A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post with a friend in real time using Google Docs. We started with a blank page and conversed in the document to develop an idea. Then, we started writing, together. The result was a delightful story. We only spoke in Google Docs; our communication was limited to text.
We decided to write a fiction story. I am less well versed in fiction, but am excited to develop those skills. During writing, I found myself excited by how my collaborator’s input helped drive the story. When I felt lost and couldn’t figure out what to say next, my collaborator could take over the reigns. We wrote and wove the story together.
Since then, I have been thinking about the idea of making, collaboratively, on the internet.
What is the internet equivalent of sitting around a table and doing arts and crafts with friends?, I wonder.
This was the topic of a session at this year’s Berlin IndieWebCamp. The session, titled “Non-technical collaboration on the internet”, focused on the ways in which we could create things on the web together.
In the session, I noted that there is a spectrum of what collaboration means. You can make something with someone in real time, like the story I wrote with an internet friend, or you can create a task, allow people to contribute in their own time, and curate the results into a single output.
A good example of the latter — contributing in one’s own time to a bigger project — is the IndieWeb Carnival, in which participants are challenged to write a blog post on a topic that is defined by a rotating volunteer host every month. By the end of the month, there can be over a dozen submissions on the theme, each with their own take.
I think the community around the Carnival, with so many people participating or having participated, combined with the effort hosts put in to choosing good topics and introducing them in such a way that there are many angles to explore, have been among the key factors keeping the project going for over a year.
The Carnival is a project that started in the spirit of collaboration: a challenge to write a blog post on a topic, with results curated on the announcement page by the host. At every point, from the ability of anyone to volunteer to host to the discussions that go on around the carnival — “I wonder what to write about for this month’s Carnival” — there is connection and communication. Then, at the end of the month, there is a list of blogs made all around a theme.
The Carnival and writing a blog post with someone in real time are both collaborative, but in different ways. In the former, all work happens at the same time. There is thus more communication going on; coordination to decide what to do, and all of the discussion that goes on to make a piece of work that two or more people are creating together at the same time. In the latter, work happens across a longer period of time.
I am keen to do more collaborative projects. Some ideas on my mind are:
- Writing a HTML document with CSS in real time with someone (and without audio or video).
- Writing another collaborative story with someone in real time.
- Making a collaborative photo grid to which people can contribute images (i.e. “submit a photo of your favourite building, with a caption of what it means to you”).
- A HTML page made with friends where everyone takes turns to add a CSS style.
Whether these ideas manifest themselves into full projects is yet unclear, but I am intrigued to see what I can make with others!
