Wikis, such as MediaWiki, are real-time pages on which users collaborate and continually link to other pages and create and add to page structures and hierarchies from any browser in any online environment. Through a common website, collaborators create and edit using a text-editing tool. Anyone can access and add to a wiki once it is created and is available online.
Document sharing is a popular way to collaborate on document-based projects. Once the document is shared for all collaborators to view, all can work in real time or asynchronously, without having to send and return documents among users. Collaborators make changes in the document-sharing space, such as Google Docs or Smartsheet, and changes occur instantly for viewing by all collaborators. As each collaborator makes changes, the document reflects those changes immediately.
Webinars are web-based seminars that provide collaborators with the real-time ability to work and share documents, PowerPoint presentations, video and audio -- all while working on the presenter’s desktop. The webinar host is provided with a number of tools that provide the ability to engage multiple collaborators in conversations, chatting, polling and use of an interactive whiteboard to share and develop ideas.
Collaborative editing is another way to leverage collaboration tools such as TextFlow, a free document application from Adobe that allows collaborators to create in real time. Collaborative editing tools allow users to analyze changes and accept or reject them, much like using the “Tracking” function in Microsoft Word but without the hassle of sending documents back and forth through email. Tools such as TextFlow are useful for writers, for example, in the drafting stages when seeking input from editors about their work; they allow writers to ask for and receive feedback on specific identified elements of their draft.