1/28/12 Final Project Proposal

Final Project Proposal:

Our final proposal for PRST 303 will be a case study about our virtual collaboration, detailing best practices for the theoretical issues our fictional PR team faces and also by detailing our real-world experience in working together through our initial survey of technology.

We will present our findings from the following activities by paper and presentation:

• Assessing various collaborative tools and using them to work together as a group: Skype, Collaborate, email, blog, Googledocs and Twitter.
• Agree upon technologies and the work styles of each of our own fictional personae, which will act to back light various roles members take in virtual teams.
• Describe our choices in the ways and means our group collaborates and why, detailing adoption issues, group conflicts, opportunities and resolutions, leadership and management. Importantly, we will attempt to describe why things did not work.
• Provide an updated Task vs Communication diagram, based on our experiences.

Project Timeline:

1. Week 4 will see us writing our profiles and finalizing our case problem.
2. Week 5 will see us acting out a few days of controlled communication in character via our technologies and completing our presentation for week 6.

Paper and Presentation Outline:

Introduction

1. Describe our project process
2. What ideas we had
3. Technologies we agreed to use

Body I

1. Introduction of faux company
2. Matt’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used
3. Amy’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used
4. RJ’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used
5. Baeednah’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used

Body II

1. Discuss how the use of or lack of technology affected each of our characters
2. Discuss which technologies we found useful throughout the project
3. Discuss the technologies we dismissed and why

Conclusion

1. Answers & Better Questions

Sincerely,

               The Four Star Platinum Squadron

Amy Addou
Baeednah Anderson
Matt Lechtenberg
Robert Pino  

Proposed outline

Outline

A. Introduction

1. Describe our project process
2. what ideas we had
3. technologies we agreed to used

B. Body I

1. Introduce of faux company
2. Matt’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used
3. Amy’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used
4. RJ’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used
5. Baeednah’s paragraph and what technology(ies) used

C. Body II (for lack of a better title)

1. Discuss how the use of or lack of technology effected each of our characters
2. Discuss which technologies we found useful throughout the project
3. Discuss the technologies we dismissed and why

D. Conclusion

Final Proposal?

Were we all able to access and comment on the final proposal googledoc? Any changes or feedback?

Final Project Presentation Outline

All,

I posted this to Googledocs a few minutes ago but wanted it here for the record. Please have your comments and feedback to me by Thursday night so we can discuss changes prior to Friday night.
Please use whatever tool makes the most sense to communicate directly with but let's try to make additions to this final outline in Googledocs. Thoughts?

"Our final proposal for PRST 303 will be a two-fold case study about our virtual collaboration, encompassing best practices for the theoretical collaboration issues our fictional PR team faces, and also by detailing our real-world experience in working together through our initial survey of technology.

We will present our findings from the following activities by paper and presentation:

1.      Assessing various collaborative tools and using them to work together as a group: Skype, Collaborate, email, blog, Googledocs and Twitter.

2.      Agree upon technologies and the work styles of each of our own fictional personae, which will act to back light various roles members take in virtual teams.

3.      Describe our choices in what ways and means the group adopts to collaborate with and why, detailing adoption issues, group conflicts, opportunities and resolutions. Importantly, we will attempt to describe why things did not work.

4.      Provide an updated Task vs Communication diagram, based on our experiences.

Week 4 will see us writing our profiles and finalizing our case problem. Week 5 will see us acting out a few days of controlled communication in character via our technologies and completing our presentation for week 6.

Sincerely,

                The Four Star Platinum Squadron

Amy Addou
Baeednah Anderson
Matt Lechtenberg
Robert Pino  "

Google Docs

By gawly, I think I got it!!!

Amy and RJ, you guys need to set up a google account, if you already have one, email it to Matt and I so we can add you to our circle.

Google Docs

1/24/12 Meeting Notes and tasks- Please review

So from this meeting we have these conclusions/tasks:

1. We will be doing a case study, not a manual
2. Our "characters" will be further developed and no one will have all forms of communication available, except possibly the leader or somebody central. We may try in two weeks to have a period where we act out our technological  limitations and use that experience for the project.
3. We will incorporate  things like the 2:1 table from the text along with a modified version explaining our team through that concept.
4. Matt will compose the proposal outline and have it posted by Wednesday night. Everbody must weigh in by Thursday night to drive changes/refinements.
5. Baeednah will work on getting the Googledoc sharing working and lead the team out on using that.
6. Each member needs their own access to Googledocs.
7. RJ will work up the powerpoint at the right time.

If you have questions/comments, hit reply below!

