In Scott Belsky’s new book, “Making Ideas Happen” (full review coming soon!), one section that struck a chord was the bit on how effective creative people organise their environments to ensure their ideas are put into action. One recurring theme is the use of the Post-it note - we all know how useful these gems are to jot down snippets of inspiration and things to remember, and keep them firmly in view.
But when you don’t share a physical space with your collaborators, is there an online equivalent? How can those titbits of information be shared with the whole team and displayed visually so that they’re not forgotten?
If you need to work on basic sketches (e.g. outlines, floor plans, flow diagrams) with your project team, there are some online tools available that are pretty useful.
Google Docs has added ‘Drawing’ as one of the file types that can be created (drawings can also be inserted into documents, spreadsheets and presentations). It’s very easy to start sketching away, and existing images can also be uploaded. Invite people to view and edit the file in the usual way, and download them as .png, .jpg, .svg or .pdf files.
For something more interactive and advanced, try Dabbleboard or Scribblar. Both offer real-time collaboration with supported chat functions.
In Scribblar, create a ‘room’ which you can invite people to by sending them a link. On sign-up you’re asked for your Skype username in case you want to use audio chat whilst working in the ‘room’ at the same time as other team members. Scribblar is completely free to create as many rooms as you like unless you want to embed them in your website or blog with your own branding.
Dabbleboard prides itself on an easy-to-use interface, which can automatically detect a shape you’re trying to draw when you provide a rough outline. Alternatively you can use freehand drawing or upload and annotate existing images. Again, invite your collaborators to the drawing area by sending them a link. Dabbleboard also offers voice and video chat for a project team (via Tokbox, a tool that supports free video chat for up to 20 people). There are additional services for paid-for accounts.
Bracket’s lunchtime workshop at THE CUBE was a great success, with lots of interesting discussion about effective creative collaboration using online tools. Questions were raised around approaching intellectual property and attribution, managing egos and how to encourage people to use online tools (when all they want to use is e-mail!).
Creative Boom London kindly wrote a fantastic review of the workshop which covers all of these points (and more) in detail.
Bracket’s session at Media Camp London 4 during Social Media Week generated lots of discussion about the best methods and tools for helping groups of creatives to get things done. It looked at how social media could be used to support collaborative working between artists and designers etc that are used to working independently, usually have autonomy over their work, are characteristically busy, and highly skilled in generating ideas. The aim of the session was to develop solutions for how to channel that creativity into tangible outcomes and how social media can be used to support the process along the way.
Google Docs now allows you to upload your existing files (including images) and invite others to view them. Additionally, Word, Excel and Powerpoint files can be converted to allow others to edit them. Not only does this make it easy to share your existing documents with your project team (a tidier alternative to e-mail), but acts as an online storage and backup function so that you can access all of your files from any computer with internet access (no need to carry around that USB stick!). Up to 1GB of space is available with charges for extra space.
An excellent alternative for online storage/backup is Dropbox, providing up to 2GB of space for free, with charges for more. Install the application to your desktop computer or laptop, and files will automatically be saved and updated across all of your devices (and online) when you edit or change them. There’s also a Dropbox iPhone app which works in the same way, enabling you to access files on the move. The feature Bracket finds most useful is the ‘share a folder’ function with other Dropbox users. The folder will appear across all of their devices too, and any changes they make to files are updated for everyone who also has access, making project collaboration effortless.
Naturally, because Bracket works in the area of social media, we often get asked questions on how creative businesses should be using online networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn etc. Although this is not entirely our focus, (e.g. these tools aren’t used to manage collaborative projects) we do see their value in helping to develop and build teams. They can play a large role in showcasing yourself as a potential and attractive collaborator.
Twitter is a great tool for connecting with people, finding out information and having conversations on an open network, but we’ve often wondered how to make effective use of it within a collaborative project for a smaller and defined group of participants.
Cue Shout’em, a new service that allows you to create your own ‘micro-blogging network’ (micro-blogging is the technical term for platforms like Twitter, which allow you to send instant and short status updates, e.g. 140 characters max, to people following you).
It looks like there’s been a hub of collaborative creative writing activity happening on the web this weekend!
A group of writers have set themselves up with the task to write and publish a book in just 24 hours using online tools to work together. The group has been using Google Docs to write and edit the document, as well as using Skype and face-to-face conversation to communicate, and have been updating us on their progress through their twitter profile.
Have you ever explored the applications under the “even more” tab in Google? There are a whole suite of tools that are great for use in collaborative projects. They’re not completely perfect, but they’re free, easy to use and provide a quick way to start online communication within a team:
