And it might be the new email, the new chat tool, the new blogging tool, the new online meeting tool, the new online collaboration tool… the list goes on and on.
I’ve been playing, exploring, envisioning. I’m practically seasick, but it’s wicked cool.
My first effort at sticking a toe in the water was unimpressive. Ron and I played with it and as far as we could see at firstglance it was a chat tool, which is rather boring and unimpressive. I’ve since read that’s a common experience, so if you find yourself there, don’t give up. There’s more, much more.
It’s reminding my somewhat of ye-olden-days, when there was not very much to be found online, but those who were looking could sense what one day might bring. But this is now, and we have so very much more experience. We have tools, concepts, things we are used to having and doing, so those things either exist or are on the way. It’s the digital goldrush, who will be first, to do anything. But the rushing has a different feel, it’s open sourceish, people have learned to work together, it’s less about ownership, more about the end result. This too reminds me of ye-olden-online-times.
There’s lots of buzz floating all over the internet, so I’ll skip a full explanation of what Google Wave is and offer my short version: If we were to take all the tools we are used to and were to create them today, using what we know about their usage, their flaws, their advantages, what would they be like ? Our technology communication tools (for example email, discussion and collaboration tools, social networking apps) have grown like wild weeds in a vacant lot. What if instead of wildcrafting, we were to plan and plant a garden ? Google Wave is attempting to do that.
It’s not fully public yet, so if you don’t have an invitation you can’t play. But even if you have an invitation it’s not fully finished yet, so if you aren’t willing to sink some time into getting wet you may want to wait anyway. Finding the information on what you can do, and how to do it, is still rather like a treasure hunt.
So far I’ve been able to begin to learn the lingo… waves are the containers, the rows (or not – for those of us who plant companions in circles;) in the garden. Blips are the individual plants. (ditching the metaphor for now)And there are extensions in two varieties : bots and gadgets.
Bots do things like Translate into different languages (aunt-rosie@appspot.com) or offer options for autolinking. Hyperlinky (hyperlinky@appspot.com) for example will allow you to create a link to wikipedia or thesaurus.com. So if I want to add a link to my discussion on Incantations to wikipedia I’d type w_incantations, or a link to thesaurus.com would be t_incantations. Yes, there are ways to link to amazon, twitter etc.
Gadgets allow you to do things like add an interactive map, a conference call or video conference, a mindmapping or whiteboard like tool.
The point of the whole wave thing seems to be not just communication but also collaboration. And that’s what I find exciting. Really really exciting. What would you do with amazing tools for collaboration with others ? And since it uses an open API and anyone can create new extensions: what tools can you imagine ? The possibilities are tsunami stunning.