This week’s Web 2.0 Weekly column is taking a look at a handy tool for creating collaborative documents quickly and easily: EtherPad.  EtherPad is an application that allows multiple users to work on the same text document simultaneously.  This could be used for group projects in or out of class or collaboration with classes around the world.  EtherPad’s true power, though, lies in the fact that each author’s edits are pushed to all users every half second.  Because of this short update cycle, users’ edits will seldom conflict with each other.

Strengths:

• Fast update cycle
• Users’ changes designated with colored backgrounds
• Easy to use

Weaknesses:

• Free EtherPads have no security
• Cost for Pro accounts beyond 3 users is a bit high
• No education pricing

EtherPad would be of interest to anyone needing realtime document collaboration.  It would be a great tool to use in collaborative projects with other schools or classes in your own building.  It could also be used by school improvement committees or Personal Learning Communities.

The public version of EtherPad is free and requires no signup.  Pads created in this way have no security, so if someone accesses it, they can change it.  EtherPad Pro accounts are free for up to 3 users and pads created using a Pro account can be password protected.  As a nice touch, pads created by a EtherPad Pro user can be made public, allowing an unlimited number of guests to collaborate on them while maintaining their password protection.  This would allow a teacher to create a pad and let their students access it as guest users.

If you require more than 3 account holders, the price is $8/user/month (i.e., 4 users is $32/month).  You will need an Internet-connected computer with a modern browser to use EtherPad.