Looking for a good online file sharing site for group project.

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around finding an effective online file sharing solution for a group engineering design project. Participants explore various platforms and methods for collaborative document management, including pros and cons of each option.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses dissatisfaction with Google Docs due to formatting issues and seeks alternatives for file sharing that allow for modifications and notes.
  • Another participant suggests Huddle as a potential solution, indicating it may meet the group's needs.
  • A third participant mentions Google Docs again, implying it could still be a viable option despite the formatting concerns.
  • One participant proposes a low-tech solution of using email for document sharing, emphasizing the benefits of a time-stamped history through "Reply all" for updates.
  • A later reply introduces the idea of setting up an FTP file server using FileZilla, suggesting it as a more technical approach to file sharing.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present multiple competing views on the best file sharing method, with no consensus reached on a single preferred solution.

Contextual Notes

Some suggestions depend on the participants' technical capabilities and preferences for high-tech versus low-tech solutions, which may influence their effectiveness in different group dynamics.

HappMatt
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I have a engineering design project this year that I am going to be doing with a group of 4 other fellow students. I know google has something online where you can load documents and modify them online but it seemed to mess up the formatting quite a bit. I would like something where we can load the files online and each group member can download it and modify it and leave some kind of note as to what was done to it. Does anyone have any excperience using something like this and if so what's the pros and cons.
thanks
 
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Too bad Google Wave is not out yet. It's exactly what you need.

Try http://www.huddle.net/
 
Google docs
 
It's not a high-tech solution, but have you considered emailing the docs? Just put everyone in the group in the "To:" box, and make sure that as people make suggestions, additions, corrections, etc, they hit "Reply all" so that everyone gets updated with the new material. My collaborators and I use this method and it gives us all a time-stamped history of our projects.

If you want to get fancy, you can each create an email "alias" for mail to and from your group only, and create a project sub-folder and a routing rule so that all of the work gets sent there instead of your general account. In the case of my group, we are scattered about and have widely varying schedules, so the updates don't always come at the same time. I stay up very late, especially during the winter. Another collaborator is in the same time-zone as me, but because he teaches, he has to keep a more regular schedule. A third member is in Finland and does a lot of his work in the evenings (my day-times).
 

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