Groove Workspace: Instant Messaging Grows Up
Instant messaging isn’t just for kids anymore. Once the exclusive domain
of idle chatterers, IM programs have gained professional credibility as vendors
have added security and business features. In fact many IM systems have become
multipurpose collaboration tools complete with chat rooms, conferencing, screen
sharing, whiteboards, video, and broadcasts. When applied to the realm of higher
education, these tools are being used to supplement the classroom experience
to create an enhanced distance learning environment.
Collaboration across organizational boundaries, once an option, is now becoming
a requirement for people serious about sharing information. E-mail, the traditional
standard in collaborative applications, limits multi-dimensional interaction
between members of a project team. Desktop collaboration is software that naturally
leverages a person’s familiar desktop environment to speed work with colleagues
on projects that ordinarily occur in e-mail.
Groove Workspace, from Groove Networks Inc., is a product that has made the
switch from communication to collaboration tool. Workspace is a desktop application
for small groups that leverages e-mail and Microsoft Office for interaction
across technical and organizational boundaries. With Workspace, users create
virtual shared spaces where they connect immediately and directly to work on
a projects, brainstorm, plan an event, hold discussions, share drafts and proposals,
and, coordinate schedules. The shared spaces require no server setup and end
users are in full control.
There is no ‘master copy’ of the data in a shared space. Each member’s
copy of the data is a peer in the network, and the Groove platform ensures that
the content and state of the shared space is always synchronized across all
members’ machines.
The Groove platform is based on a hybrid architecture that includes a role for
a server or switch, called the Relay Server, to broker connections between offline
members (who may never be online at the same time) and members separated by
network firewalls. While working offline, all work performed within the Groove
workspace is stored. When the user is online again, the client-side pings the
relay server to store and deliver the changes.
Requirements for set-up of Groove Workspace include a Microsoft Windows operating
system (98, NT, 200, ME, or XP), an Intel Pentium II processor of 400MHz or
higher, 128MB RAM, and 100MB of free disk space with additional space required
for data. A minimum resolution of 800 x 600, 15-bit (32,768) color is required
for the display, and speakers, a sound card, and a microphone are required to
use the voice features. Software requirements include Microsoft Internet Explorer
version 5.0 or later.
Courses in business, advertising, and Web design are just a few that typically
involve group work and continuous communication among students and instructors.
Students working together on a group project can also form their own workspace
specific to their project or assignment in order to collaborate on their work
in real time or asynchronously.
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Robert Kirkpatrick, distinguished
associate professor of English and director of the London Summer Honors Program,
has used Groove Workspace for the past three years to conduct two first-year
seminars. One of the features he finds most useful is having persistent access
to dated p'em drafts and annotations, which simplifies the revision process
and gives instructor and students more time to develop craft. He also makes
use of the software’s threaded discussion list and archiving capabilities.
Kirkpatrick and the students use Groove’s Discussion tool for a class
forum, and the chat feature makes for “a practical as well as lively ‘after
hours’ dialogue that seemed to go on at all hours,” he said.
The Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., has also had success using
Groove Workspace for distance learning. Their challenge was to provide a virtual
classroom experience as similar as possible to the physical classroom environment—a
daunting task considering some of the students were in extremely remote locations
using low bandwidth connections, which made voice messaging difficult. By moving
a Web-based distance learning system such as Blackboard into the Groove browser,
the users all have the advantage of seeing who is in attendance, having the
lecturer navigate all their screens together, and most importantly, users are
able to voice message each other.
According to Groove, Workspace is a tool that creates a cohesive classroom environment
that allows classmates to socialize around academic content in a way that is
meaningful, natural, and easy, with complete personal control. It also offers
a medium for group projects, in which the dynamics of teamwork unfold in a way
that accords to student lifestyles.
Information about Groove, visit http://www.groove.net/