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Group directories: A new approach to sharing files

Saturday, September 24, 2005


Sharing files with colleagues, fellow committee members, and others can be a messy affair. Whether you email large file attachments or hand off floppy disks, zip drives, and flash drives, you’ve got problems with convenience, security, backup and content control.

One solution is Group Directories, now available with My WebSpace, UW-Madison’s Web-accessible file storage system. Group Directories enable users to:


  • exchange documents and information within restricted groups
  • access files via the Web while traveling or from home
  • provide access to work documents for people off campus for viewing and editing.

A Group Directory is not associated with a personal My WebSpace account, but is accessible in a separate “Group Directories” area of My WebSpace. Each Group Directory has its own identity, trash can and storage quota and provides an easy way to share files, such as meeting minutes and research proposals, within a group.

One of the first groups to take advantage of Group Directories is a cross-campus Desktop Security Team. “We have a number of subcommittees, all of which are creating documents that need to be reviewed and edited by others,” says Linda Pruss, chair of the team. “The group directory function has served our needs well.”

The Trace Center for Research and Development in the College of Engineering also uses Group Directories. “We have team members who are developing standards for universal remote control devices,” says Joseph Schauer, an information technology administrator at the Trace Center. “The project leader is in Germany, and we have students and team members here. The team had been sending emails back and forth with files.”

“[Group Directories] saves us from having to create an FTP server,” Schauer adds. “Even within the Center, when we’re working between computers, it’s an easy way to move files instead of having to use disks, memory sticks or other hard media. It’s been convenient.”

A top-level Group Directory costs $30 and includes 300MB of storage with a bandwidth quota of 1GB per hour. A Group Directory administrator can add as many subdirectories as needed, and additional space costs $10 for each additional 100MB.

Campus departments, committees and other groups with a valid UW requisition number can purchase a My WebSpace Group Directory online through the DoIT Tech Store. For more information, go to www.doit.wisc.edu/mywebspace/ and click on Group Directories.