Tools for Collaborative Writing
As mentioned earlier, many teams are not physically located together. Collaborative writing would be nearly impossible for team members who are not co-located without the technology we have access to today. Social media and technology are changing the ways we communicate in groups. Even in co-located teams, this rich technology enhances teams’ ability to produce well-written group documents.
In addition, collaborative writing tools have made it easier to design better work processes. These tools provide ways to monitor what users are contributing and when they contribute, so managers can quickly verify that assigned work is being completed. Since these tools typically provide revision tracking, it has also made data sharing simpler. In modern word processing applications, it is possible to compare the current version of a document with a previous version.
Users won’t have to keep track of what version is the current working revision since the software has automated that. For example, Microsoft Word has a feature called Track Changes while Google Docs enables editors to use Suggesting mode to indicate the changes they have made.
Wikis
In order to write collaboratively, we need suitable tools. Wikis (such as Wikipedia) are a well known example of collaborative writing online. They are uniquely collaborative, as their existence is based on open editing and evolving as the community contributes.
With any of these applications, it is important to review organizational security and sharing protocols. Group member roles related to editing should be established. Team members should ensure that documents are shared only with those who need access, reducing the risk of data breaches or leaks of sensitive information.