Thing 12: Collaborative Tools

I am a member of our Digital Communications Team (DCT) in the library and we regularly report on events held here on our social media channels. In some cases, multiple images are taken and aside from ‘on location’ tweeting, we upload news items and maybe photo albums, after the event has taken place. Due to other work commitments the responsibility of these tasks can be divided up between members of the DCT team. One person might be present at the event while another will upload the content at a later point. Most recently the Library held a day-long seminar and book launch. Multiple images were taken by a member of the DCT team. These were added to our cloud based storage account, Google Photos, where another team member was able to sort and create an album that was later added our Flickr account with links sent to our website and to our various social media pages.

Did you work face to face, virtually or via a combination of the two?

We work mostly virtually. The Library recently transferred to Office 365 and gradually have started using useful collaborative tools within this package, such as Teams. Initial planning of the coverage of the event occurred via email and then using the ‘chat’ function on Teams.

Was your experience positive, negative or neutral?

I would say positive. The process worked seamlessly. One person attended the event and took pictures, which were automatically and quickly uploaded to Google Photos. Another team member was able to pull them off the account and add them to our Flickr account and post a link to our social media pages.

Did you use any of the tools outlined above?

No, although Google Drive would be the nearest on the list. We haven’t fully embraced Google for collaboration as everyone in the Library has an Office 365 account and are starting to learn about it together at the same time.

Have you used any other collaborative tools that you have found useful?

Yes, as mentioned we use the Teams function in Office 365. This is an upgrade of SharePoint and allows you to upload and share files, images, videos etc and also have ‘chats’ with team members, either as a group or individually. It is easy to access files, edit them online and update when and wherever necessary.

If you had to do that project again what tools outlined above do you think would have been the most useful?

Perhaps Google Drive, as it is another cloud based storage. We will continue to use Google for some of it's functions, like Photos, as it is so easy to use. The photos are very quickly and automatically uploaded soon after they are taken on a device. Doodle is also very useful for arranging meetings and scheduling availability and I would definitely use this in the future.