Web document
From Elearning
A web document is any word-processing document that is composed and edited online, through a provider like Google Docs or Writeboard. Since web documents are modified entirely through a browser (e.g. Firefox or Internet Explorer), they can be accessed and edited from different computers or by different people. Web documents also make it easier to coordinate collaborative writing tasks, by providing automated version control. Every change made to the web document (and by whom) is recorded in the document's history, allowing users to revert to an earlier version.
Contents |
What it is good for (Educational uses)
Group work Web documents clearly lend themselves to group work contexts, enabling efficient collaboration between students. Collaboration on a web document lies between the tradition opposition of synchronous and asynchronous forms, since it is more immediate than a discussion board but does not require virtual co-location in a chat room or on IM.
Practical communication One feature of web documents that may be relevant in educational context is that they allow collaboration to occur without placing an extra load on student-student communication. Rather than collaborating by communicating, e.g. via email or IM, students using a web document communicate by working together in a shared workspace. (Is there a pattern here - e.g. "Collaboration needn't involve direct communication" or "Prefer indirect communication"?)
Basic actions
Collaborating, Editing, Writing, ... ?
Related patterns
[[Communication overload -> indirect communication]]
Risks / Abuses
???
Getting Started
Users are required to register with the provider using a valid email address. They can then create documents, edit them and organise them using tags. Many providers offer users the capacity to print their web documents directly or to export them as standard web pages, Word documents, or PDF files.
Web documents can be shared by inviting another user to collaborate through an online form. This usually involves providing an email address of the person being invited, who is then asked to register with the service before they can edit the document. Users may also grant collaborators a limited role. That is, other users can be invited to participate in a read-only role.
"Siblings" (similar tools)
- Word-processors: the interface for editing web documents is modelled on standard word-processors like Microsoft Word.
- Wiki pages are also designed for collaborative writing and editing
On the one hand, writing or editing a web document is a lot like working with a standard desktop word-processor, albeit with a limited set of features and functions (i.e. writing is done in a WYSIWYG interface, meaning that "What you see is what you get"). For this reason, web documents are much easier to edit than standard web pages - which require knowledge of html - and even easier than wiki pages which require the user to be familiar with a special wiki syntax.
On the other hand, because editing is browser-based, web documents are also much easier to share than standard Microsoft Word documents, which must be passed back and forth between users as email attachments. Changes made to the document are immediately visible to the other collaborators, avoiding the need to reconcile simultaneous changes.
In addition, web documents keep a record of changes made, allowing users to revert to an earlier version of the document. This document history can also give teachers a sense of who did the lion's share of the writing and editing on a group project.
Advantages / Disadvantages
| Implementation | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Native implementation |
|
|
| Exotic alternative |
|
|
How it works (briefly)
Case-studies
References / Comments
Categories: Tools | Writing | Editing | Collaborating
