Google Waves!
June 15th 2009 07:33
I began to watch the Google Wave video the other day, in which they demonstrate, very gradually, over an 80-minute period, just how striking this piece of software is/will be, but 80 minutes is a good while, and I didn't really have time just then to watch it all. In fact they'd barely got into it before I had to stop.
Consequently, I didn't really get hold of the concept. However, I mentioned it to my (geek) son after I watched some of the video, and today he began to enthuse about it while we were having lunch, (and trying to control his two-year old).
You can view highlights from the 80-minute demonstration here. They're a bit chopped about, but they give you the gist of what's going on in some of the features. And a site called EFindItNow (which has really annoying ads all over the place) does a lot of question and answering about the Wave.
Essentially, it's an all-in-one type of browser: email and chat combined, if you want; several people working together on a project; people coming in and leaving while the thing is still functioning; links with blogs so that you can write either on the Wave or the blog and both will be picking it up; a marvellous spell-checker that's far more intuitive than Word, for example; and a bunch of other features that I haven't even had time to digest yet.
Google Wave will be good for cross country movers, and people working together on a project in different places. As my son said, it could be a useful way of working for several doctors collaborating together on a patient's history. I suspect its collaborative element is going to be something that's most effective, although you might have to get used to having people literally writing across or over the top of you (as it were) before you feel really at home with it.
I don't think Google Wave will take off instantly; like gmail itself, it'll probably need a while for people to get to grips with its advantages. I had a general failure of imagination in regard to it, I must admit, but then I'm like that with a lot of innovations. I need to see the potentials in action before I can grasp their value.
Since I've only given you my side of the picture so far, here's what Google themselves say about some of its features:
What is a wave?
A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.
Notice the words, 'participants,' 'conversation,' 'communicate.' This is what it's mostly about: not the sole person working away on their own, but a group brainstorming, bringing individual ideas to the whole, playing with thought, playing with words together, and a heap more.
You can view highlights from the 80-minute demonstration here. They're a bit chopped about, but they give you the gist of what's going on in some of the features. And a site called EFindItNow (which has really annoying ads all over the place) does a lot of question and answering about the Wave.
Essentially, it's an all-in-one type of browser: email and chat combined, if you want; several people working together on a project; people coming in and leaving while the thing is still functioning; links with blogs so that you can write either on the Wave or the blog and both will be picking it up; a marvellous spell-checker that's far more intuitive than Word, for example; and a bunch of other features that I haven't even had time to digest yet.
Google Wave will be good for cross country movers, and people working together on a project in different places. As my son said, it could be a useful way of working for several doctors collaborating together on a patient's history. I suspect its collaborative element is going to be something that's most effective, although you might have to get used to having people literally writing across or over the top of you (as it were) before you feel really at home with it.
I don't think Google Wave will take off instantly; like gmail itself, it'll probably need a while for people to get to grips with its advantages. I had a general failure of imagination in regard to it, I must admit, but then I'm like that with a lot of innovations. I need to see the potentials in action before I can grasp their value.
Since I've only given you my side of the picture so far, here's what Google themselves say about some of its features:
What is a wave?
A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.
Notice the words, 'participants,' 'conversation,' 'communicate.' This is what it's mostly about: not the sole person working away on their own, but a group brainstorming, bringing individual ideas to the whole, playing with thought, playing with words together, and a heap more.
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