Tuesday 6 September 2011

Thing 13 - Google Docs, Wikis, and Dropbox

Google Docs: Google again! Praise Google. But be careful with Google because things you put in their systems are subject to their copyright which, last I heard, gives them rights to anything you shove in Google Docs. Some workplaces think Google Docs are awesome without realizing that they aren't copyright secure. So, as always, mind what you do with Google and cover your ass.

Wikis: I love these. Wikis are beautiful. It's like having knowledgeable monkeys at typewriters happily updating about things they love. Granted, it means Pasqualina is a fine Irish name, but these things happen.

Here is some advice about setting up a wiki: use templates and make rules about appearance. My experience with wikis has generally been through hobbies. While wikis allow multiple people to update, those people mostly have different ideas about what looks good on a page. They like to be different, so there will be different background colours, different fonts, thirty million pictures, unnecessary banners, and a whole host of other design 'features' that look like crap. Templates, templates, templates. It may seem draconian to limit the maximum pixel size and number of images allowed, but these things can and will be abused. Even if you're in love with the idea of multiple people editing a webwork of pages (like I am, I would marry it but I don't think it's interested in me), you want those pages to look the same. A wiki needs to be a unified whole even if it has a bunch of different writers. This means moderation and upkeep. The less control you keep over your wiki, the less professional it looks and the harder it is to navigate.

Dropbox: This one I don't know. The little video presentation in the CPD23 post is behaving oddly for me, so I'll just say this: this sounds like a great idea! I like the part where multiple copies aren't floating around. I'm not sure how it deals with various file formats/compatibility issues. Is there a limit to file size? Is this going to lead to music file sharing? What's the copyright like? I'm tempted to set one up now, but I have no idea what I'd put in it to share so I think I'll pass and try to remember this in the future.

What do you use your Dropbox for? Have you ever contributed to or maintained a wiki?

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