The e-Line #1:
New Paradigms for Collaboration

In late January, I joined delegates from Boston and New York, to Helsinki and Vancouver for the Collaborative Technologies & Processes 2002 Conference. One of the most interesting speakers I had the opportunity to benefit from was David Coleman, of San Francisco based Collaborative Strategies. His session, "Helping People Get It – Selling Collaboration Inside and Outside Your Organization", provided a fresh perspective, using a compelling case study to deliver the message. Coleman’s session was just what I needed to deepen my knowledge of collaborative technologies. This session alone made my participation worthwhile. All in all, I appreciated the access the conference gave me to industry experts and delegates with similar interests. In short, the right topics, the right speakers, and an event that was rich with resources.

Yet, I never left town.

Conducted entirely online, CTP 2002 offered me maximum flexibility. Although the last week of January was so busy I could barely fit in a networking coffee, let alone participate in a workshop, I thought the modest registration fee to this week long virtual conference offered outstanding value. I could connect from my office for the speakers I was most interested in and, frankly, whenever I had some windows in my schedule.

In a nutshell, here’s how it worked.

Like any conference, CTP 2002 featured a central gathering spot from which all activities and resources spun off. In this web-based space I could access announcements, a ‘virtual tote bag’, an event calendar, resource library, support tools, web links, and an attendee directory. Support was provided by the conference sponsors, iCohere (www.icohere.com) and GroupJazz (www.groupjazz.com)

In the Conference Hall, I could participate in a number of asynchronous discussion forums. The Introductions and Collaboration Café forums provided a great spot to raise general questions, and dialogue with other delegates and keynote speakers.

The conference used a wide range of technologies. Coleman, for example, delivered his presentation using PlaceWare (www.placeware.com). This was a fast paced, interactive session, and the slides were excellent. While Coleman was able to get to many of the audience’s questions during the session, one I had asked went unanswered due to time constraints. Imagine my delight at logging onto the site the day after and finding that he had responded to all the outstanding questions, including mine!

For the sessions that I was unable to attend, the archives were at my fingertips. Granted, I couldn’t participate in the real-time dialogue, but being able to listen to and view the whole session, was a close second. And if I had a question, I could join in the post session discussion forum with the speaker and other delegates. Although the conference has ended, I can still ‘drop by’ the conference site to review the discussion threads, download materials, print slides and replay keynotes I missed.

My motivation to register for the conference was only partially based on the content. I found the concept of a virtual conference compelling, and wanted to witness and experience the medium. Although I was not able to participate in as much of the event as I would have liked, I certainly met my goals. What a beautiful demonstration of the power of virtual tools, and how they are changing the face of learning and collaboration.

Collaborative technologies have been growing in use over a number of years, but the recent terrorist attacks in the United States, and the resulting impact on travel and the economy, have put the spotlight on what these tools can do for organizations.

Collaborative tools have many applications. The area I am personally most interested in is their application in online learning, and for developing learning communities. Other applications include conferences, business meetings, project management, document management, and knowledge management.

The true opportunities, of course, become apparent when you actually experiencing them yourself. It’s only when one experiences these tools firsthand that one can experience the paradigm shift that is needed to bring new possibilities onto one’s horizon.

Think of it this way. I have a colleague in New Zealand with whom I work with from time to time on e-learning projects. We’ve not only never met, but we haven’t spent a nickel on long distance. Yet I know Damian’s voice, he knows mine, we’ve seen each other’s smiling faces, and we have a pretty deep understanding of each other’s views, strengths and personalities. We’ve accomplished that exclusively through a text chat tool (iChat, www.ichat.com), a web-conferencing tool, (Centra, www.centra.com), and email. It’s something I often reflect on when I get behind the wheel of my car and set off on a 45 minute drive to a face-to-face meeting.

Resources on Collaboration

Although I am constantly exploring online resources, through this event I found some excellent resources I hadn’t been aware of before. That was worth the price of admission alone.

Collaborative and Knowledge Management Resource Center
http://www.collaboration-tools.com/tools.htm
This rich site includes quite a comprehensive listing of collaboration tools and software, sorted by category.

Online Community Report
http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com
All about online communities. I found "Top Ten Trends for Online Communities" an insightful article.

The website for David Coleman’s company, Collaborative Strategies (www.collaborate.com), includes a free organizational readiness tool, "Is Your Company Ready for Collaboration?".

Update: Since writing this e-Line, I have attended more iCohere's online conferences, and have written a more detailed review of the Collaborative Learning conference held in November 2002:
Collaborative Learning 2002 Review