Document collaboration

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Document and file collaboration are the tools or systems set up to help multiple people work together on a single document or file to achieve a single final version. Normally, it is the software that allows teams to work on a single document, such as a word processor document, at the same time from different computer terminals or mobile devices. Hence, document or file collaboration today is a system allowing people to collaborate across different locations using an Internet, or "cloud", enabled approach [1] such as for Wikis such as Wikipedia or with document sharing technologies such as Sizle.

Contents

Overview

Document collaboration in a general sense simply refers to more than one person co-authoring a document. [2] However, most people today when talking about document collaboration are referring to (generally internet based) methods for a team of workers to work together on an electronic document from computer terminals based anywhere in the world.

Early online document collaboration used email, whereby comments would be written in the email with the document attached. The problem was that this was not a document-centric solution (i.e. Comments and discussions around the document were separate from the document itself). [3] Today, the best document collaboration tools are more document-centric. These systems provide a user with a document-centric collaboration experience because they allow users to tag the document and add content specific comments, maintaining a complete version history and records and storing all comments and activities associated around a document. [4] For this reason, an increasing number of firms are using email less and file sharing and document collaboration tools more. [5]

Most collaboration systems require a server computer, which maintains copies of the documents for remote access. The server computer may be operated by the organization owning the documents, or outsourced to some service. The latter is often referred to as cloud computing.

Typical features

Notable document collaboration software

Related Research Articles

Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them."

A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displaying information ; often, the user can configure which ones to display. Variants of portals include mashups and intranet dashboards for executives and managers. The extent to which content is displayed in a "uniform way" may depend on the intended user and the intended purpose, as well as the diversity of the content. Very often design emphasis is on a certain "metaphor" for configuring and customizing the presentation of the content and the chosen implementation framework or code libraries. In addition, the role of the user in an organization may determine which content can be added to the portal or deleted from the portal configuration.

Social software, also known as social apps or social platform includes communications and interactive tools that are often based on the Internet. Communication tools typically handle capturing, storing and presenting communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well. Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a pair or group of users. They focus on establishing and maintaining a connection among users, facilitating the mechanics of conversation and talk. Social software generally refers to software that makes collaborative behaviour, the organisation and moulding of communities, self-expression, social interaction and feedback possible for individuals. Another element of the existing definition of social software is that it allows for the structured mediation of opinion between people, in a centralized or self-regulating manner. The most improved area for social software is that Web 2.0 applications can all promote co-operation between people and the creation of online communities more than ever before. The opportunities offered by social software are instant connections and opportunities to learn. An additional defining feature of social software is that apart from interaction and collaboration, it aggregates the collective behaviour of its users, allowing not only crowds to learn from an individual but individuals to learn from the crowds as well. Hence, the interactions enabled by social software can be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collaboration tool</span> Tool that helps people to collaborate

A collaboration tool helps people to collaborate. The purpose of a collaboration tool is to support a group of two or more individuals to accomplish a common goal or objective. Collaboration tools can be either of a non-technological nature such as paper, flipcharts, post-it notes or whiteboards. They can also include software tools and applications such as collaborative software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image sharing</span> Publishing or transfer of photos online

Image sharing, or photo sharing, is the publishing or transfer of digital photos online. Image sharing websites offer services such as uploading, hosting, managing and sharing of photos. This function is provided through both websites and applications that facilitate the upload and display of images. The term can also be loosely applied to the use of online photo galleries that are set up and managed by individual users, including photoblogs. Sharing means that other users can view but not necessarily download images, and users can select different copyright options for their images.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Web 2.0</span> World Wide Web sites that use technology beyond the static pages of earlier Web sites

Web 2.0 refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture, and interoperability for end users.

A collaborative real-time editor is a type of collaborative software or web application which enables real-time collaborative editing, simultaneous editing, or live editing of the same digital document, computer file or cloud-stored data – such as an online spreadsheet, word processing document, database or presentation – at the same time by different users on different computers or mobile devices, with automatic and nearly instantaneous merging of their edits.

