when documents are dis-tributed via e-mail
it isnÃt always clear which team members are responsible for the different changes made to the original document. If the group determines that a previous version of the document is better than a later version
it isnÃt always easy to simply reverse the latest changes. And finally
some e-mail systems will reject the attachment of files that exceed a certain file size limit. This usually isnÃt a problem for text documents
but files containing pictures
sound
or other multimedia content can be problematic. Fortunately
today a number of different file-sharing and storage options are widely available.Dropbox Dropbox is a cloud storage service that makes it easy to access your documents from any of the devices you work on. Think of it as a shared hard drive for your computer
phone
and tablet computer. Dropbox also allows you to share files and folders with others
making it a great tool for document sharing. There are two Dropbox features that make it particularly attractive. First
saving files to Dropbox is just as easy as saving a file to your hard drive. Other cloud-based document services require you to manually upload and download files. Dropbox also maintains a version history record for documents
making it easy to see the changes made to a document and undo them if necessary. This is a great feature for teams working on col-laborative writing projects. Dropbox prices its service based on the amount of storage space users anticipate needing. It also offers a free plan for people who will use less than 1 terabyte (1
024 gigabytes) of space. This makes Dropbox a good solution for students and small busi-nesses. Business users will typically purchase a premium plan that provides for much more space
enhanced security
and account administrative features as well as API access
which will allow the company to integrate Dropbox with existing computer applications.Box Like Dropbox
Box is a cloud storage service but places greater emphasis on social tools and features
which make it a great choice for collaborating teams. Users can edit files stored on Box without downloading to their hard drives. Like many other social companies
Box has created an open-source API
allowing third-party developers to write applications for Box users that offer additional sharing and collaboration features. Over 60 such apps have been devel-oped so far.Wikis While Dropbox and Box allow teams to collaborate on the creation of documents
a wiki allows teams to collaborate on the creation of Web pages. A wiki is a website that allows many people to add or update information found on the site. Wikis can be used as a work space for collaborative teams or they can become public websites built by groups of collaborators. The most popular wiki project is Wikipedia
the online encyclopedia (alexa.com
 2014). Businesses can create wikis for a particular product and allow employees and even customers to con-tribute information that will form a knowledge base resource for those who need information about the product.There are many different sites like wikispaces.com and wikidot.com that offer free
basic wiki services to users. Wikis can be a particularly good way for a small business to distribute nonconfidential information to employees and business partners. Setting up a wiki is much easier than creating a full-featured website and it doesnÃt require anyone to administer the sharing of documents placed on the wiki.Thanks to the features and benefits of social technology
teams and work groups today can communicate
conduct research
find information
and share results with others more easily than ever before. Videoconferencing in particular has enhanced our ability to converse and conduct meetings with people in distant locations. Social bookmarking services not only provide a better means of curating lists of websites we may want to return to someday
but these services also leverage the power of the crowd to index websites on the basis of human
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