Colloquia is a new kind of software system that supports group working. It allows any user to set up a working or learning group around a particular topic (a context), add people to it, add resources (web pages, documents etc) to it, set up group tasks, and then engage in group and personal "conversations" about the topic.
To support this way of working, users can continually build a library of resources they can use in different contexts, and have access to detailed information about the people they are working with. To use Colloquia every group member needs Colloquia installed on their machine, an E-mail Account, an Internet Connection. It is an user friendly software system and has simple functional methodology.
Resources in Colloquia are a bit like bookmarks or favourites. It can be viewed using Colloquia's built in Web browser. Web pages can also be pulled down and saved offline in their entirety.
Special Features
- By always displaying messages within the context of an activity, s/he always knows what context s/he is talking about, and what s/he has discussed previously.
- Unlike other groupware systems, one does not need to set up a complex central server.
- Any user can set up a group activity. In fact they can set up sub-activities to an activity set up by someone else. Any activity is managed by the initiator, who decides who participates, what resources are used, and sets tasks.
Colloquia is free for use within non-profit educational establishments - schools, colleges and universities. It can be downloaded from:
http://www.colloquia.net/install_main.html .
