Today I discovered a new online document editor called EtherPad that has successfully solved the long standing problem of how to allow multiple people to edit a document at once and while being able to actually see the editing occur in real time. Until now the closest attempt at this goal with Google Docs which could display multi-user changes approximately every 10-15 seconds.
Etherpad acts, and currently looks, much like a wiki. As a user types in his/her text, their work is color-coded to easily differentiate one’s own text from another team member’s. Beyond collaborative text editing, the users can chat with one another in the sidebar as they continue to work on their project. Inviting others to join in the collaborative effort is easily done through email and private URL invitations. Etherpad permits you to create new workspaces, which gives it more of an online project management feel than traditional online document management applications.
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I tested Etherpad myself and it works great. However, I ended up basically just chatting with the other user like it was an IRC room. I can’t really see people using it to write research papers or other similar writing intensive projects but I’m sure there are other instances in which it would be the perfect solution. Perhaps it would be a good fit for programmers that are collaboratively writing code or in the case of a conference call where you could ensure that both parties are privy to each other’s overall message by seeing both sets of notes in real time. I wonder if it could also fill a need in the class room to promote more interaction and participation? Regardless of who its target user is, Etherpad has created a great service that is easy and fun to use. You can see Etherpad in action via their screencast video or you can test it firsthand without registering.
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