Collaborative product development (CPD) is a business strategy, work process and collection of software applications that facilitates different organizations to work together on the development of a product. It is also known as collaborative product definition management (cPDM).

Traction TeamPage is a proprietary enterprise 2.0 social software product developed by Traction Software Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island.

Cyn.in is an open-source enterprise collaborative software built on top of Plone a content management system written in the Python programming language which is a layer above Zope. Cyn.in is developed by Cynapse a company founded by Apurva Roy Choudhury and Dhiraj Gupta which is based in India. Cyn.in enables its users to store, retrieve and organize files and rich content in a collaborative, multiuser environment.

HCL Connections is a Web 2.0 enterprise social software application developed originally by IBM and acquired by HCL Technologies in July 2019. Connections is an enterprise-collaboration platform which aims to helps teams work more efficiently. Connections is part of HCL collaboration suite which also includes Notes / Domino, Sametime, Portal and Connections.

OnlyOffice, stylized as ONLYOFFICE, is a free software office suite and ecosystem of collaborative applications. It consists of online editors for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and PDFs, and the room-based collaborative platform.

ownCloud Free software for cloud computing

ownCloud, a Kiteworks Company, is a free and open-source software project for content collaboration and sharing and syncing of files in distributed and federated enterprise scenarios. It allows companies and remote end-users to organize their documents on servers, computers, and mobile devices and work with them collaboratively while keeping a centrally organized and synchronized state.

Cloud collaboration is a method of sharing and co-authoring computer files via cloud computing, whereby documents are uploaded to a central "cloud" for storage, where they can then be accessed by other users. Cloud collaboration technologies allow users to upload, comment and collaborate on documents and even amend the document itself, evolving the document. Businesses in the last few years have increasingly been switching to use of cloud collaboration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contentverse</span> Document management system

Contentverse is a document management system designed by Computhink, Inc. for use in businesses within various industries. Contentverse provides an in-depth filing structure for all files, including documents, images, PDF files, video, audio, and metadata. Documents can be scanned directly into the system or imported from other sources already on the hard drive, network, or cloud. Administrators have the ability to select which users have access to which data, and how they may interact with it. The software was originally released in 1998 as The Paperless Office. The name was changed to ViewWise in 2000 with the fourth major software update. With the launch of a new website built solely for the software in January 2013, the product was rebranded to Contentverse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Docs</span> Cloud-based word processing software

Google Docs is an online word processor and part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Docs is accessible via an internet browser as a web-based application and is also available as a mobile app on Android and iOS and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS.

Distributed Collaboration is a way of collaboration wherein participants, regardless of their location, work together to reach a certain goal. This usually entails use of increasingly popular cyberinfrastructure, such as emails, instant messaging and document sharing platforms to reduce the limitations of the users trying to work together from remote locations by overcoming physical barriers of geolocation and also to some extent, depending on the application used, the effects of working together in person. For example, a caller software that can be used to bring all collaborators into a single call-in for easier dissemination of ideas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collabora Online</span> Online office suite based on LibreOffice

Collabora Online is an open source online office suite built on LibreOffice technology, enabling web-based collaborative real-time editing of word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and vector graphics. Optional apps are available for desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Chromebooks.

References

  1. ↑ The Cloud, Day 10: Storing Data in the Cloud. PCWorld. Retrieved on 2013-08-10.
  2. ↑ How To Mark Up Documents In The Cloud - Social Business - Document. Informationweek.com (2011-11-03). Retrieved on 2013-08-10. Archived 2012-01-16 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ SkyDox aims to reduce email. SPTechWeb (2011-08-18). Retrieved on 2013-08-10. Archived 2011-12-24 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Play tag with your team. | Blog". Archived from the original on 2012-01-02. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  5. ↑ "12 file sharing best practices for secure collaboration | TechTarget". Content Management. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
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