November 3
Collaborative Editing Tools
11:00am - 12:00pm
Bass Library L01 (lower level of the library)
In recent years a number of very powerful tools have become available to enable collaborative work and collaborative writing and editing. Scott Matheson, Web Manager at the Yale University Library, will talk about the work the Library has begun recently with Sharepoint, a collaboration tool from Microsoft, to make documents and lists available to workgroups. The tool is flexible and integrates well with existing desktop tools like Outlook, Excel and Word. See how you can use some of the tools in Sharepoint (also available from Yale ITS) to work with groups on editing documents and tracking lists.

Michael Farina, Senior Lector in Italian, will discuss a number of collaborative text editing tools beyond the Library’s Sharepoint software. He will introduce a number of alternatives and solutions for collaborative writing, including TextFlow, DocVerse, EtherPad, doingText, WriteWith, WriteBoard, and TokBox. Alternatives such as these have finally allowed us to move beyond sharing documents through email for the coordination and editing of collaborative writing and co-authored articles.

QR Codes are two-dimensional bar codes hat contain any alphanumeric text and often feature URLs that direct users to sites where they can learn about an object or place (a practice known as “mobile tagging”). Codes can provide tracking information for products in industry, routing data on a mailing label, or contact information on a business card.

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses the electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit signals. RFID systems can be used just about anywhere, from clothing tags to missiles to pet tags to food — anywhere that a unique identification system is needed. The tag can carry information as simple as a pet owners name and address or the cleaning instruction on a sweater to as complex as instructions on how to assemble a car. Some auto manufacturers use RFID systems to move cars through an assembly line. At each successive stage of production, the RFID tag tells the computers what the next step of automated assembly is.