I have a bit of a soft question that I'd like to ask on MO. But since it is soft, and less about maths as a subject and more about the tools of doing maths as a profession, I think I ought to follow my own advice and try to get some feedback on what people think about it first.

---

Question Title: Software for long-distance collaboration

As some of you may know, I am currently based in the UK. I have several collaborators on different continents, some in North America, and some in Asia. Our communications about work are generally sent via e-mail: short comments we often just include TeX snipplets in the text, longer ones we'll send PDF files. For discussion and brain-storming, however, we would either use the telephone or Skype.

The problem with telephone or Skype is (I think those who've tried will agree with me) that it is really difficult to talk mathematics in detail, especially compared to sitting down face-to-face with a piece of paper, or sitting in front of a blackboard. The problem being that a lot of mathematical discussion (at least as I am used to) is visual. Seeing the equations written down, and being able to refer to them, makes discussing mathematics much easier.

Now the question I want to ask: are there better software solutions to long-distance collaboration, with emphasis on making available this visual process? Perhaps a chat program or chat room with something like MathJax available? Or some sort of digital whiteboard that my collaborator can edit/draw on with me in real time?

---

This question, if posted, will of course be community wiki. Thanks in advance for any input.

Willie, I sent you email on three services.

I think this is a viable question. There have been similar questions about tools for research.

In fact, after discussions at a conference last winter I compiled a collection http://peter.krautzberger.info/2010/02/tools_for_your_online_collaboration/ (including online whiteboards).

As written, I think there's too much opportunity for clutter. For example, I'm sure some people would respond by searching google for "online whiteboard" and then posting an answer essentially consisting of one of the links they find. This is the sort of behavior that makes big-list questions annoying. It prevents actual insights from shining through.

You can prevent this from happening by setting stricter guidelines for answers. A good way to do this is to hold up some examples and explicitly ask people to measure their suggestions against them. For example, you could add something like this to your question:

I'm aware of four basic methods of long-distance collaboration:

1. Email, including emailing pdfs.
2. IM-style chat. For example, gchat.
3. Phone/video phone. For example, skype.
4. Shared whiteboard software.

It's likely true that there simply is no substitute for working together in person, but there's always room for improvement. Are there other tools you use for long distance collaboration? In your answer, please explain what problem your tool solves that isn't solved (or is inadequately solved) by one of the four above.

I think it would be good for you to say something about the shortcomings of each tool in the enumeration to get the idea-juices flowing, but I wouldn't spend too many words on it. For example, I'm aware of shared whiteboard software, but I find it just not worth it. There's too much overhead with getting it to work, and it ends up being unnatural to use. Video chat plus a regular whiteboard works better for me.

I also prefer not to stress software so much, since it artificially limits the scope of the question. If somebody has come up with some clever way to use a standard telephone as part of a long-distance collaboration system, that's worth reading about.

@Anton: I will partly adopt your suggestion, but not completely, since part of my original intent was to get some testimonials on which online whiteboard service works well with mathematics.

@Will Jagy: I hope you can post the three services you sent me as an answer, and also say a few words about your personal opinion/experience with them.

@Peter: That is an amazing website which I have bookmarked. But I am hoping for more of an in-depth review of services and their strengths and weaknesses.

@Anton (again): Whiteboard + video chat? What kind of web-cam and video chat service are you using? I would love to know one that actually works.

Question is posted. Thanks for all the feedback here.