Augment your web meeting experience with more Showdocument features

Showdocument, an online collaboration and web meeting tool, provides a platform for users to share presentations and edit documents together. You may not be aware of other great features in our product that will enhance your web meeting experience.

Chat translator

In the global working environment, multilingual capabilities are a must. Web meeting participants often do not speak the same language and cannot communicate very effectively. The new Chat Translator allows two participants or more to chat in their own language, and their text is translated instantaneously into the other participants’ language. This means that even five people who speak different languages can use their own language to communicate (read and write) with each other.

Chat translator: the host is using Italian to communicate with an English speaker (“John”).

Chat translator: “John” is using English to communicate with the host, an Italian speaker.

3D objects

Designers, and in fact anyone who uses 3D models can use Showdocument to share them in real-time; rotating these objects and even zooming in and out. This can be helpful for demonstrating products, designs, architectural models etc.

Two participants sharing a 3D model in real-time

Google Docs – new!

Apart from being able to edit text documents, and open and annotate various types of documents such as PDFs, our latest new feature allows users to quickly and easily open and annotate documents directly from their Google Docs account.

A new release of Showdocument is coming soon

We’re working hard to release a new version of Showdocument. It will include improvements and new features such as the ability to co-browse the web in real-time!

Try these exciting features today!

No installation required, only a web browser and an internet connection. Visit the showdocument.com.

* Google Docs™ is a trademark of Google Inc.

]]> http://blog.showdocument.com/web_meeting_discussion_119/feed 0 http://blog.showdocument.com/web_meeting_discussion_107 http://blog.showdocument.com/web_meeting_discussion_107#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:36:32 +0000 yuval http://blog.showdocument.com/?p=107 Show Maps: Real-time map sharing, now on Facebook™

We recently released a beta version of Show Maps – an application that lets Facebook users share and annotate maps with others in real-time.

When using maps, people often share information about locations, plan trips together and mark places of interest. With Showdocument, our fully-featured web meeting and real-time collaboration tool, users can do all that online, in real-time. Due to the popularity of Facebook we released a version that can be used within Facebook, called ’Show Maps’.

Share and mark routes and places of interest…

Show Maps can be used for various purposes. For example, it can be used by jogging partners to mark a running route on a map, by real-estate agents who want to show each other property locations, or by those who plan a trip and mark places they are going to visit, as shown in the screenshot below.

A map being shared and annotated in Show Maps

A Facebook user can share and annotate on maps with a group of friends; Show Maps allows multi-user map sharing. While sharing maps, users can see their friends’ cursors on the map, chat by either using the standard Facebook chat or the built-in Show Maps chat. The maps and annotations can then be saved locally or published on Facebook!

Try Show Maps for yourself

You can find the application by searching for ‘Show Maps’ on Facebook, or by visiting the Show Maps Facebook page. Once you launch the application, you can invite others by clicking on the ‘Invite new participants’ button. From that point onward, you and your friends will all be seeing the same map and can add real-time annotations.

Like Showdocument, Show Maps is completely free!

* Facebook™ is a trademark of Facebook, Inc.

This is a possible scenario of how Showdocument is a valuable asset in a creative and fast-moving business environment.

Showdocument, a free web meeting collaboration tool, is effective in both commercial and non-commercial environments. For example, students collaborate and write documents together, friends plan a trip together and annotate maps online and business people share presentations in real-time. The following is a short scenario of how an interior designer would use Showdocument when working with his clients.

The Interior Design Scenario

Howard Dugger has been an Interior Designer for 20 years. He usually delivers his design plans and blueprints via email, fax, or during a meeting. In a recent project he needed to review a kitchen plan with a client.  Instead of printing, faxing or mailing the plan – or spending time in a face-to-face meeting discussing it – he uploaded it to the Showdocument, and invited the client to view and comment upon it in real-time. Both Howard and the client could draw upon and annotate the plan, add comments in the text chat area, discuss changes on the phone, and save the results for future reference.

