Connection and Collaboration

 

Time Magazine devotes the last issue of every year to naming the Person of the Year. For the year 2006, Person of the Year is…… YOU.

 

The year 2006 saw no reduction in the great problems of the world, or the smaller but still stressful problems every individual faces everyday.  The world is a work in progress and will never be finished. 

 

But connection and collaboration via the internet was definitely a strong theme for the year and you are the reason.  Everything from ordinary people collaborating on a work project to making videos in the backyard is changing the way we know the world.

 

Here are some of the ways that people are connecting and collaborating.

 

www.myspace.com  Myspace is a free service initially for kids, but is now being used by business people.  Blogs, pictures, videos, horoscopes, forums, and humour are just some of the options for networking with likeminded people.

 

www.meetup.com  Meetup is another free service that brings strangers together through a common interest.  You can meet other people who have common interests or you can start your own meeting.  Whether it’s bellydancing, dungeons and dragons, single parents, music lovers, bookclubs, or any other thing you can imagine, you can meet up on Meetup.    

 

www.linkedin.com  Linkedin is a free networking service, either personal or career related.  Find old classmates and colleagues; find people who can connect you to a new company; look up a specific person or maintain an email network of linked in friends.

 

www.google.com  Have a document or spreadsheet that you want to collaborate on but your work partner is long distance?   Google has the answer.  Go to Google and do a search using the term ‘Google spreadsheets’.  You can import an existing document or spreadsheet, or collaborate on a new one in real time.  You have to have a Google account set up first.