• On a smarter planet, inter-connectivity goes beyond connecting computers and smart devices.
• ocial networking technologies has now shifted the focus to people networks: It's as much about and relationships as it is about the technologies.
• People are using social networking in staggering numbers. The world currently spends 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites per month. This equates to 22 percent of all time spent online.¹
• They are integrating social collaboration capabilities into their strategies, operations, and processes.
• Berlitz Corporation is using portal, social networking software for business, and real-time collaboration solutions to break down traditional communication boundaries and to accelerate the development of higher quality products
• Construction firm VCC empowers project managers with a social collaboration solution from IBM that contributes to a 40 percent year-over-year increase in new business.
• Celestica has identified a US $40 million savings opportunity.
• According to IBM, 95 percent of what are termed standout organizations will focus more on getting closer to the custome

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• Cloud computing means that users can access a server using, for example, a desktop computer, net book, note book, or even a smart phone.
• Online business applications, productivity, and collaboration applications are provided and managed by a cloud service provider and your data is stored, accessed and updated remotely.
• tremendous benefits for the small/medium enterprise such as increased productivity and cost savings.
• Zoho Corp is one such cloud service provider and users subscribing to their services do not need to download and install the applications on their devices or computers and the processing and storage is maintained by Zoho Corp.
• 
     

  An excellent example of what you can do with a cloud productivity
• you can provide a presentation from your desk to a prospect who is at the antipodal point from where you are and all you need is the Internet and a browser
• Or you can make your presentations public by embedding them in your blog or website so that you can drive more traffic to your online presence.
  
• And with Zoho productivity applications you can be more productive using Online Note Taker, Online Organizer, Online Spreadsheets, Online Presentation Tool, and the Online Word Processor.

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• Collaborate with anyone globally - anywhere, anytime, on any device
• Increase productivity with an engaging, interactive meeting experience
• • Improve day-to-day efficiencies and streamline meeting activities
   
  • Save time and money by reducing the need to travel
• Cisco WebEx solutions help minimize costs and optimize IT resources.

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• Collaboration tools like instant messaging, presence management, and enterprise social networks can facilitate the flow of communication within an organization and with customers, shortening the time it takes to share information and make decisions.
• "work smarter". Collaboration can also offer hard financial benefits that organizations cannot afford to ignore.
• But SIP trunking can also offer important cost savings benefits in terms of reduced administration and infrastructure.
• can cut communication rates by 25 to 75%
• fewer interconnection points results in a r
• eduction in maintenance costs, training and simpler administration
• Cisco employee could sit down at a desk, log into the unit and access all of their preferences, including speed dial numbers, greetings and more.
• Cisco did away with dedicated workspaces wherever it was practical, especially in the case of salespeople and teleworkers. This allowed them to significantly reduce real estate costs per person–the company's second largest expenditure–as well as cabling, furniture and other expenses.
• On average, you can expect savings on the order of $8,000 to $16,000 per year for every home-based teleworker.
• Many organizations choose to bring teleconferencing and web conferencing in-house when moving to SIP. Doing so has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on conferencing fees.
• There are three categories of video communication: desktop, videoconferencing and telepresence
• Desktop video is great for impromptu meetings, but telepresence has become so clear and life-like–right down to creating the illusion of direct eye contact–that it's a viable alternative to travel.
• Less travel does translate into less cost, but organizations find that the biggest benefit of telepresence lies in making better use of the most precious of resources: time
• One characteristic of collaboration tools is that they tend to unify disparate systems
• The result: efficiency climbs while maintenance and updating costs decrease.
• Collaboration solutions may cut costs, but they also have a direct effect on productivity metrics, as well as increasing businesses' overall agility.
• Collaboration tightens up response times, reduces the number of steps required in many processes, and can greatly reduce the time it takes to find internal resources of all kinds.

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• Comments

   

     

       

   

   

     

    This is the third in a series of sustainability case studies developed by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

   

    As federal a
• gencies dramatically scale back on conferences, training and employee travel to reduce costs, some leaders worry about the effect new austerity policies will have on collaboration and communication.
• Defense Connect Online, a Web-based communications platform, is demonstrating that collaboration can thrive in a world of slashed travel budgets
• Adding to the challenge is the fact that DoD's mission requires that it operate separate systems for classified and unclassified communications.
• The Defense Information Systems Agency is addressing the challenge with a suite of Web-based tools that allow users to collaborate anytime from virtually anywhere, on classified and unclassified networks
• the system also has proven to be a powerful tool for achieving other goals, including reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions
• But as pressure grows to reduce travel costs and energy consumption

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• Virtual communities show how online creative collaborations can enhance creative opportunities by sustaining productive networks amongst users.
• At the level of the individual, of course not.
• However, at the systemic level, our investment in the internet for these purposes can lead to a more creative society in general – or, at least, a society with increased creative output.
• In Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky (2008) discusses how recent technological innovations mark an all time high in our “expressive capability”
• growth of Wikipedia.
• pointed out that the photograph transformed our conceptualizations of art (224), so too has the evolution of the wiki form in Shirky’s eyes changed our conceptions of knowledge from individualized to consensus-bound.
• Weak ties, in this case, would refer to editors that have made minimal contributions and have not actively associated with other members of the Wikipedian community.
• Creative individuals must produce significant amounts of work to increase their chances of producing a highly innovative piece.
• With that said, it would be naïve to think that such a hub does not present challenges to creativity and the creative process as well.
• When using the internet for purposes of creativity, it’s important to keep searching for new online outlets for collaboration while securing a level of comfort and trust in an online community that the creator can depend upon. In doing so, any creator would be using the network architecture of the internet to his or her advantage.

