Lab Researching Network Collaboration Tools: Fill & Download for Free

Disclaimer: I am founder / President of a startup[1] that specialized in F/OSS collaboration & knowledge management products.As others have said, it depends on how you define "collaboration tool", but some obvious candidates are:Apache OpenMeetings - Apache OpenMeetings - HomeApache Wave - Welcome to Apache WaveApache Rave - http://rave.apache.org/Apache Roller - Apache RollerApache JSPWiki - Apache JSPWiki (Incubating)And, if you'll indulge me a little bit of self-promotion:From Fogbeam Labs:Quoddy, the Open Source Enterprise Social NetworkNeddick, the Open Source Information Discovery & Routing PlatformWe are working on some degree of integration with our products and one or more of the listed Apache projects as well. We believe that we will soon have the most complete, easiest to integrate, and most powerful Enterprise Social Network offering out there. And it's all Open Source (ASLv2 licensed and developed in the open).We can also offer assistance with assembling custom tailored collaboration solutions using the tools listed above, as well as others.[1]: http://www.fogbeam.com

In the 60s there weren’t a lot of computer researchers, and they were generally friendly. So more or less everyone knew everyone. If you look at the history of Unix, you will see cross fertilizations both from the MIT Multics research and from Butler Lampson and Project Genie at Berkeley.BCPL by Martin Richards from the UK was very influential, and spawned implementations and adaptations at MIT, Lincoln Labs, etc., and Bell Labs (where it became “B” and then morphed into “C”). A similar process happed at CMU, where the morphed language was called Bliss (Bill’s Language for Implementing Systems Software — Bill Wulf).One of the most influential early language systems in the 60s from Bell Labs was SNOBOL by Dave Farber, Ralph Griswold and Ivan Polonsky.“Extensible Languages” were a big topic in the 60s, and Bell Labs contributed a few.Doug McIlroy was a fountain of ideas there, and contributed an extensible macro system, the Unix “pipes” ideas, and many more.Perhaps the biggest difference between the two organizations in the 60s is that ARPA had a really cosmic vision about computing and networking — involving many topics, including interactive graphics and simulations, and world-wide networks and collaboration — and Bell Labs didn’t. I think ARPA was greatly helped to have about 3/4 of the projects in universities.In the 70s, I think Unix, C, the DEC PDP-11, and their tools created a center of gravity that influenced most of the thinking at Bell Labs. Parc was bent on making a complete first pass on the cosmic ARPA vision, and this required it to make its own computers and displays and networks rather than buying from vendors, and to do all other parts of the hardware/software as needed — and to collaborate strongly with the ARPA researchers involved with “internetworking”.

GOP Labs kicked off in January 2011 with presentations from Facebook (product), Twitter (product), and YouTube about how Members of Congress and their staff could best leverage each of the platforms.Since then, monthly sessions have been held featuring Google (company), The Washington Post, Intel Research Labs, Oovoo and others, with a focus on best practices.Each session opens with a 10-15 minute presentation by a guest speaker or panel of speakers, followed by 10-20 minutes of question & answer or facilitated discussion. Staff also have an opportunity to network, and meet the speakers one-on-one.As a physical location, GOP Labs is essentially a hybrid between a war room and an innovation center in the Capitol building. The lab is equipped with monitoring and collaboration tools, and staffed by interns with an interest in digital media.The program is focused on developing skills through training in: Blogger Outreach, Video Editing, Digital Photography, Infographics, Social Media Strategy and User Engagement Optimization.