Posts Tagged “Google Docs”
Collaborative Writing
by andystew on June 27, 2011
Google Docs really does kick arse for collaborative writing! Our team have been asked to contribute a book chapter to the upcoming ‘Digital Information Review’ so we decided to use Google Docs to make a start.
We actually decided that it would be useful to do this in the same room so we booked out a meeting room and set away. The discussion feature within Google Docs is fantastic but we felt being in a room together would help us focus and just add to the dynamics of what we were doing.
It certainly did. We had a synopsis of what we should be writing about and so all chose an area we were comfortable with and had taken a lead on in the past. It took us approx. 90 minutes to write 3,000 words at a decent standard. Given this was something our team were quite worried about, in that we had quite a tight turn around for it, this felt like a huge weight off our shoulders.
The fact that we were working together at the same time actually made it quite fun too. We could see edits others were making, examples of what we were all writing, things people weren’t happy with and therefore making the page jump up on down by deleting content. I really recommend small teams giving it a go.
Next steps are for one person to lead on reviewing the content and ensuring there’s a consistent style used throughout. Slight tangent but the service I work for are beginning to use The Guardian’s style guide which is extremely useful! Anyway, top marks to Google Docs - collaboration at it’s best :-)
Minute Taking with Google Docs
by andystew on May 19, 2010
I work in a team of three with quite a broad range of activities to undertake and so time is a precious commodity. We have a weekly team meeting where we discuss the latest news, updates and future commitments; with no administrative support to take notes and synthesise actions. Having a meeting that lasts an hour, sometimes taking the same again to write up and prepare for is an absolute waste of time.
To get around this problem our team began using Google Docs. We have one version of our minutes which is in perpetual beta (constant development). Our team updates this document as and when things happen during the week. When we get to the team meeting we have an almost complete document, and one that is much richer than quickly filling it in five minutes before the meeting is due to begin.
After an in-depth discussion about what we’ve been up to, we finalise the minutes with actions. A copy of the minutes is saved as a PDF and stored on a shared drive (or space). We name each file using the same naming convention YYYY MM DD ‘Team Name’ Team Meeting – Minutes.pdf, the reason being so that you can order by date neatly in folder view on the shared drive. This acts as a firm record for future reference although we could always use the history control if required ;-)
Top Five Tools of 2009
by andystew on January 19, 2010
It’s weird looking back over the year and reflecting on how you’ve progressed as an individual. 2009 for me was one of improved productivity, due mainly to the use of a number of online/offline/soft/hard tools. In this post I’ll highlight my top five: Read the rest of this entry »
