This is cutting edge, breaking news in web products. Google announced Wave yesterday.
General information
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html
In a way, it’s a combination of several familiar forms of communication, including:
- Discussion Boards
- Wiki
- Instant Messaging
- Text Document
- Image sharing, files, etc.
You can have interactive conversations, threaded discussion, and “living documents” all at once. It’s a mashup of email, discussions, wiki, blogging, everything in real time. Google is making it open source and extendable, meaning that anyone can freely take the platform they create, tinker with it for their own needs, and deploy it themselves.
Hard to explain in words, so if your interest is piqued, set aside some time and watch the unveiling here and imagine how we will be able to use this in education.
Why should you care?
This will make engaging, interactive collaboration EASY. It will bridge the gap between these many “separate” tools we have sitting out there, and, here’s what I think is huge: Wave will make it possible to seamlessly shift between different forms of communication fluidly. We can leave messages but also immediately discuss them as well as edit previous mistakes. Finally, there is a way to review what happened in a chronological fashion. Media can be tied into it. You can add/remove recipients on-the-go, so if you think someone should be part of an already ongoing discussion, you can add them just like you add a recipient to email.
It’s all searchable, and based upon contacts/friends akin to email or facebook, but this is email for the 21st century — doing away with some of the old post office metaphor.
It’ll be intuitive, including drag-and-drop support for image sharing and using the latest web technologies included in HTML5.
It will be mobile friendly, both because smart phones are becoming more widespread but also because the technology behind it is all about connectivity.
I know there is lots of skepticism about both the innovativeness and the disruptive potential of this, but in my opinion this is the next big thing. The fact that Google is making it open source is even better. The need for proprietary software is shrinking with tools like this. Imagine the day when the old post office metaphor for email is no longer the dominating understanding of communication.
We should keep it near and dear on the radar to see how we can take advantage of this for distance learning.
Michael Edwards is an Instructional Designer for the 
May 29, 2009 at 3:50 pm |
Great post! I have yet to finish the demo but, as stated in my post on the same topic, I’m already excited about the possibilities for better/more effective group learning applications. Many instructors are hesitant to implement group projects because collaboration is a little more time and/or tech intensive than it should be. Wiki’s were a great start – but Wave changes everything with easier media integration and in-line and threaded comments. Not to mention mobility and the “fluid” nature of the app.
May 29, 2009 at 7:55 pm |
This is exciting, Mike. I’ve really been impressed with what Google has been doing to enhance communication recently. As an instructor and administrator, this can be a very powerful tool.
Great article.