This is a first look at a new collaboration application from OpenACircle.com

After 20 years of looking at collaboration applications, and having seen thousands, when a vendor tells us their new application is not only easy to use, but a Web 2.0 application built for small teams (under 12 people) and that it seamlessly integrates synchronous and asynchronous collaboration functions, we at Collaborative Strategies were a bit skeptical.

[More:]

However, after a long discussion and demo of OpenACircle with Andy Wilson, Chief Strategist and Product Manager for OAC, I am starting to become a believer. This application is built in Java, and we tested it with IE 7.0 browser (they will support Firefox and Safari later in the summer when the application goes into beta).

Since this tool is still in private Alpha, going to www.openacircle.com (Figure 1) will offer you the opportunity to enroll in the private beta, planned for late May. However, when you are invited to log in, you will see a screen that looks more like the dashboard in Figure 2.

Figure 1- OAC Welcome Screen (click to enlarge)

I got an e-mail invitation with a link which I clicked to get started. It downloaded a 5 MB application (mostly to download the video engine that sits behind many of the synchronous applications). “Loading” appeared on my screen for a few seconds, but once it downloaded, I was asked to join a circle or create a circle (See Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Dashboard for OpenACircle in private alpha

My definition of “easy” is one or two clicks to be able to do any collaborative function. So with this in mind I started trying to create a new circle by hitting the big + button in the upper left corner. As you can see in Figure 2, it is more than a few clicks to create a circle, but not much more.

You have to choose a name for your circle (a Circle is a Virtual Team Space or VTS), the purpose of the circle, and also put in some tags (keywords). In the version I tried, tags were required if you wanted to hit the “Continue” button to create the circle (see Figure 3). I also uploaded an image of me (in sun glasses on a bus in Australia on the way to sailing in the Whitsunday islands) and as you can see in Figure 2, I have actually created 3 different Circles: one on my new book “Collaboration 2.0”; the second circle called “Davids Circle 1” is a test circle I set up for this review; and the third circle is called OAC First Look, which is where I have posted different drafts of this document and invited other team members to review the document before it is posted or distributed to the public.

Figure 3 - Creating a new circle

Circles and more Circles

The only problem I had with creating circles was OAC kept asking for an icon or picture of me for each circle, which I believe is something they will fix in the beta, so that if you upload your picture to one circle, it will use it as a default, unless you want a different picture or icon in another circle. I also did not find a limit on the size of the picture I uploaded (the picture of my book cover is pretty large), however (as expected) the bigger pictures took longer to load and display.

Invitations

I invited Andy Wilson in the circle but I could just as easily have asked Bob Sayle (one of the other CS analysts I work with) to join me in Davids Circle 1 (see Figure 4). It initially allows you to invite one person, but by clicking the “More” button it will give you additional spaces to invite up to 10 more people (currently 12 people are allowed in any one circle, including the circle owner).

Now I know Mike and Bob’s e-mail address by heart (other CS analysts), but that is not always true of other colleagues or clients I want to interact with (see Figure 4). Easy means that you don’t have to search 6 other programs to find a screen name or e-mail address of someone you want to invite into a circle, and that with one or two clicks you can get to anyone in any of your contact lists (no matter what application) and invite them to be part of your circle.

Imagine if you were a sales guy and wanted to invite 6 people from a client team into a circle so you could share a demo of your new software with them. You might have all of the client’s names in a variety of different e-mails, but if you could pick from a contact list, this would alleviate a significant barrier in getting the circle started, because as a sales guy, you don’t have much patience.

So when I asked how I get my other addresses into a list so I could pick others to be in the circle. Andy told me that they have a widget that will allow you to pull e-mail addresses from your Outlook contact list, Google contacts, and other lists of names and e-mail addresses you might have. I am told this function will also be in the beta release of OAC (available this summer).

Figure 4 - Inviting Others to Join Your Circle

Scheduling

It is often critical to coordinate tasks over time in a team, and often this is done through scheduling (but if it is more complex you probably need a task or project management tool). In OAC scheduling is as quick and easy as clicking on the “Schedule” button and creating an entry. I was only able to select from the list of names on the left (under “People”) and since Andy is the only name there (besides my own) I invited him to be part of the scheduled event (See Figure 5). OAC does ask you to select your home time zone (which in my case is Pacific). Once I complete the form and hit “continue” the event now shows up on my dashboard in the lower left hand corner of the screen in the “Schedule” tab.

One thing that would be cool would to be able to import iCal events onto a specific schedule in a circle, and since OAC should be able to import contacts from several sources they should also be able to import iCal events. I suspect that we will see this over the summer in the Beta release.

Other Asynchronous Functions

It is also just as easy to do many of the other asynchronous functions common to a VTS; for example uploading a file (see Figure 6). OAC, like many other applications allows you to browse for the file you want, name it, give it a description and some tags (limited to 50 letters) and then upload it.

