Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Destry Wion

Destry Wion — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:24:18 GMT

One problem with SharePoint is the vendor lock-in and technical portfolio requirement. Forget it. You lose creative input right there from what would otherwise be a larger pool of of developers and UX people. Whatever happens it needs to be open. I agree with the module-based framework approach; seems like the right way to go.

Just read that article Susan Chopra linked to. Very interesting. The collaborative web browsing is, in my opinion, a perfect example of the missing collaboration capabilities implied here. Certainly one artifact to covet.

One thing I don’t quite get is your suggestion for synchronous collaboration (simultaneous merging?) on a document. For example, you pointed out diffing and subversion, etc, and seem to say that the most recent version save—trumping the previous—is less than perfect. Do you mean the process is too clunky (e.g., having to pick through a diffing page), or there should be a more esoteric merging of text, like mixing blue and yellow to get green?

Destry Wion — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:23:18 GMT

Matthew: I see what you mean now, thanks. I thought you were referring to a physical melding of contributions (the resulting artifact), whereas you are talking more about the collaboration leading to the artifact’s final state. Seems trivial at first look, but there is a difference. My reference to color was misleading, as I was using it as an analogy of melding process and the illogical outcome if applied to text communication. :)

Destry Wion — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:49:11 GMT

I think Rahel is right; there’s a need for more articles on this, from the bottom up, building on what Rachel has already laid down. Likewise, it seems clear there’s many specific topics, thus many opportunities for different authors. Maybe a B&A series on Content Strategy?