Howard’s kitchen plan shared in Showdocument

This is the chat that took place between Howard and Susan (his client), using the Showdocument chat:

Howard: Hi Susan, here’s the plan as promised.
Susan: Hi.  Yes, I like what you’ve done.  But can you add another wall cabinet by the sink?
Howard: OK, let me sketch something in.
Howard: How’s that – the sketch in red?
Susan: Yes, but let me add the dimensions I need.  I’d like it to be 10” above the work surface.
Howard: Fine, I understand. I’ll add it to the AutoCAD drawing now, and we can look at it together this afternoon.
Susan: Great, let me know when it’s ready to review…

Howard and Susan saved time, as sending the document back and forth would have been more time consuming. The real-time Showdocument interaction was definitely more efficient. As the service is free, there was no extra cost to either of them.

This scenario is applicable to many business environments where collaborative work is required. The fact that no software installation is needed and the application is easy to use, makes it suitable for the majority of internet users.

Try Showdocument now, it’s FREE!

An internet connection and a Web browser are all that required. Try it for yourself on showdocument.com.

Online collaboration is gradually having an effect on the way we communicate in our work environment

There is a lot of hype around Web collaboration following the preview of Google Wave. We recently wrote an introduction to web meetings, where we explained how they are beneficial. Online collaboration tools have an increasing effect on the way we work and communicate and are foreseen to rapidly develop in the near future.

Online tools in the workplace

Technology contributed greatly to the way people communicate and work together. Email has transformed the way we work and is an integral part of nearly any business. With time, instant messaging (IM) also gained its share and is used internally as well as externally in some companies.

Distances no longer matter the same way and people do not necessarily have to be next to each other in order to work together. As communicating remotely saves time and travel costs, screen-sharing tools have become popular in the workplace. These allow companies to hold ‘virtual meetings’ to share presentations, data, and practically anything that can be viewed on a computer screen in real-time, among a number of individuals; they often involve employees preparing presentations or data before the meeting, which are then shared with others. While presentations are shared, participants often speak over the phone and write notes.

Collaboration platforms: not just sharing

True online collaboration tools that allow participants to work together in real-time take screen-sharing and IM a step further. They not only allow document viewing, but actually provide a platform for working together in real-time.

For example, this means that people can create documents together from scratch or build on existing ones. They can see what other participants are typing, editing, where their cursors are etc; instantaneously. They can also chat at the same time by IM or talk over the phone, for effective communication.

This means that work is not necessarily done individually and then shared, but can also be collaborated online, in real-time. It affects the way documents, ideas and work in general are developed. Instead of cycles where work is passed around, here changes are developed and approved by participants instantaneously. People share their ideas and others can react to those instantly.

Even when working on existing documents (and these may not be limited to text but could also be images, sketches etc), notes can be added in real-time, shared and used later on by everyone. This is more effective than just writing them by hand or by email, as comments and changes actually accompany specific points in a document and are easier to refer to.

Try online collaboration for yourself

Showdocument is a free online collaboration tool that promotes document co-editing, presentation and image annotation and even marking routes on maps collaboratively. An internet connection and a Web browser are all that required. Try it for yourself on showdocument.com.

There is currently a buzz about web meetings and online collaboration tools. What are they and what are they good for?

What are web meetings?

Web meetings are real-time online internet meetings between two or more people. Various types of activities are possible in these meetings, depending on the web meeting application used. It is possible for example, to work together in order edit documents, make sketches, or share maps and mark planned routes.

How do web meetings take place?

While some web meeting platforms require software installation, ShowDocument only requires a web-browser and an internet connection; no need for installation.

Web meetings are sometimes arranged in the “real-world” between friends or colleagues, for example over the phone, or via other electronic media such as email or instant messaging. Once a party initiates a web meeting they can invite others (by sending them a link or providing them with a session number). Participants can then share information and collaborate.

How can web meetings be useful?

Web meetings can virtually replace many types of real meetings, providing a simple way to collaborate remotely; saving time, reducing costs and contributing to an eco-friendly environment.

A few examples how web meetings can be used:

• Blueprint sharing – enable architects to mutually view blueprints, discuss the latest developments and add comments for later use.

• Homework assignments – schoolchildren can simultaneously work on assignments; while one types the other can see the updated document and add their input in real-time.

• Trip planning – friends who are planning a trip can view a map and mark places of interest they are going to visit (as demonstrated in the screenshot below). They can then save and print the map(s) for use during their trip!

Screenshot of a map of Manhattan (Google Maps™) being shared within ShowDocument.

Try it for yourself

Some web meetings platforms require payment, ShowDocument is free. Why not try ShowDocument now and see how web meetings can be useful to you.

* Google Maps™ is a trademark of Google Inc.