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• Advertisement feature

                  

      

               

                                       

   

           

           

         

      

          

        

  A new era in creative collaboration

     

  Thanks to
• the web, it's easier than ever to collaborate on exciting, unique projects with other artists. Inspiration, feedback and even financial backing is all just a click away
• Thanks to the web, people across the globe whose paths might never have crossed can weave together their ideas to create unique stories, drawings, films and much, much more
• find each other on social networking sites such as Twitter, or in dedicated spaces such as Carnegie Hall's online meeting place for students and established musicians, there are very few limits to what can be achieved.
• challenge norms
• The Necklace,
• British fantasy author Silvia Hartmann wrote a novel live in Google Docs
• Fans could see it being created – word by word – and offer suggestions for character development, plot and vocabulary.
• He then invited them to create illustrations and films to bring his tales to life
• The Calender of Tales would evolve in a unique wa
• Multimedia collaborations like this are now possible thanks to a massive range of specially designed websites, platforms and apps designed to make life easier for creatives who want to make the most of others' minds
• Cage, Scribbler and Conceptboard
• Framebench is an interface that allows people to design, edit, email and speak about the same piece of work in one place
• Soundcloud, Acidplanet and Kompaz
• Sketchshare app and draw while their contemporaries watch and feedback.
• with the people you want to engage with
• IdeaScale to brainstorm
• don't have the cash, Kickstarter is the site for you
• Rob Thomas, creator of cult TV show Veronica Mars, secured $2m in less than a day to make a film version
• From generating ideas to financing them, producing the content to working out where to take it next, the internet is facilitating collaboration in a way that has never been before possible.
• never been a better time to be creative

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• Work more efficiently with visual content.
• better collaboration in teams and projects by visualizing ideas, drafts and feedback processes
• communicate with your team, clients and suppliers by reducing misunderstands and your email amount.
• Conceptboard simplifies and improves collaboration on visual content and accelerates collaboration processes within your team

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• Thanks to the Internet we can find people that share the same interests as us.
• easier and nowadays people use it to find work, friends, dates and many other things.
• One of the best examples is collaborative web design teams.
• Gathering several web designers in one place gives you a wide array of ideas and knowledge,
• “Two heads are better than one”.
• The combination of their skills, experience and knowledge will allow them to avoid big mistakes, come up with better ideas and deliver a more qualitative final product.
• Some members of the team will specialize in HTML while others in Photoshop graphics or CSS styles.
• you can’t do your job in a short amount of time.
• Working on a project alone has several advantages, but one huge disadvantage –
• working in a team is that you can meet deadlines and spread all the work evenly
• Being part of a team will allow you to work on multiple projects at once
• Working with several designers at once will take the best of each style
• Working with other people allows you to learn from their experience and knowledge.
• Meaningless how rich your imagination is you’ll reach a point where you won’t be able to come up with anything original and interesting.
• Designers also use various effective tools to give their ideas a new life by sharing in a collaborative environment. Here are discussed some useful tools for collaborative web design

• success designer are using today.

   

  1) Marqueed
• collaborative design tool to upload and share images. Images can be added with label and descriptions.
• canvasdropr can be used to share files.
• feedback on images shared among designers
• This tool is specifically designed to support collaborative web designing projects so it can be considered a must-have in collaborative design toolbox.
• collaboration by sharing concepts and ideas, managing projects and getting productive feedback to conclude the actual concept.
• Binfire as a powerful collaborative tool for effective project management.
• designed for group activity
• collaborative web design is being used for making websites got easier.

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• While developing eective teamwork and collaboration skills are considered important to the learning process,many students nd group work challenging and dicult. In this e
• pisode we explore how Internet technologiescan improve the collaborative process within online teamwork, and oer some useul strategies or acilitationand assessment.
• “

   

   There is a movement at the moment to think about how Internettechnologies can make group work more eective, perhaps less timeconsuming, any maybe a little more transparent, or airer to the studentsthat are participating in the group.

