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:
Large Blue have created a beautiful web application for the Super Contemporary exhibition currently showing at the Design Museum.The Collabregator maps the connections of London’s creative community.It invites designers to add their past collaborations and see how they link to other projects and individuals/companies on the interactive site.
It’s a great way of showing ‘six degrees of separation’ in the creative sector, showcasing past projects and connections, and even to check out the credentials of potential collaborators.
Being creative doesn’t just happen between 9am and 5pm – you can’t switch it on and off. Good ideas come at the most unexpected moments, and that spark of inspiration can happen spontaneously. So when you’re working on a project within a team, how can you capture that creative spark and share it almost instantly?
