Collaborative Tools

Task using collaborative tools:

1. Read the information in the "history" page.
   History - "Augmenting human intellect" - Douglas Engelbart and his colleagues at Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s + the invention of the first mouse as a tool to help use the new IT
   1. In your opinion - and maybe with a little bit of more research - why would M. Engelbart think that collaborative tools was "the way to go"? (remember: you cannot repeat what your friend (s) have said, add more or include a different aspect).
      1. Gabriela: Engelbart considered finding the ability of augmenting human intellect a “desirable goal”. Collaborative tools are a way of augmenting human intellect as they allow several users to interact while working, giving them the chance to ask questions or share opinions. At the same time, the users may have different backgrounds, and that way, give the opportunity to each other to learn from different cultures and contributing to a more global world. Software offering this kind of possibilities and with such simplicity is certainly “the way to go”.
      2. Nitza: Collaborative tools are software applications that enable people to together create and archive their work, through this virtual workspace users can virtually share files or discuss a current issue. It´s much easier and saves time. Englebart is all about augmenting human intellect, of which I understand that he believes that anything made from complex and tiresome to ´´fast and easy´´ is the way to go. His work with the mouse had the same objective as collaborative tools, augmenting human intellect.
      3. Tess: Collaborative tools are indeed softwares that allow all users to edit and link weg pages easily. It empowers community websites. In my opinion, Engelbart thought that collaborative tools was the way to go because it creates an easy interaction between humans and the computer. Furthermore, these tools facilitate a part of the greater project such as his mouse, as he mentioned. The collaborative tools helps cope with the worlds increasingly urgent and complex problems as people can with no problem organize, discuss and participate creating a less difficult enviornment. "The way to go" was like saying that it is a way to proceed to development and growth.
   2. Try working for a while without using the mouse. Use any program you want (word processor - email - internet explorer). Have you found any difficulties? Are you able to do what you want? Are there any situations were you prefer not to use the mouse? (remember: you cannot repeat what your friend (s) have said, add more or include a different aspect).
      1. Gabriela: I tried editing an image in Fireworks without using the mouse, only with the keyboard. It took me a lot of time to, first of all, finding out which key sent which command and even when I found that out, it was very difficult to remind the purpose of each key. As some kind of “drawing” is required to use many of the tools of this program (e.g. to select, erase) it was impossible for me to do that only using the keyboard. The mouse allows me to interact better with the computer as it is able to coordinate my movements with the cursor’s actions.
      2. Nitza: I used a laptop with a touchscreen using a pen and used a word processer. I realized that the mouse is more practical and manual. Even though you can get anymore interactive than a touchscreen somethings became more complex than a mouse. With the pen you accidently click on things you don´t mean to click on and I spent more time exiting out from things than actually getting any work done. With the mouse you can move the mouse all you want and it won´t click on something unless you pres the clicker. I still prefer using the mouse.
      3. Tess:I used my laptop with a touchscreen. I got into open webmail through internet explorer and found some difficulties, especially, compared to using a mouse. A mouse is a much more solid tool as it doesnt suddenly move further than that you want, and, as it has a special design for my hand, it is easier to manage moving it around the screen. Lets say that the cordination is much easier.

For future reference:

Biography - Douglas Engelbart - " ... He began by developing the kind of technology he believed would be required to augment our human intellect. ... Throughout the '60s and '70s his lab pioneered an elaborate hypermedia-groupware system called NLS (for oNLine System), ... In the spring of 1967, it was announced that all the ARPA-sponsored computer research labs, including Engelbart's, would be networked to promote resource sharing. ... NLS was first demonstrated in public at the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, in which Engelbart used NLS to outline and illustrate his points. This was the world debut of the mouse, hypermedia, and on-screen video teleconferencing
"On December 9, 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart and the group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the online system, NLS, they had been working on since 1962. ... This was the public debut of the computer mouse. But the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface. Go through the whole set of videos. or only a first simple use of a screen to type, some mouse uses and more text, or watch the explanation of the devices used