However, one of the things I like to do when creating a VTS is upload a bunch of files as background for my team. In other VTS tools they support functions like WebDaV which allows you to upload a bunch of files all at once to the VTS. Right now in alpha you have to upload each file separately, but by the time the OAC public beta is available this summer, you will be allowed to use the “ctrl” key to select a variety of files from a list to upload, which should eliminate that specific pain.

Figure 5 - Create a Scheduled Event

Another way you can configure your circle to fit your needs is through a preferences window. This window allows you to select what you get notified about by e-mail. Whether it is a new person joining the circle, a new piece of content or a document added to the circle, or someone changed something within the circle. You can choose to be notified by e-mail about any or all of these things.

Figure 6 - Uploading a File

I posted a new article, this one on the Dialogic analyst conference I attended last week. As you can see in figure 7 it shows up as an Article in the center of the dashboard and others in the circle can comment on it like they would on a blog or wiki.

Figure 7- Posting an article in an OAC Dashboard

Sending a message is equally easy, and it sends an e-mail to those you select. I hope in the future it allows you to send IM or SMS messages just as easily to others in your circle (kind of like the favorite five that many cell phone companies are touting in their ads). This is a great lead in for my review of the synchronous functions of OAC, and how you can share your screen, video etc all with just a few clicks.

Moving From Asynchronous to Synchronous Collaboration

All of this asynchronous stuff is great, but it is so Web 1.0, it is the easy integration of some of the Web 2.0 synchronous tools that make this application interesting. Fortunately, OAC is a spin out from Espre Solutions, a video company with their own codec, so they are even better on the synchronous side. And with only one click to the “Go Live” button you’re able to start sharing with your circle mates. One click starts your web cam (you can see a picture of yourself in the “self view” tab lower down on the left hand frame (See figure 8). You can also see who you connected to (in this case Andy Wilson) as well as a timer for how long you are in conference, and who is watching you and your desktop (see lower left hand corner of screen).

Figure 8 - Synchronous Functions of OpenACircle

To share your desktop or an application, first start or make sure you have the application running that you want to share. Then if you click the “Share Desktop” button the window in Figure 9 pops up, and then click on the option you want to share (Desktop, a document, etc.) which is a list of all applications currently running on your Windows machine (they are working on getting it to work on a Mac, but it might be the summer before that is available).

Figure 9 - Content Sharing Options from your Computer

When you choose to share your picture, or do VoIP OAC automatically detects the devices attached to your computer and pops up a window like Figure 10 which allows you to pick both a video and audio device for picture and VoIP.

Figure 10 - Configuring Camera and Audio Settings

As you can see in the middle of Figure 11 is the shared screen, where Andy has shared a PDF document. Just above that you can see the “Text Chat tab” (you can click on the “+” to make the chat window larger), and at least in this version of OAC chat is persistent. This chat window allows you to chat with everyone in the conference, but if you want to chat with someone privately all you have to do is click on the menu next to their name and select “private message” to “whisper” to them.

This version of OAC also supports VoIP calling. I initially started the call on the telephone but was able to switch over from my new Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and my Logitech USB headset to hear and speak using VoIP.

Summary

After testing most of the functions of a very early (Alpha) release of OpenACircle I can see that they put a lot of thought into making both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration easy (1-2 clicks). And by combining the real-time features with a virtual team space (VTS) that is also easy to use, OAC has created a secure space that works the way most people do, i.e. they move in and out of working by themselves and working with others (in a circle) as they need to. OAC is a good collaboration application in that it gets out of the way of the work people are trying to do, yet supports the interactions necessary in an intuitive way. What more could you ask from a collaborative tool, except maybe a low price… and guess what, it’s free!

Figure 11 - Full Video Conference on OAC

So who would use such a tool? Well anyone who is a mobile professional, i.e. not someone with a mobile phone, but rather a professional that is mobile, and moves in and out of meetings or conversations with others throughout their day. A good example of such a mobile professional besides myself, would be a CEO of a company, or a contract PR person, maybe even a doctor or lawyer, and in many cases software developers, since most professionals today don’t do much work on their own and have to interact with others to either complete a task, a project or exchange information. OAC was built for these people who are already trained on Web 2.0 consumer applications, have very little patience and don’t want anything in the way of their getting to work quickly and efficiently with others. Tools like Facebook are great for connecting with other people, but not so great in helping you organize your content and sharing it with other team members or just those you choose.

OAC is a bit more an enterprise or SMB (small, medium business) type application than a consumer application. But I can see people using a circle to organize a family reunion, having chats with Mom, showing the others pictures of the proposed reunion site, hotel rooms, etc. But I can just as easily see a circle being used by an architect to share building plans, or to take a look (at a distance) at the building site where the contractor is. Given the cost, availability and ease of use of OAC, when it becomes available in public beta over the summer I expect it to become a popular collaboration service very quickly!