Googling docs

I was quite interested in the potential of Google Docs as friends have been finishing dissertations in the last few months that I've read through, so I was interested in something to make the sending/ editing/ resaving/ resending process via Word and email easier. Overall I was fairly impressed with the functions provided - especially in tracking the changes made to a document. There is also the advantage that the files are stored remotely so in the event of a hard drive explosion your documents are safe. I can only see the collaborative aspects working better than Microsoft Office when there are more than two people working on a document. So, in a similar way to Doodle, Google Docs is a brilliant way of solving a very specific problem - that of allowing a large number of librarians to work together. I don't think the software is as good as Microsoft Office to use though, so for working with just one other person (proof reading a friend's dissertation) I'll be sticking to Word!

"A doodle. I do doodle. You too. You do doodle too."

I have to confess it - I love Doodle, in fact I love it so much I quote from the Buffyverse to introduce it.

I was introduced to it by Delve and Discover a few months ago as a means to organise a meet up of around nine people. It is a brilliant tool if you need to find out when people can do, rather than actually organising the whole meeting/event which can be done alongside Doodle with emails, texts and perhaps even a good old fashioned chat!

Not having to enter a password is key to this of course - anyone with an internet connection can be included with Doodle, rather than anyone with an internet connection who is willing to register. It takes about two minutes clicking to select when you can attend, which you can edit later if plans change. I also like how entirely user determined it is - you can enter attendees as couples or multiple names and can select a number of different times when initially setting up the event. I had a brief look at Tungle.me and it was handy you could log in through a different account password - such as Twitter, you still have to log in which makes the process more complicated. Similarly, with Meet-O-Matic, although you can set up a meeting without logging in you can't use the advanced options such as selecting multiple times of day.

The genius of Doodle is its simplicity in solving an annoying but small problem. I can't see Doodle ever taking off for organising meet ups with one or two people but when trying to get big groups of people with lots of other commitments together it is hugely useful. I really like it when technology makes things easier and Doodle does that.