Collaboration Tools: Making Location Moot

Government employees have a variety of tools to facilitate collaboration with their colleagues -- whether they are pursuing scientific research or gathering requirements for a new piece of software.

The options range from consumer-grade tools for sharing files and free audio conferencing services to products that offer higher levels of security or support more structured forms of collaboration. The task for agencies is to line up the right tool for the job. As a result, an agency might work with a diverse set of collaboration tools rather than a single offering.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Office of the CIO provides a portfolio of collaboration software and services for its researchers and partners at other institutions.

"The primary thing we are trying to enable here is scientific collaboration," said Adam Stone, chief technology officer and division deputy for policy and technology at Berkeley Lab. "When thinking about collaboration tools, it is always about being able to include external collaborators as full participants in the research environment."

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Angie D OGrady

Cooxist

Executive Leadership