Spotlight

No. 12

January 10, 2000

Technology:

TeamWave Workplace

In the two years since I tried TeamWave Workplace for the first time, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. It's a real puzzle: it's one of those really innovative collaboration tools that should be winning really big in the marketplace, but aren't, and I can't quite figure out why... Maybe it's the somewhat dated, Spartan interface that feels more like a mockup than a finished product. Maybe it's the tendency of the collaborative space to become cluttered rather quickly. Maybe it's the price, which seems suspiciously low in comparison to the tens of thousands of dollars charged by the competition for very similar products. (Haven't we all learned that "you get what you pay for"?). Whatever it is, I still think that TeamWave Workplace deserves more attention that it is currently getting.

What's quite unique about TeamWave Workplace is the way it seamlessly blends and leverages its impressive array of synchronous and asynchronous tools. It does that within clearly identifiable areas of virtual space it calls "Rooms", although their closest counterpart in the physical world would be a magnetic whiteboard, on which anyone could not only write and draw, but also place documents, photographs, notes, schedules, and many other objects. There are, however, good reasons for calling such a two-dimensional space a room rather than a whiteboard; the main is that we came to associate online whiteboards as ephemeral spaces, brought up when needed, used by two or more people within a time span of an online meeting, and then discarded as soon as the meeting is over. In contrast to that, whiteboard spaces in TeamWave are persistent; any scribble, any file, any object once placed there will stay regardless of whether anybody is looking at it or not. This allows asynchronous collaboration, while supporting synchronous work all the same: whenever at least two users are present in the same room, they'll see each other's actions in real time and, if need be, evoke Netmeeting for audio- and videoconferencing.

The list of objects that may be placed in a room is indeed quite impressive; some are external to the room and can simply be uploaded there: Web links, files, images. Most, however, are created right on the spot, with the help of integrated Tools; those include: simple databases, calendars, flowcharts, address books, discussion boards, voting sheets, and, of course, text and freehand scribbles. Fine-grained access control can restrict other authorized visitors to the room from changing or deleting any of these objects, or allow them full authoring rights. Unfortunately, TW Workplace is not browser based and thus requires prior installation of a client on user's machine. The good news is that the client is available for multiple platforms, including the often neglected (MacOS), fairly obscure (AIX), and newcomers (Linux).

TeamWave Workplace is a server-client package and a Canadian invention, that started as a project at the University of Calgary in 1997. Its current release (version 4.3) is available for a really modest price of $399 for 10 users or $1,499 for 50 users, with substantial discounts for educational institutions. I strongly encourage you to download the free client and experience most of its impressive functionalities via the test server that's up and running at all times.

TeamWave Workplace (click on a thumbnail):

Persistent whiteboard (Room)

For more information please visit TeamWave's site or search the ACT database of Groupwork Tools.

Initiatives:

egroup

egroup (formerly known as Technology Project) "is dedicated to accelerating social and political progress by building technological capacity for community collaboration and citizen engagement. [it] encourages and enables foundations, advocacy groups, and leading activists to use technology to achieve their goals, to increase participation from interested constituencies, and achieve change more quickly than by traditional organizing and advocacy methods alone." Its programs are targeted at citizen-based, nonprofit organizations focusing on the environment, economic justice, public participation, and governmental efficiency. Most of these groups are grantees of a handful of foundations which support egroup.

Major initiatives include:

eriders (formerly known as Circuit Riders): technologists that work with a select group of organizations to educate key nonprofit leadership about the benefits of technology and assist nonprofits in designing and implementing solutions that help them achieve their missions.
ebase: free relationship management database application available to nonprofits as an alternative to commercial database software packages.
emediacy, which seeks to develop and implement strategic, innovative, internet-based campaigns and projects that expand the current uses of communication and information technology to engage people.

More information about egroup can be obtained by sending e-mail to the Managing Director Lisa Dill at ldill@egroup.org

Conference:

Stop Surfing - Start Teaching 2000

National Conference on Teaching and Learning Through the Internet
Held February 20-23, 2000 in Charleston, SC
Higher education is involved in a technological and instructional revolution that will most assuredly change the way colleges and universities meet their teaching, research and service missions. The power of the web has broken down the traditional barriers of distance, time, and place. Confronting today's leadership are a myriad of new issues that will redefine the way teaching and learning occur. Institutions that seize these opportunities and successfully meet new challenges will be propelled to the forefront of higher education. The conference program committee has determined that the focus of the conference will be on ideas and solutions as opposed to technical demonstrations. Participants will include higher education faculty, academic staff and administrators, student services professionals, marketing directors and consultants who are committed to launching their campus onto the information superhighway.

(Its somewhat cheesy title notwithstanding, the 1999 iteration of this conference was among the best I attended on the subject of online learning; lots of no-nonsense practitioners with lots of interesting stories from the front lines. A real gem.)

Online event:

First Course in Centra 99

Held 11 A.M.-12 P.M. EST, Mondays and Fridays
This session introduces new Centra 99 participants to the participant interface and to the tools that might be used during a Centra 99 session. Participants have the opportunity to use the tools and to experience a typical session.
Registration fee: none
Technical requirements:

PC running Windows 95/98
Speakers/headphones and a good quality microphone
Centra Symposium client (free, available for download)
Java-enabled browser
At least 56K connection to the Internet

She said, he said:

"Those with engineering skills will build tomorrow's genius computers. But those with the ability to create knowledge of any kind will be the ones who are best able to extract great value from them. The way to create value in the age of genius machines will be to compile and disseminate knowledge that other people will find useful." - Ray Kurzweil