips.com). Both worked well. Both allow you to set up separate folders and to choose your collaborators and the level of access they have—for example, read and download only, or also editing/uploading access.
Box.net had two features that led us to prefer it. First, it had no advertising. While the advertising on eSnips is tolerable, it’s a bit irritating, especially the “You have 2 new messages from Auckland!” and “You have just won a prize!” sort of spam. Box.net, on the other hand, is “cleaner” looking because of the lack of advertising. I assume eSnips gets its financial support from the advertising, whereas Box.net gets its revenue from members who upgrade to one of the more advanced versions (which gets you more storage space and some additional features).
The other feature we like about Box.net is that it allows you to upload an updated version of the same document. For eSnips, you have to delete or move the older file and upload a new one. Not a big deal, but the “update” feature saves a step. On the other hand, if you want to save the older versions of documents on the site, you’re better off setting up something like an “archives” folder and simply moving the older version of the documents there. You can do that on either site.
eSnips does have one big advantage: It allows 5 gigabytes of storage free, compared to 1 gigabyte free on Box.net. That wasn’t so important to us, since the whole book (which is 15 chapters and about 500 pages), plus support documents, used up about 6 megabytes—leaving us 1018 megabytes remaining!
Both sites have other features that we have not used, but would be worth exploring.
Contributed by Ted Zorn (tzorn@mngt.waikato.ac.nz)
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Creative Commons New Zealand
I received an email recently to let me know about Creative Commons NZ:
The Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand licences are all up and running for Kiwis to use, and we have a brand new website where people can register as a licence user and promote their work, ask questions, find helpful guides and contribute to discussion forums.
The new site is at www.creativecommons.org.nz.
If you haven’t come across Creative Commons before, the fine folks over there have this clear explanation right up top on the home page:
Creative Commons aims to establish a fair middle way between the extremes of copyright control and the uncontrolled uses of intellectual property. It provides a range of copyright licences, freely available to the public, which allow those creating intellectual property — including authors, artists, educators and scientists — to mark their work with the freedoms they want it to carry.
I use Creative Commons licences on most of my work — I’m only too aware that most of my thinking and writing is based on the freely shared ideas of others. I also know that my words are unlikely to be the final definitive statement on anything. If someone else can build on what I’ve done then we all benefit.
At the same time I not only enjoy acknowledgement of my work and recognition of my achievements, but have also found that the supermarket have never yet said: Don’t bother paying for your groceries this week — we hear you’ve been doing some fine work recently.
I need financial reward attached to my work.
Creative Commons allows me to share my work freely, but ask for recognition, and that others don’t take the financial benefit I need.
Community organisations in particular should consider whether a Creative Commons licence is useful for anything they produce. Collaborating, creating, developing and building are all promoted by sharing information. If your organisation hasn’t yet looked into Creative Commons this is the time to visit www.creativecommons.org.nz.
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Transmission may be restored soon
Did you miss us? It’s been a bit quiet around here lately, I’m afraid.
Mike Riversdale has kept us going with a few recent posts, but I’ve been swamped with work and haven’t had the opportunity to keep up regular posting. I already have 3 blogs of my own that have also been a bit quieter lately.
A few months ago I realised I was suffering from data overload. I was receiving too much news, too much information, from too many sources. So I cut back. Drastically.
Less information coming in meant less opportunity to share it with others. It also meant more peace of mind and more focus on the paid work that (barely) allows me the luxury of giving away my time and energy to community groups through this blog, the Engage your Community conferences and in other ways.
Recently I’ve started to think hard about my life. I’ve decided 2009 will be a ‘gap’ year for me: I’m retiring from all volunteer and unpaid positions in the interests of getting my own metaphorical house in order.
I’ve been doing unpaid voluntary work for decades now, in addition to the paid work that buys the groceries. Often the paid work has been on behalf of community organisations and the rate of pay has not been high.
It’s just not sustainable.
I have very high standards. I expect to offer excellence with my work, whether I’m paid for it or not. I’ve contributed 3 posts here in the last month. I haven’t updated any of the content in the Webguide for many months. That’s not enough, and I can’t do more.
So, this may well be the last post here from me, and I’ve resigned as the person who ‘looks after’ Groupings and the Webguide.
The Webguide organisers are looking for someone to take over — they have funding for some payment for the job. If you’re interested contact Ted Zorn for more information.
Meanwhile, I sometimes write about the kinds of topics that appear in Groupings over at my work blog, KnowIT. You’re welcome to visit, maybe sign up for the RSS feed.
[Cartoon: Geek And Poke: Scoial Graph. The cartoon has a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Licence. ]
I’m also looking for work writing for the web. Feel free to contact me directly if you have something to offer. The wording on your website has a huge impact on your visitors — I can probably help make it more powerful and more successful.
If you’re a Mac user do visit my MacTips archive, where I add a new Tip for Mac users each week.
Cheerio,
Miraz
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How Web 2.0 changed things for Obama
The Internet played a significant role in the 2008 US Presidential election, and introduced a strong element of authenticity:
… by using interactive Web 2.0 tools, Mr. Obama’s campaign changed the way politicians organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.
Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground, Mr. Trippi said. …
Mr. Obama’s campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Mr. Trippi argued that those videos were more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted. …
There has also been a sea change in fact-checking, with citizens using the Internet to find past speeches that prove a politician wrong and then using the Web to alert their fellow citizens. …
The Internet also let people repeatedly listen to the candidates’ own words in the face of attacks, Mr. Huffington said. As Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary words kept surfacing, people could re-watch Mr. Obama’s speech on race. To date, 6.7 million people have watched the 37-minute speech on YouTube.
… “This medium demands authenticity, and television for the most part demanded fake. Authenticity is something politicians haven’t been used to.”
[Via : How Obama's Internet Campaign Changed Politics - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com.]
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Networking and Authenticity
On 1 November 2008 Kim Hill interviewed Barbara Gibson, Chair of the International Association of Business Communicators, on the topic of Networking and Authenticity. It’s a 22 minute interview; the MP3 file is around 8Mb, so quite small.
Gibson spoke clearly and with enthusiasm about the importance of using ’social media’ — things like blogs and Twitter for connecting authentically with an audience one is trying to reach.
While her domain is business, everything she said also holds true for community organisations.
And for those organisations who represent the views of consumers, of goods or services, this interview is also particularly interesting. Gibson spoke, for example, about how the Internet has changed the way that companies interact with their customers; about how companies are quickly found out if they attempt to communicate in ways that are inauthentic and disingenuous.
It’s well worth a listen, and even those on dial-up can probably manage an 8Mb audio file.
Note: RadioNZ seems to be making their audio files available for longer these days. The sidebar on the Saturday Morning with Kim Hill page now says:
Audio is available for all 2008 programmes.
Download:
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