Ahh, THE END

After a quick 6 weeks this roadtrip through cyberspace is about over. This has definately expanded my horizons as far as internet-based tools for productivity and collaboration.
At my work we have used an online forum for some time to communicate among us. We are many and so passing information from one to another so that we are all on the same page and working for the same cause is critical. I would say that our work forum is a mix between a wiki and a blog. At any rate, this class experience has opened my eyes to new possibilities.
For example, the next time I am assigned a group task, I think the use of a list-serve would be extremely useful to keep everyone on the same page. While I'm not yet sure how to create a wiki of my own, I think once that skill is developed, it could be a big hit at the office.
Several interesting points were raised during the class. The ideas of who is a trustworthy authority on the web and how ownership is assign using a web-based collaborative project were just a couple. Other minor issues like maintaining the "artistic flow" of a writing or preserving consistency in citing work were also considered.
I think that our biggest set back in the use of the wiki is rooted in everyone's sensitivity for another's work. It is truly difficult to begin editing and rearranging someone else's hard work. Given more time, I'm sure we would get over it and eventually really make things happen. The advantage to using a wiki for such editing: you don't have to look the other person in the eye or hear what they have to say at the point in time when you scramble their work (although you can always restore a page to a previous version).
Our area of online collaboration with the least use: Instant Messaging. I'm not the type of person to sign on to IM a great deal; however, I did try to sign on more frequently during this class. I think that this also, given more time, would have become a more popular form of communication. Some people (like my wife), would probably prefer IM to any other form of communication and simply think it is the bee's knees. I'm not that type of person.
It is facinating, when you think about it, how even a small introduction, a tid bit of confidence, can really jump start individuals into action. Natasha created a blog and her own webpage (among many other technical advances (no thanks to Comcast). Kevin started a blog for his work, the SCHFH. This is my first blog, and despite not figuring out why my computer dislikes my pictures, it was a small advance for me. I am tossing around the idea of a webpage of my own (we'll see).
All in all, I am pleased to have been a part of this pioneer ship and thankful to my classmates for all their hard work. It's been nice getting to know you (virtually) and I wish you each the best of luck.

Grrrr

I've been trying to add a silly picture to this blog with little success. Athough my classmates have offered suggestions on how to complete my mission, still I have failed. I'll keep working on it.

As we work now on the Government policies portion of the course, I'm beginning to realize just how difficult it can be to conform to all the regulations generated each year. With so many rules and regulations, it's clear how easily a small non-profit could fall behind in the government compliance department.

I can definately relate to comments in Kevin's blog about the crazy amount of knoweldge we have gained in just a few weeks. This is a great introduction to many of the internet tools that have great potential for online collaboration projects.

The making of a wiki

Now that week 4 is upon us, we are making our own wiki of sorts. This is definately an interesting project as everyone will be working on every other part of the wiki. In a way it is more difficult because instead of working on a single topic, we each really need to read up on all the topics so that we can contribute accross the board. Even still, the work within the wiki and creating the wikipedia is exciting. It's definately crunch time as I feel that more and more time will be required of us to appropriately contribute to the wikipedia.

Okay, Okay

I chose to start the work on the topic of password policies for our week 3 assignment. The reason I chose that topic is because my own place of work is implementing a new password policy on July 1st. It has been the topic of some discussion at work and I've heard some who are aprehensive about the change. My work involves people aged 21 - 55 and everyone has a need for a password (or actually 3-5).
Our current passwords are pretty lame, so I feel that it is a responsible decision to make things tougher. I'm pleased to have the chance to do some of the research on passwords and find that our new policy is grounded in what seems to be good information. I think our new policy is on par with some of the best recommendations I found on the net.
My creative muscle is weak from a lack of use, but it looks like I'll have to start a new workout regimine to generate smart passwords over the coming years.

When the internet just isn't big enough

I'm still attempting to research OpenOffice and open source software in general. My thought right now is that although the internet is a vast collection of data, it's sometimes hard to find the information you want or need in a location you feel you can trust.
Credibility is definately an issue when conducting research on the web. I've found myself googling names of authors to check on their credibility. However, then you have to realize that a given individual may manipulate what's out there in cyberspace about him or her.

My less intellectual reflection for today is that while online collaboration is nice, things like IM can really bog you down. I find that lots of people want to "collaborate" while I'm trying to get things done. Tools that can be used to increase productivity can also be abused and decrease productivity. How should managers deal with this? I have a feeling it will be a topic of future discussion in class. Stay tuned.

A free MS Office?? Wow

Since I've been working all week and weekend, it took until today for me to really delve into my technical question. I researched a product called OpenOffice. OpenOffice is an open source application which works much the same way as MS Office.
I've used and enjoyed MS Office since High School, but I have to admit that the idea of a free version of MS Office is really cool. Through my research I found that there may be some glitches along the way using OpenOffice, I'll bet for the average Joe, OpenOffice would work just fine.
While the prospect of OpenOffice is nice when thinking about a productivity suite for business or non-profit organizations, I'm really excited about the idea of such powerful software being free to all. It seems great that the software could be distributed to those less fortunate. I'm thinking that maybe organizations which make recycled computers available to the poor should distribute OpenOffice with the computer. Becoming familiar with OpenOffice will help those individuals transition smoothly to MS Office in the workplace.

Livin the Blog Life

I'm definately enjoying this class. I thought that I was fairly tech savy before the class, but I now realize that there's a ton I didn't know.
For example, I have never used a blog, didn't know a Wiki existed, and had never visited a chat room until just a few days ago. I can see how these tools are useful and fun. Most recently I learned that "Blog" was spelled with only one "g" instead of two "g's" (thanks, Pat).