Intro You have 4 things that you have to do well to complete today's project.   How you do this is as important as finishing. I'd strongly recommend reading ALL the instructions before proceeding.   Each group has 2 laptops so you can work cooperatively in your groups...you don't all have to work on one question then another, you can proceed as the group decides.   For each Project/Question create a new wiki page to put the results of your work. Note that with a Wiki only one person at a time can edit a page.   You are more than welcome to ask questions as you go.   Remember I'll award a prize to the group that does the BEST work, which is not necessarily the MOST work.   The topic for the Project is:   "The Use of Social Software/Collaborative Software in the Workplace"   Projects Prep. Sign up for two gmail accounts To be able to use the services below AND walk away from this class w/out any permanent accounts, sign up for two gmail accounts:   usernames: scils220f07#n  (where # = 1, 2, 3... and n = a or b, e.g. scils220f071a)     1. Creating a Google Document for Collaborative Writing   Using a Google Document (which you can work on simultaneously) create an annotated bibliography of 6-10 items on the topic   Steps to get you started: One Group member should go to http://docs.google.com (and sign in with your Google account) Create a new Document Using Share invite your groupmate(s) and me (profg67@gmail.com) as collaborators   From the RU Indexes page use sources such as Ebsco Academic, Lexis/Nexis Academic, and/or ACM find a total of 6-10 GREAT articles which could act as a Primer on the search topic In your Google Document provide a citation to the article (you can use something like KnightCite to create the citation) Under each citation explain WHY you chose this article (e.g. citation strength, comprehensiveness, source strength but explain it)   When done copy/paste the text in the Google Document to a new wiki page "called" Group1P1 and link to it from this page   2. del.icio.us for Collaborative Bookmarking   Using del.icio.us , create a set of tagged bookmarks with brief descriptions for the topic   Steps to get you started: Two group members with laptops go to del.icio.us and create accounts (username scils220f07#n (where # = 1, 2, 3... and n = a or b, e.g. scils220f071a) You'll need to use a real email address (i.e. the acct you just made) to confirm the account Using the Search Engine of your choice find 6-10 websites that address the topic and "post" them to del.icio.us Tag each post with whatever you like, but also use the tag scils220f07 Add a brief description of the post and some notes about why you chose it Example - http://del.icio.us/scils220test   When done create a new wiki page "called" Group1P2 that contains links to your two del.icio.us accounts    3. Technorati for Blog searching/Bloglines for rss   Using Technorati to find and Bloglines to subscribe, you'll set up a single account for the group to track "current awareness" sources for the topic   Steps to get you started: As a group sign up for one Bloglines account (username scils220f07#a (same as what you used for del.icio.us)  It will take a few minutes for the confirmation email from bloglines...continue on and check back later   Using Technorati, search for blog posts on the topic. When you find blogs that address the topic subscribe to their feeds by taking their feed address and adding it to your Bloglines account   When done create a new wiki page "called" Group1P3 that contains a screen capture showing the blogs you have subscribed to    4. Google Groups   Using Google Groups (there are also Yahoo Groups, MSN Groups and private Social Networks like Ning), you'll review how you can collaborate in a "closed" environment.   Steps to get you started: As a group create a Google Group using one of the accounts you created previously Review the features of the Group and/or utilize Google Groups Help Center   When done create a new wiki page "called" Group1P4 that contains a list of the benefits of using a Google Group for a group based research project.   GO!