   

   ”
• Tone o voice, acial expressions, body language are dramatically diminishedin the online contex
• Group work is increasingly regarded as an essential skill or graduates, thereore developing eectiveteamwork and collaboration skills are important to a student’s learning process, and reect the dynamicso the typical work environment that students will eventually enter.
• Working in teams assists studentsin developing their problem solving, communication and critical thinking skills, and allows them theopportunity to work with and learn rom their peers
• Online teamwork provides unique opportunities or students to collaborate withothers rom dierent cities, countries, cultures, disciplines and institutions
• Since team discussions and contributions can take placeasynchronously  , studentsare able to contribute at a time and place that is convenient to them
• The Internet can make the collaborative process more transparent.Most online collaborative technologies includingWeb 2.0examples such aswikis ,Wiggio , and Huddle , leave records o what individual members have contributed. This makes it is easy or teachers to monitor theteam’s progress, as well as the quality and requency o each team member’s contribution
• The online environment provides students living with a disability or accessibility issue, the opportunity to participate more easily and equally
• Online contexts allow team members to easily review, provideeedback, and assess one another’s work, and how other team members have perormed within the group
• Teamwork skills are considered increasingly important in the student’s learning process. While the principlesor acilitation o good teamwork are much the same or online contexts as they are or ace-to-aceenvironments, understanding how online communication works, and the benets that Internet technologiescan oer, can create unique opportunities or collaboration, assessment and engagement.

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• focusing less on the single-author research that characterized the discipline in the recent past.
• found that in 1970, nearly two-thirds of the papers were by single authors
• and more than 90 percent were by one or two authors
• 2008, a slight majority of papers were published by more than one author, with more than 20 percent coming from more than two authors.
• the growth in multiple author papers has been consistent
• “successful collaboration efforts have greater potential to produce superior scholarship.”
• “often create working groups around research programs of great scope, depth, and breadth, and have access to more extensive opportunities for funding.
• It simply makes sense to bring to bear two or more minds, complimentary abilities, and vetting into the project.
• wo people working together can find synergies and produce more scholarship than they would alone. 

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• Was it possible, he wondered, for a large number of mathematicians to collaborate openly on the Internet, pooling their ideas around a single problem?
• would it be easier, more efficient, more fun?
• To get the conversation started, he told people about ideas he’d had that he thought might work
• but, he said, he’d never quite managed to push the ideas through on his own, nor to convince himself that the approach was fatally flawed.
• The theorem Gowers asked everyone to collaborate on is a special case of the “Density Hales-Jewett” theorem.
• The Density Hales-Jewett Theorem says that as the number of dimensions gets higher, you have to remove a higher and higher percentage of squares to block a win. For very high dimensions, you have to remove practically all of the squares.
• The theorem had already been proved, but mathematicians have found the proof a bit wanting.
• The result was that most mathematicians (including Gowers) couldn’t even follow it.
• There was another reason to be excited about finding a new proof: If it were fully general, it would imply a result known as Szemerédi’s theorem, which is a cornerstone of combinatorics. And while Szemerédi’s theorem had already had a number of proofs, each new proof so far had provided key insights that had opened up new areas of math.
• He didn’t aim to solve the problem, just to know whether the particular strategy he proposed was workable.
• Gowers set a few simple ground rules: comments should be short and as easy to understand as possible, incomplete ideas were particularly welcome, technical work should be delayed until clearly needed, etc.
• (he eventually got his students working on the problem, too)
• “It was extremely enjoyable,” he says, “but somewhat addictive.”
• But over time, a promising approach emerged
• the team found the solution.
• “It was a genuinely new type of solution with surprising aspects and ingredients,”
• It turns out their proof for the case of a grid with three squares on a side generalized to any number of squares. So they had a simple proof of the full density Hales-Jewett theorem and, along with it, a new proof of Szemerédi’s theorem.
• An ordinary collaboration, however, almost certainly wouldn’t have come up with a solution so quickly. “It felt like the difference between driving a car and pushing it,” Gowers says.

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• the use of online tools to transform the way science is done.”
• Why is mass online collaboration useful in solving mathematical problems?
• learn a great deal from people with complementary knowledge
• consider ideas in directions they wouldn’t have considered on their own
• ideas can be rapidly improved by many minds.
• This speeds up the problem-solving process, and expands the range of problems that can be solved by the human mind.
• more conversations, quicker feedback.
• might indicate that humans are, as individuals, less intelligent than they were 20,000 years ago. (Alternatively, though, it may mean that our “wiring” has become more efficient).
• human brains have been shrinking for the last 20,000 years
• concentrated in one place
• power in the intelligence of groups that I think is sorely underestimated
• criticisms of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences is that important work is generally done by research teams – not individuals
• we have a tendency to focus on individuals, like Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison
• they have a tendency to forget that those individuals were often working in collaboration with a variety of different people and groups. It’s small teams of people, working on common goals, that truly drive discovery, invention, and innovation.
• pair of amateur American chess players using three computers at the same time
• Their skill at manipulating and “coaching” their computers to look very deeply into positions effectively counteracted the superior chess understanding of their grandmaster opponents and the greater computational power of other participants
• two heads are better than one, especially when they harness more than one computer.
• As long as we embrace that action and openness, and avoid turning back to the walled gardens of closed systems and further specialization, I believe that we can find ourselves in a new Renaissance
• That’s because we have at our disposal the greatest tool for problem solving in history – human minds that can collaborate with each other no matter where they are located.

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