Working together is a big part of any environmental group. As the world wide web develops groups now have more ways to collaborate, communicate and share information.
There are 1.5 billion people online, and half of them will visit blogger, facebook, youtube, flickr, or digg today. Some of your members may not be online, yet, but many are and once online people tend to stay online. The rest of this article will outline 11 popular applications.
Wikis Wikis are collaborative webpages. Users can write and edit a document, allowing a group of users to work on shared documents.  They are generally seen as an improvement over sharing documents via email because the information is stored in central location, making it easier to contribute without losing track of changes. Wikis in english is a great video that explains how wikis work, and why to use them.
Google Docs Google docs is very similar to wikis, and probably easier to use. The documents are hosted with google. Users can choose from spreadsheets, documents and presentations. Google has received criticism over privacy issues and its work in China, so if that is not a problem then google docs is a simpler option than wikis.
Social networks There are many many social networks, from facebook to youtube to flickr, the list goes on an on. These sites are providing new ways for users to share information and are quickly becoming a must if you wish to keep in contact the public or large groups of members. The important aspect to social networks is that they empower users to share information. They should not be seen as a substitute for newsletters or email campaigns. The easier it is to share the information the better.
Google Reader Another google application, google reader lets users be notified when something is published on websites they have ‘subscribed’ to. This allows users to keep track of dozens of websites.
Second Life This application is a virtual world. Users can communicate with each other, build environments, buy and sell virtual products, and property. Each user creates their own virtual person who they control, walking, and even flying, through virtual space.
Google sketchup This application allows users to create virtual 3d spaces. You could build a house, a park, a town. It can be a very powerful tool in visualising physical spaces. For example, users could create a model of what an area ‘could’ look like, which might be useful in public consultations.
Webspiration This application is free at the moment and is a very powerful collaboration tool. Users can create shared diagrams, outlines, process flowcharts and mind-maps. Great for sharing and sketching out ideas.
Twitter Twitter has received a lot of media attention recently and seems to have broken out of its niche position. Users choose to receive ‘tweets’ or messages from other users who post the messages. Mobile operators in Ireland have chosen to charge users for receiving messages on their mobile phones, so the usage has generally been limited to pcs, which is a pity.
Delicious This application allows users to share their ‘bookmarks’. A user can save their favourite webpages and allow other users to view them. This allows users to find sites of specialist interest.
Video conferencing There are many applications that allow video and audio conferencing. Some of these are google, skype, msn messenger, as well as many fee-based conferencing applications. Person-to-person conferencing is still very important when starting projects, but when the participants know each other well video conferencing can provide a very convenient and productive environment for collaborating.
Viewpath This application allows users to share project planning information. Team members can be assigned tasks and can share calendars. It offers a great opportunity for project planning for free. It is free to use but there is a charge if you wish to archive projects.