By this I mean the possibility of also focusing on action: LTEs, Reports (the simplest froms) etc. ie 'Community to the Outside World' communications. This kind of activity tends to involve subgroups within ET = visible to all, but contributions mainly from 'experts'.

Afew has recounted his experiences of trying to collate comments, edits, multiple version of documents etc. I believe it was quite stressful - especially where there was a deadline. Add in graphics, videos, sound and other tools of communication, and the problem starts to grow exponentially. Apparently, such ET projects tend to go offine, because the project tools are not available.

I don't want to start the Scoop v new software debate again, but I have had some experience over the last year looking at online collaborative software. We've been checking the latest videoconferencing stuff, freely configurable workgroup forums, all sorts. I am thinking about the future, not today.

The most effective demonstrations have been of software that allow the formation of different work groups beneath a front end of what might be called a macro workgroup, very much like ET. ie a public community blog of self-styled experts/seekers. These workgroups have multiple levels of access, with only those tools that an individual's acccess level allows the use of, visible. These tools include the manipulation of master documents (meaning any data files not just text). In most cases that we saw, it was also possible to drag and drop almost and kind of file into a workgroup. There are usually instant messaging systems incorporated - like html real time chats, IM etc.

We've now identified the best solution for our SOS purposes. And we'll probably be partnering this company (Finnish) because our aims are very similar. But off the shelf, it is a big and (relatively to Scoop) expensive program, and you need a lot of server space because of file sizes. So it is not for ET yet. But in a few months we hope to have it up and running, so you'll be able to see how it feels and works.

I like the non-design of ET. It is simple and clean. But it is still largely text based. That means it offers only one method of communication. That suits many people, but not everyone. With a long career in films, and now other audio-visual media, I work in pictures and sounds. In the process of communication with an audience, hardly any text is used in the way we use it here - except at the beginning and end of a movie. Of course there is a lot of text used in the creation/production of a movie, but it reaches the screen in a translated form.

And that is really my point. The macrocosm of diaries and comments here cannot be copypasted into the outside world. It needs to be translated in order for it to work in a particular communication channel with a particular audience. But without the collaborative tools to easily acccomplish that, it is not going to happen - except where the communication channels most closely resemble ET, such as LTEs and Reports to bureaucrats. snark

BTW What I'd really like personally is a direct link to wikipedia ;-)
Never in my life have I spent so much time looking stuff up, as here on ET! In fact what I would really like is the ability to click on, or roll over,  any word or phrase in any comment or diary and instantly get a small pop-up with the first 5 lines of the wiki entry in it. The writer does not need to concern themselves with these links, of course - a widget would go out and look for them undercover.

You can't be me, I'm taken