Thing 9: collaboration

First, can I mention that the link to the LOC's "American Treasure" was misleading? The topic was editing a famous document - it took me a while to understand that I could NOT edit the Declaration of Independence. And I would have, too.

Second, I agree the ability to work collaboratively on something like a strategic planning document is a good thing. So is being able to track who made which comment. However, a document with permissions and the ability to exclude is not so much collaborative as it is frustrating. In my experience, it takes motivation to get people to suggest changes and edits. And at some point, there has to be a person who decides which edits are final, which get thrown out and when the document is complete.

I don't know if a collaborative doc on-line is all that different from multiple copies with edits, being assembled by one individual who still has to sift through the changes made and decide to be done or go on.