Synchronous, Distributed Collaborative Writing for Policy Agenda Setting Using Collaboratus

Collaborative writing (CW) in policy agenda setting and grant development is an important aspect of community development. However, solutions need to be found to better deal with distributed CW. This paper establishes a basis for improving distributed, CW for policy agenda setting, and similar efforts, by using a Internet-based collaborative tool. This work utilizes key research to better understand the constructs and potential outcomes of CW. Findings include that using Collaboratus for distributed CW can provide significant improvements over traditional methods, potentially benefiting those involved in distributed rural community development initiatives and similar efforts.