Module 4 - SLP
The network as "somewhere else": everything as a service and the idea of "the cloud"
In this module, you are to try out a free cloud-based application – Writeboard [http://writeboard.com/]. It’s basically a collaboration tool. As their website says:
"Writeboard makes it easy to...
Write without fear of losing or overwriting a good idea
Compare different versions of a document
Collaborate with colleagues on copy, proposals, memos, etc.
Subscribe to documents via RSS and be notified of changes
Keep your writings organized with Backpack integration
Writeboard is perfect for...
Authors, journalists, PR folks, editors, and publishers
Bloggers or freelance/independent writers
Letter writers, songwriters, poets, comedians, creatives
Students, professors, and groups collaborating on a paper"
It is used entirely online, so there is nothing to download. However, if you do encounter any difficulties accessing or using the tool, there is an alternative assignment available here; however, before you opt for it, please confirm your choice with your professor!
As the project assignment for this module, you are to:
Identify someone with whom you’d like to collaborate on something involving writing. It might be a work colleague, a friend, a family member – as a last resort, if you haven’t anyone else, let your professor know and s/he will be your collaborator. Preferably, this would be someone with whom you’ve collaborated on some joint project in the past using non-Writeboard tools.
With your collaborator, pick out some written activity that would involve you both. Sign yourselves up for a free Writeboard account. Then use Writeboard to iterate on your project a couple of times back and forth, hopefully making progress.
When you’ve had some experience with Writeboard, please prepare a short review describing:
The nature of your collaborative project and the person you were working with
your experiences with using Writeboard to accomplish your project
a brief summary evaluation of what you see as its strengths, its limitations, and its value relative to other forms of collaboration on projects. To the degree possible, it would help if your review could discuss this tool relative to previous collaborations with your present comrade; if this is the first time you’ve worked with this particular person, then you should use as your basis for comparison previous collaborative projects undertaken with others.
Your overall assessment of the value of using “cloud-based” collaboration tools, relative to collaboration using computer-based applications such as WordÒ and email and/or telephone and/or face-to-face interaction.
The last point in the report format above is very important. Be honest and direct; your assessment is helpful to you and to others. If you don't find it helpful, say so and why, and try to explain what you would find more useful in its place. But also do try to remember also that your education isn't yet finished, that things you don't understand now and don't yet see the value of may turn out later on to be relevant and useful, and that the site's creators may know more about this than you do yet.
You may also want to consider possibilities for using social media to document and summarize your experiences here, as in the previous module's assignment.
SLP Assignment Expectations
LENGTH: 2-3 pages typed and double-spaced
The following items will be assessed in particular:
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The degree to which you have carried out the assignment completely, or clarified why you could not and investigated alternatives
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Your ability to describe your experiences clearly and draw conclusions from them, not just narrate events
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Your ability to focus on the overall purposes of the assignment, not just its specific steps