Team Work on the Internet

The new innovation in internet technology and internet applications has been able to change the way that group work is done. Let us describe how an internet application that facilitates group work by giving you an example of one.

Wiggio was a newly started web application co-founded by recently minted Cornell graduate Dana Lampert. He mentioned that the reason he started the company was mainly out of frustration: “”As seniors at Cornell, we started Wiggio out of our own frustrations with unnecessarily clogged inboxes, using five different websites for five different functions, and all the other hassles associated with working in groups. We were tired of sending eleven emails back and forth just to set a meeting time. We were tired of that guy who just never knows where and when to be there. We were tired of list-servs, contact lists, phone-chains and incompatibilities. We wanted everything to be in one place, and we wanted it simple. So we created Wiggio.”

Another popular application that groups can use, called Googledocs, allows users to collectively edit office documents such as spreadsheets, word documents and presentations.

Since Jade and I are involved in many different groups and organization on campus, these website applications has us enhanced ability to participate in group work. But what about the functionality of these group work applications gives it such value? One way to look at it is by seeing these websites essentially as network databases that all users can access and update. Before the frustration with group work was that every single function, whether it was setting up a meeting, creating a poll for group members, working on a group document was performed through different means. These web applications have the effect of enterprise information technology. They act like EIT’s because they are able to break down the “silos” of communication that used to exist among groups. Before, groups used to communicate via different means, or processes. What these web applications can do is to make all these communications occur in one space.

The only problem these technologies could cause is when many people are working on one thing at the same time. For example, if five people are typing up a word document together, their actions could conflict with each other. One team member may type up one sentence, and then another team member may not like that sentence and delete it. This would cause a lot of frustration and confusion. Limited lines of communication will hinder group work over the internet if members cannot hear or see each other when working.

However, I still foresee that the future of internet team work application will become more and more popular in the future. It may be possible that internet video chatting technologies will eventually merge with applications such as wiggio and googledocs. Therefore, an actual virtual office may occur, wherein a group editing the same document could also communicate with each other directly via a video chat.

Another future innovation could perhaps have these virtual teams create virtual presentations via these applications. Technology could improve to such an extent that a user may be able to upload a PowerPoint presentation to a projector screen in the boardroom of a company and control the presentation from his home computer while speaking to his audience through a video chat screen.

As information systems technologies improve, the advantage of these group work internet applications will be more and more obvious. Communications between team members will become much more streamlined and group projects can be done in a much more effective and efficient manner.