Video from Google I/O 2009 Conference:
It is an understatement to say that Google is changing the way we use the Web. It is now true for the way their Google Wave (open-source) software platform with its real-time software tools is changing the way we can communicate and work on the Web.
Google Wave offers software extensions to repurpose and integrate its use across existing Web-based social and collaborative software/sites, software “robots” that enable tasks like real-time language translation, and their “Federation Protocol” that allows this platform to interoperate with other “wave-like” systems.
Like the open protocols of email and the World Wide Web that became the foundation for social networking activities, Google Wave can help us redefine the way we communicate and collaborate using the universal client interface of a Web browser.
As I contemplate and plan for ways in which this software platform will transform online learning, project work, and other ongoing personal and professional activities we do in a social context, I invite your comments about this innovation and what you feel it means to you.
I alternate between being excited about Google Wave and feeling frustrated that there is now one more thing to learn and incorporate into my arsenal of online tools. Only time will tell if Google Wave is widely adopted.
After watching the demo video with my NYU Narrowcasting class, I agree with you, Doc. Google Wave can and will help us redefine the way we communicate and collaborate. Looking beyond Wave, we can also see that Google’s got much bigger plans, as Jeremiah Owyang and Charlene Li discussed today: http://tinyurl.com/y89g6hn
Looks cool, but it seems to me that much of the business world is still grappling with things like social media, instant messaging, and telecommuting. How is anybody going to understand what this is or what they can do with it? Or more importantly, how long will it take?
Thanks Melissa, Gene, and Philip for your comments – all of which point to the real nature of this type of innovation.
It’s not simply technological change in terms of how we use it or even what we can do with it, but it is also a social change that is needed in terms of changing our patterns of online social interaction that have been largely based on separated “silos” of email, Web, and instant messaging paradigms (and snail mail and phone before them).
For many, that may take some time (as did email and the Web before it) and may present a steep learning curve.
For others, it will represent a paradigm change worth taking the leap into new ways of onlne interaction for collaborative work.
As for social change, maybe we should focus on the difference between a browser and a search engine first. 😉 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ
Hi Philip, thanks for posting that great link to a youtube video showing the responses to questions about “what is a browser” and “what is a search engine.” It makes a great case for user awareness and user needs studies.
Google Wave seems to do everything that I wish Blackboard would do. I can see the potential for simplifying online collaboration during group work.
Thanks Karen for your insights into using Wave in lieu of a CMS or LMS, especially for group online collaboration which (I agree) demands more than the either/or of asynchronous (threaded discussion posting)) or synchronous (text chat) functions typically offered by these software systems. As Philip suggests, it remains to be seen if/how users will adopt more flexible tools if there is a (steep) learning curve associated with this change.
Another thought (was bound to occur with a writer – me – with research completed or underway for up to four books and little or no writing going on at the moment). One of them is a new version of the co-authored Strategic Networking book.
Thought: Google’s Wave for co-authoring a book or similar online development?
Experiences, insights, and other comments welcome.