Collaborating

This page is an informal guide to resources for collaborating with others online. An emphasis is placed on software that is reliable, easy and quick to set up. Obviously, security features are necessary sometimes, but this page does not focus overly on this aspect.

Audio and video communication

Skype

An obvious initial option is Skype which offers decent audio and video communications between up to ten persons. The downsides are that it is proprietary and that it requires both installation and registration/log in.

EVO

EVO is the preferred communications software of the ATLAS collaboration. It offers audio, video and other (screen sharing) facilities, so it is quite versatile. The downside is that it requires registration/log in. It requires JAVA on the machine running it, but only a quick download is required to run it. There's no extensive installation required. It works sometimes.

Google+

A Google+ hangout offers audio and video communication. It requires no major installation (perhaps a browser extension might be required depending on the browser accessing it). A downside is that registration is required (i.e., a Gmail account is required).

Quick instructions

• Go to a Google+ profile page. https://plus.google.com/
• On the right, under the "Hangouts" heading, click the green "Start a hangout" button.
• A new window should pop up, in which audio and video (from a webcam) are interfaced.
• Enter/paste Gmail addresses directly into the "Who do you want to hang out with?" entry field as necessary.
• Click the green "Hangout" button.
• A URL is sent to all those added to the hangout.

Collaborating on code

PrimaryPad

PrimaryPad offers a very simple and easy way for people to look at and edit the one page of code online. Line numbers appear by the code and different text highlighting is attributed to each user.

Quick instructions

• Go to http://primarypad.com/.
• Click "Create new Pad".
• Circulate the URL in the browser's address bar.

Collaborating using scribbles

Scriblink

Scriblink offers a very simple and easy way for people to look at and write on the same virtual whiteboard. Obviously, a tablet computer, a Wacom tablet or something similar is preferred for interfacing with this whiteboard.

Quick instructions

• Go to http://www.scriblink.com/.
• Under the "Invite Others" heading, click "Get URL" to view the URL for the whiteboard used.
• Circulate the URL.

-- WilliamBreadenMadden - 2011-08-23