A shared online repository for content seems like the answer, so over the last few days I've been looking at Google Docs to see if it fits the bill. So far so good. One person creates a document and then shares it with others. The originator of the doc can work on it and then have a collaborator make additional edits to exactly the same document.

Take a video script for example. The script writer can write a script and store it in a Google Docs folder. Then give access to that script to the person doing the voice track and the other person doing the actual video production. If changes are made further up the production chain - say by the voice track person - these changes can be made right to the master version stored in Google Docs. So everybody is working from the same script.

One potential problem I've seen so far is that you cannot share folders - only individual docs. That means Person A may want to organize the same files in completely different folders from Person B. That sounds like it could be a good thing in some cases, but in others not so good.

I can also see this system being good for client communication and reporting. You create a report, say by using the online Spreadsheet utility, then share it with the client so he/she can see what is going on. Other users could even make notations and add stuff like you can with a wiki.

I must admit though, that I haven't quite figured out the Google "account" thing yet. If you've got accounts for adwords, adsense, docs, video, analytics, etc. and you signed up for them at different times, there's no telling whether or not they are synchronized. I'm sure there's a way, but I haven't figured it out yet.

After about a week with the system I am very impressed. I suspect there will be many more reasons to like Docs, but here are the first three...

1. Sharing documents is very easy. Just add someone else's Google login email address and it is done. You can optionally send an email to your collaborators telling them the file is shared.

2. Folder organization works nicely. You can save your text documents in your own folders, then share them with others who can then organize them as they see fit. This accommodates people who have a difficult time with file and folder organization. Believe it or not, everybody does not like the abstract file and folder model used and taken for granted by computer geeks everywhere. With Google Docs you share the specific document, not the document-in-a-particular-location, so Collaborator B does not have to buy into Collaborator A's folder structure.

3. The default formatting used in the basic text "documents" translates nicely into most article submission and blog entry forms. MS Word notoriously adds characters that article and blog entry forms do not like.