English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

This week proved to be very difficult for us to find time to discuss our white paper. We were all busy (and free) at the wrong times, with either our work schedules or classes (and other projects) interfering basically every night. However, we were still able to communicate thru email and our Google Groups group.

From our previous weekly group report, we knew that we still had some major issues to touch on before laying the foundation of our white paper. In our proposal, we had originally designated SharePoint as our main focus in the document, but after Nathaniel thankfully pointed out, we now realize that our paper should focus on a handful of possible solutions. After doing some research on possible competitors of SharePoint, we have decided to talk about IBM’s FileNet, OpenText’s ECM (formerly Livelink), and ECM2’s Documentum. We will focus on providing relevant facts and information on each solution without showing any bias towards any particular platform.

Throughout the previous week and this week, we have been busy researching and/or familiarizing ourselves with our chosen solutions. We have emailed each other to confirm each person’s research requirements and make sure that everything is accounted for. Each member has been gathering relevant information and credible sources.

This week’s activities also included preparing a sample thumbnail of the white paper. After individually creating a thumbnail, we submitted and reviewed each others. We have begun, as a group, choosing certain aspects for a combined rough draft thumbnail: such as colors, column and paragraph format, graphic placement, and white space.

Later this weekend, or early next week, we are planning (or really hoping) on getting together as a group to organize our research and form an outline for our white paper. We will also be finishing up discussing our collaborated thumbnail.