Kick ass, FSPS!

transcript from 1/24 meeting

pretending like making a faux company to produce a manal lead us to a the case study
7:53 PM
we are all in agreeance in making produce a case study
7:56 PM
keep going in the direction with the personalities we each developed
7:57 PM
each of us will assume the role completely: no one will have all forms of communication at all times
7:58 PM
we will form a problem and act it out this week
8:02 PM
work on the propsal through google docs
iSchool Matt 8:08 PM
Each make a Google docs account
clearedvidence 8:15 PM
need to point project to something tangible; text 2:1, additional writings, outside research
8:22 PM
FaceBook and FourSquare killed
8:26 PM
im going to try and figure out google docs
RJ Pino 8:26 PM
once the outline is finished, i'll start working on the ppt
clearedvidence 8:27 PM
i can work on the 2:1 table
8:28 PM
Call Ended51 minutes 37 seconds

01/24/12 7:30PM Skype Agenda

Discussion Items

1.   Are we still writing a manual for the FSPS or using our experience with our hypothetical PR firm as a self-imposed case study?
2. Are we ready to outline it this week? We will have to before we submit the finalized proposal on Saturday.
3. Our “problem” to solve appears to be finding which tools work best for the group. I think our experience together already has shown that. I believe we can make a comparison/contrast of the technologies we used and cite how technology helped/hindered our collaboration. That may be enough.
4. What tasks are at hand? People's schedules? Work preferences?
1. Paper
2. PPT 
3. Presentation

Some Potential Humor for your Tuesday

RJ made a comparison that the Four Star Platinum Squadron is like the Super Friends. I agree and that got me thinking. Aquaman is the Twitter of the Super Friends. Think about it. Aquaman is the weakest link of the Super Friends by far and nobody was ever sure what he brought to the table. Twitter is the same. To illustrate my point, I present the most-useful to least-useful superhero/virtual technology similes for our team, in that order:

Hey Batman! If our FIOS connection lags we all die!

Superman does everything better than anybody else, with a few minor exceptions. He is central to the Super Friend's ability to work well together. Similarly, tools like Skype or Connect confer a lot to a team's ability to collaborate over distance by being a strong foundation for (and a specialist of) rich media communication. Both Superman and Skype are known world-wide as being really powerful, but to the former there is Kryptonite and to the latter, accessibility for all.

"Why don't you just admit that you de-friended me, Ricky?"

Wonder Woman: Come on, an Amazon with an invisible airplane and a golden lasso that forces you to tell the truth? If that isn't a metaphor for the modern woman and the internet then I don't know what is. Wonder Woman is the crux of emotional communication on the Super Friends team, embodying social contract and trust... and maybe online shopping. Wonder Woman is like e-commerce and Facebook because she’s an accessible Amazon (.com) and she’s the familiarity/honesty/transparency that social tools like Facebook allow between people, via intimate and easy (asynchronous) contact. Get it? Invisible plane? Transpara… nevermind.

"I'll just open this email attachment and AIIIEEE!!!"

Batman doesn’t actually have super powers per se, but he’s a super-smart workhorse from mortal stock and that's what makes him more amazing; he's effective in comparatively mundane ways. Batman is email. Sure, he is easy to overlook compared to others with their mighty abilities but where would the super-powered heroes be without him? Where would your business be without email? You can't run a business on Skype. With Batman and email on your side you can do anything and both... are everywhere, unlike Superman, who can only be where the mundane Clark Kent isn't. Skype isn't super by being ubiquitous but email is.

"SHAPE OF A 4G HOTSPOT!"

The Wonder Twins: Shape of a bear and form of a bucket of water? Unique! Appropriate! Super Heroes who are extremely customized for specific, everyday problems are just like what blogs and RSS feeds are for most special interest groups, like they were born for (or with) each other. You'd be surprised what a wet bear would do for some of your daily problems. You’d be really surprised.

"OMG! 43 Followers!!!"

And so, we have Aquaman. What does Aquaman do when the Legion of Doom is wrecking the city? Aquaman can summon a whale. And some sea horses. And hermit crabs riding lobsters. And… tuna. Not useful when there’s the average super villain doomsday device blowing up your spot.

Aquaman firing O’s from his brain to every twitching aquatic lifeform in the sea is Twitter to the world. Like Aquaman to some carp, Twitter only gets a message out to anybody bothering to listen in the first place and while the message may be received, what is the “net” effect compared to what the other technologies can do for virtual interaction? Where is the real information exchange? Twitter does not stand on its own, has limited capacity and only does one thing well... but it can be a part of a team, even if it is just to remind you how much better the other technologies work by connecting them together in a modest way. Just like Aquaman.

"I tweeted, 'QUID pro quo role negotiation is a dynamic of virtual team building!' Not squid pro quo! AIIIEEE!!!"

Some potential humor for your Monday

Hey All!

I just submitted my discussion post for this week's assignment and as I was writing it, I had the vision of us being like the Super Friends :)  For those who are not familiar with this awesome incarnation of the 80's, it's a cartoon of about 8 super heroes who collaborate in The Hall of Justice and fight super villains, sometimes they worked virtually.  Maybe if they had taken PRST-303, and been in the FSPS, they wouldn't have been taken off the air :)

Happy Monday everyone and talk to you tomorrow evening!

RJ