Adventures in collaborating

Google Docs strikes me as an excellent repository of combined work but it’s a little disconcerting to create a document from scratch on GD. Speaking as a card carrying control nut (Princeton Plainsboro chapter) it is difficult to make works in progress available for all to see. There seem to be no social rules for creating a group project. Is it ok to edit something you didn’t write?

So it seems the thing to do is to divvy up the workload, create a document on your own, then upload it to GD. In this regard, it makes good sense to have several sets of eyes to edit work. As a matter of fact I would advocate that people working on group projects in an academic setting should take full advantage of GD. As a student of SCILS I’ve been involved in several group projects and taking advantage of GD would have been a real asset. I also think it would be advantageous to faculty who are burdened with various versions of project software that often makes for headaches. Additionally, allowing faculty access to the project in GD for insights or recommendations would be extremely helpful.