Week 8 is designed to introduce a variety of media that can be used for collaboration. Examples include webinars, scheduling tools and data sharing.
Webinars are online presentations in which a speaker presents live over the internet. Typical examples of online platforms for webinars include Wiggio and Skype. Wiggoo is commonly used to host video conferences with the added feature of hosting polls during a webinar. This creates a two-way interaction between the speaker and the audience. As a practicing researcher, I would be able to actively utilise the features on Wiggoo to present research to a wider community, as well as presenting progress to colleagues. In particular, webinars could be used for my progress meetings when supervisors are too busy to travel to the meeting. Webinars do have some limitations that need to be considered. The presenter can only communicate with the audience with their voice, the slides and mouse pointer. The absence of being able to convey information with body language could make it difficult to reiterate important information. A webinar can we watched in any location which is beneficial, but can also be detrimental. For example, members of the audience may be distracted by external stimuli that the speaker cannot control. Webinars also have technical difficulties as well as being difficult to run smoothly when controlled by people who are less IT literate. Webinars also miss out on audience interaction, such as networking, during breaks. A further in depth discussion of the limitations of webinars can be found using the following link (http://work.chron.com/disadvantages-webinars-17053.html).
Doodle was used to explain the benefits of online scheduling tools. Doodle allows an online poll to be created so guests can select their availability for a future event. Events can subsequently be arranged around the dates which are convenient for all participants. Doodle polls can be used throughout a research doctorate to arrange progress meetings and training courses. Doddle polls are particularly useful for arranging meetings with supervisors who are often busy and need to be booked up well in advance.
Google Drive and Dropbox are used to share data with the added benefit that colleagues can edit the document. This feature is ideal for collaborating on journal articles or even university projects. I used Google Drive as I have a Gmail account. The Gmail account syncs my emails, calendars, social media and now Goggle Drive into one easily accessible location.
Martyn Staff - EngD Research Engineer 