activeCollab

[scrivener]

Dreamhost recently added activeCollab (http://www.activecollab.com) to its list of one-click installs. It's a collaborative task-list app that enables people working together to see what's been done and what needs still to be done.

Still in development (currently v.0.6), it's got a long way to go (http://forum.activecollab.com/viewforum.php?id=3), but I happened to be looking for something to use with my yearbook staff. I set up a WordPress frontpage (one-way communication from me to my students) with links to Gallery2 and activeCollab. Don't know how this will all work just yet, but I've found that when using this kind of stuff in the classroom, the first year is always "let's see how this tool works for us." The second year is always much, much better.

Anyone else giving this thing a test-drive?

[pzarquon]

I thought about it. The little screencast about where the idea came from was pretty entertaining. One of the big buzzwords of "Web 2.0" (which is, itself, a buzzword) is "GTD" apps -- "Getting Things Done (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_things_done)." (Sounds like "project management" to me, except over the web.) Inspired by Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq.com/), these guys figured they'd make their own, and offer it for free. (Here's a comparison (http://slackermanager.com/2006/07/basecamp-vs-activecollab.html), also inspired by Dreamhost's offer.)

I played with Basecamp, and signed up to play with a few other similar services (one of which I liked, but now can't remember the name of), but it seems like just another way to organized your data -- meaning lots of duplication -- rather than something to really consolidate everything.

I still think wiki's are brilliantly simple, versus applications that introduce all kinds of tools that can be useful, but also more confining, than what's effectively a blank page.

[scrivener]

I played with a Wiki in my summer school class. We did a few editing exercises first (set up user pages and talk pages), then started with a glossary of mathematical terms, created by the students.

You know, that might work better for what I have in mind. Gotta think about that.

[scrivener]

Doggone it. I've been thinking about it for hours now, and the more I do, the more it makes sense to do a Wiki instead. I sorta wanted to be in on whatever was going to happen with this thing, but if something else will do the job much, much better, well. I've got to go with it. I'm going to chew on it over the weekend before I decide.