Andrew Skalet
DLC HW3
1. I chose http://www.experts-exchange.com/ because I have encountered it in my professional experience trying to solve problems.
2.
- I think it is interesting mostly because it it really gets used by a variety of IT professionals worldwide. To me, the site seems laden with advertising, which detracts from it. In view of this, I find it disappointing that payment is required for full access, especially at the rates they are charging, which I find high for an occasional user of the site:
$9.95 monthly plan
$49.75 six month plan
$99.50 one year plan
- The site really is a living example of collaboration, and probably works especially well because people working in IT are used to using the web, and have the same problems when they are working with the same software products. Although I have never asked a question in this type of forum (perhaps I am not patient enough to wait for an answer), I have often benefitted from others having the problem before me.
- The site is somewhat similar to the swiki, in that collaborators can enter new information without creating html webpages and having access to files on the server. However, the format seems to be more blog than wiki. By that I mean that users cannot modify information that other users have posted, and the functionality is similar to that of a well-indexed mailing list, without requiring users to actually be on a mailing list.
3.
- I have read Peopleware by DeMarco and Lister.
- The book describes what an organization can do for their people to facilitate the success of software projects. This includes helping software workers (although the ideas are probably more broadly applicable) collaborate effectively. One of the interesting collaboration topics is how to set up workspaces so that people can collaborate (in person), but others aren't constantly disturbed.
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