Over the last three years, both the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have encouraged collaboration among researchers primarily through the status of co-investigators and/or research collaborators as a way to insure a team-oriented research environment between departments and colleges within a university, as well as between institutions and research entities. (see Fig. 1)

Figure 1: Research, Collaborate, Development of Proposal

Developing Content

In a previous posting, titled “Content Development and Deployment: Using a Wiki” (d/d: 09/23/09), I had looked at using a wiki for the purpose of content development and article contributions for training and collaborative learning to enable easier access to documents by all persons. Today, I want to take that one step further by identifying a web tool that will allow all researchers to store and share Office documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), on research projects that they are developing for a current funding opportunity. Other files such as PDFs and graphics can also be uploaded. The tool is called Microsoft Office Live Workspace, a Beta service which offers free file sharing and online storage.
[Beta: Is a software release where the distribution (whether public or private) is of an initial or upgraded version of a computer software product. In many cases a Beta version is offered free.]

Creating your Account

Microsoft Office Live Workspace, is an online document creation and sharing workspace that allows for the storage and sharing of Office documents easily. If you have already have a hotmail account or a Windows Live account you will be able to sign in with the email address and password associated with that account. Otherwise you can create a new account to get started, where the usual form to fill out applicable personal data and receive a confirmation email to activate your Office Live Workspace account. Once signed in, you can begin to create the various workspaces you will need.

Creating your Workspaces

When you are signed into Live Workspace, you will see the screen divided into two panes:  a My Workspaces pane on the left and Documents on the right. In the My Workspaces pane, a Documents workspace is created by default where you will be uploading your Office documents. You can create additional workspaces by clicking the New Workspace link. I would recommend that persons create separate workspaces for sharing different projects for different persons or groups of persons. Once you click the New Workspaces link, you will be presented with various templates of workspaces for your workspace. These range from a Class workspace, Event Workspace, Meeting Workspace, to a Project Workspace. For my purpose I created the following workspaces. (See Fig. 2)

• Proposal Development workspace (using the essay template)
• Project Development workspace (using the project template)
• Workshops workspace (using the event template)
• Meetings workspace (using the meetings template)
• Find Funding workspace (using the study group template)

Figure 2: Office Live Workspace; Click to view larger image

It must be noted that by using the templates, various documents are automatically added to the workspace making the initial development easier before you start adding additional documents. You can also create a new workspace from a blank template and then add your own documents associated with that workspace.

Collaboration

Once you have created your workspaces, you can begin sharing documents or files with others. By uploading your document to your workspace you will see a Share link that will allow you to type or select from your address book the email addresses of persons you are allowing access to view and/or edit the document. You can share individual documents or workspaces with up to 100 people for online collaboration. This is accomplished by sending email invitations to persons you selected, inviting these persons into your workspace. You can also allow persons to view without having to sign into the Live Workspace.

If you have Microsoft Office XP, 2003, and 2007 installed on your computer, you will be able to install the Office Live Update program that will integrate your computer Office application with the Live Workspace. You will see in the Office application a Save To Office Live selection in the Save section.

Security

As indicated before you will be able to specify the type of access each user will have in accessing your documents, specific files, as well as view and editing rights. I would strongly suggest that all persons who are allowed to view documents must sign in to Office Live to view your documents. Versioning of documents is also a feature that can show who viewed, edited and performed other activities on files. Microsoft also provides anti-virus protection on each uploaded file.

Office Live Workspace

For those with concern about the security of your documents on “the cloud”, I would suggest that you treat your information the same as you would on your personal computer; do backups! At this time Microsoft is calling the service a beta, which may mean sometime in the future some features may have an associated fee charge. The usual legal information is provided for sharing and using the content of others and in its Frequently Asked Question section, it states “You control who can view, comment on, and edit your documents for collaboration. You manage permissions and decide whether someone has access to a single document or an entire workspace”. This service offers great potential for having access to needed documents that can be accessed from anywhere if you are traveling.

From document sharing to online collaboration to online storage, the service provides support that can be invaluable to researchers who are working with multiple stakeholders in research, projects, and service.

Does this offer any possibilities for use in your environment? Let us know how you are using this service.