Web 2.0: Online Collaboration Software and Other Great Tools (download available)

As an online collaboration software vendor, we at GroveSite know a bit about Web 2.0!  I was recently asked to give an overview of 'Web 2.0 and Global Collaboration' for a California trade and economic development conference.  All in 30 minutes!  Undaunted, I tried to get my hands around how best to categorize the wealth of Web 2.0 technology tools, and then try to communicate that to an audience of small businesses, economic development agencies and trade organizations

By the way, if any of you are interested, you can access my Web 2.0 and Global Collaboration PowerPoint deck at http://www.slideshare.net/JaneHagen/web-20-and-the-world-of-global-collaboration-v2010.

Some folks say that Web 2.0 technologies have finally enabled the truly "Writable Web."  That means the information, or content, one can find on the web comes from all kinds of everyday people - business people, consumers, kids (especially kids).  Web content is no longer just the carefully groomed and proofread output of company marketers and their web programmers.

At GroveSite, we like to think of Web 2.0 technologies in three classes: User-generated content, collaborative, and social networking.   For the purposes of my address to this conference, I discussed:

• "User-generated' content
  •  Blogs
  • Podcasts, videos
• Collaborative
  • Web conferencing, desktop sharing 
  • Online workspaces/portals
  • Wikis
• Social Networking
  • Facebook 
  • Twitter 
  • Linked In 

  If you view the PPT, you can see examples of each technology, chosen from the economic development and trade industries.  I used GroveSite for examples of online workspaces/portals and wikis.  Check out a few GroveSite examples in this industry at:

  Shared Product Development Log: http://grovesite.com/grovedemos/pdlog

  Supplier Collaboration and Sample Tracking:  http://grovesite.com/grovedemos/designloft

  Online Communities:  Tradeport Collaborator:  http://grovesite.com/tradeport

  Online Communities:  CA Business Transportation and Housing Agency: http://grovesite.com/cabth/PIAC  

  And thank you for taking the time to peruse this.

New Features: Database Quick Edit and Quick Discussion Post

GroveSite's online collaboration software now includes Quick Edit and Quick Discussion Post features to further enhance its shared database functionality.  In GroveSite, you can create a simple online database of whatever information is important to your team or project.  This might be Work Orders, Sales Leads, Software Bugs, Permit Status, Construction RFIs, Vendor Quotes, a Product Development Log, Audit Issues and so forth.

The new Quick Edit enables you to edit multiple rows simultaneously;  once you have made your changes, just click Save once.  It's fast and easy.

As our users know, a great thing about GroveSite's database feature is that you can have a 'discussion' area associated with each and every row in the database.   So if your database is for issue tracking, members of the team can add notes, interim status, resolution options, and so forth.  You can also attach files to your comments.   The Quick Discussion Post allows you to enter a comment once, and attach it to multiple rows of the database.

See graphics and examples at the GroveSite Help Desk

McGrath joins GroveSite as CTO

Mr. Mike McGrath has joined GroveSite as Chief Technical Officer.  McGrath has over 17 years experience in the Information Technology industry with an emphasis on the development of complex business software.  Mr. McGrath comes from Countrywide Financial where he spent the last 3 years developing and supporting the Web Authentication System for the Countrywide Financial B2C / B2B websites. 

Mr. McGrath holds a M.S. in Computer Information Systems from Bellevue University and a B.S. in Finance from Peru State College.  In addition, he is a Microsoft .NET Certified Solution Developer.  "I'm very excited to join GroveSite, which is a proven leader in the Web Collaboration Software marketplace".

Software Update 2005-08-27

GroveSite is excited to announce a new personal "My Home" page for our users.  The new home page, which replaces the "My Sites" page, includes a dashboard view of updated content, calendar events, active tasks, and the familiar "My Sites" list.  The home page is fully customizable so that users can choose to include any or all of the new summary views using simple checkboxes in their "My Info" page.  Users will also have the option to display the home page as a popup or in a frame on the left for easy access.

The following enhancements were also included in this release:

• Manage Page Security - advanced feature for Site Administrators who use participant level page security within their sites
• Copy Enrollment - advanced feature to assist Organization Administrators who are managing hundreds of users and/or sites

GroveSite Customer Support
Phone: 866.952.9880
Email: customerservice@grovesite.com

Software Update 2005-06-20 GroveSite 4.0

GroveSite is pleased to announce the release of GroveSite 4.0 which includes these exciting features:

Project Plans
Task list pages have been enhanced to vastly improve the project planning process.  Project plans now include the functionality to:

• Flag milestones and show them on Calendar pages
• Show dependencies
• Track percent complete
• Highlight late tasks
• Check project plan for errors
• Display project Gantt chart
• Import from/Export to excel
• Share ongoing task updates and relevant files through an associated discussion thread

Search
GroveSite 4.0 offers search functionality for all users.  Using the new 'Search' button on the top navigation bar,users will be able to search the content of that site or any site where they have access.

Other

• File libraries will now thumbnail the first page of pdf and eps files to make finding a relevant file even easier.
• Popup date picker for date entry fields

GroveSite Customer Support
Phone: 866.952.9880
Email: customerservice@grovesite.com

Software Update 2005-05-07

Email notification updates.

Enhancements

• Hide Enrollee Names: New site setting for site administrators to hide enrollee names from participants.  If this setting is switched on, participants will no longer see the 'Custom Notification' option.  They will also no longer see the list of names if they use the other notification options.  This allows site administrators to give participants broadcast rights without fully exposing enrollee lists.
• Root Admin Broadcast: New feature for root admins that gives them the ability to email all the organization administrators. 

Software Update 2005-04-09

These updates were focused on improving the enrollment process.

Enhancements

• Enroll by Search: New feature that allows administrators to find existing users from other sites in their organization and enroll them into the current site.  Find this new option on the Site Administration page.  Organization Administrators will always see this feature.  Site administrators can also see this feature if allowed as an Organization option.  To set this option for your site administrators, contact GroveSite customer support.
• Enrollment: Clean up test on the enrollment pages to clarify the process. Add the ability to save the enrollment options (e.g. message, instructions, password) as site defaults.
• Table Schema Definition: Add some standard reges expressions for date, time and email to table definitions.
• Table Downloads/Reports: Performance tune table downloads and reports.

Bug Fixes

• Bulk Table Uploads: fix date format on uploaded records to match format of records created online

GroveSite Customer Support
Phone: 866.952.9880
Email: customerservice@grovesite.com