BP9.2_2009103_Web2.0#2

www.gliffy.com is a “web-based flowchart and diagramming tool” (Kohlhardt & Dickson, 2008). You might ask yourself, “Why is she giving us another one of these? We already know about LucidChart and Dabbleboard?” That’s exactly what I thought when I came across the link, until I actually tried Gliffy.

Although I appreciated how easy it was to use Dabbleboard, there were some things I didn’t like about the interface. Ironically, it didn’t seem to flow. I found LucidChart to be to constricting in the way it chooses things for you. In my opinion, Gliffy has them both trumped.

For starters, Gliffy has numerous pictures already loaded, including shapes, network pictures (like a firewall), flowchart-specific images, “entity-relationship” arrows, and even pictures for creating a floorplan. Furthermore, I like the idea of being able to search the Internet for pictures within Gliffy. There is an image search function that is tied to Yahoo! Search. You can upload pictures and store them to your account, too.

There are several other reasons that Gliffy is a superior flowchart maker. For example, it is easy to change colors, unlike Dabbleboard and LucidChart. Gliffy offers a grid so that you can truly line things up. Layering makes it easy to include several objects in one space, and if you’re creative enough, maybe even make it look 3D. Items can be grouped so that the user doesn’t have to move each individual piece. Shapes can be rotated and connections are made easy with the connector tool.

So where is the educational piece of Gliffy? All over, actually: character maps, brainstorming, collaboration between students, comparing and contrasting, visualizing processes, concept maps, exploring relationships between topics, etc. Furthermore, as with other Web 2.0 sites, the diagrams are collaborative. There is the option to keep the diagram private or shared. It is easy to see who is really working on the project as well with the revision history. Diagrams can be exported as jpegs or pngs for later use like on a class website or for a presentation.

Overall, I think the versatility and ease-of-use make Gliffy perfect for students. The only downside is that after the 30-day free trial, users will need to pay (25 user acct is $30.00/mo., but you can register from 1 user to 1000 depending on your needs).

References:

Kohlhardt, C., & Dickson, C. (2008). Gliffy. Retrieved October 17, 2009 from http://www.gliffy.com/