Google Wave
John Raynor – Business Research ServicesHigh Point Public Library
Mark Sanders – Head of ReferenceEast Carolina University
Why Google Wave?
Email was invented in 1971.
Email’s Limitations
Why Google Wave?
Email was invented in 1971.Before HTML, the browser, and the World-Wide Web
Email’s Limitations
Why Google Wave?
Email was invented in 1971.Before HTML, the browser, and the World-Wide Web
Before the graphic user interface
Email’s Limitations
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
Email was invented in 1971.Before the HTML, the browser, and the World-Wide Web
Before the graphic user interface
Before the personal computer
An Apple I computer in its hand-made case, circa 1976
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
In September of 1971,ARPANET (the Internet’s precursor) had only 18 nodes
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
In September of 1971,ARPANET (the Internet’s precursor) had only 18 nodes
The DEC PDP-10s at BBN Technologies of Cambridge, Massachusettswhich sent, and received, the first ARPANET email with an “@” sign
(from Ray Tomlinson’s personal web page)
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
In September of 1971,ARPANET (the Internet’s precursor) had only 18 nodes
The DEC PDP-10s at BBN Technologies of Cambridge, Massachusettswhich sent, and received, the first ARPANET email with an “@” sign
(from Ray Tomlinson’s personal web page)
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
To its credit, email hasn’t fallen completely behind the times,but its ability to display content is still seriously limited.
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
To its credit, email hasn’t fallen completely behind the times
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
To its credit, email hasn’t fallen completely behind the times,but its ability to display content is still seriously limited.
Images are relegated to the end of the message, as “attachments,” and viewing them often involves extra steps.
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
To its credit, email hasn’t fallen completely behind the times,but its ability to display content is still seriously limited.
Email can’t, moreover, display “live” content from theInternet – it can only provide links to it.
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
Traditional email is simply the electronicequivalent of the old-fashioned paper memo
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
You send an email message, and the recipient gets a copy…
…which is as inert, and as immutable,as a paper memo in a filing cabinet.
Why Google Wave? Email’s Limitations
Email’s other problems:
Original messages are appended to the ends of replies.Replying to one specific part of an email message involvescutting-and-pasting quoted passages, and inserting new text between them.
It’s hard to add new participants to an email-based conversation and bring them “up to speed.”
Likewise, replying to some, but not all, of the people in an email-based conversation involves sending duplicate messages with edited recipient lists.
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
So what, then, is a wave?
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
So what, then, is a wave?
A wave is not just another kind of message!
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
So what, then, is a wave?
A wave is not just another kind of message!
A wave is a semi-permanent online spacein which two or more users can interact and
create content together.
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
Email is like…
sending memosback and forth
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
Email is like…
sending memosback and forth
Google Wave is like…
sharing a conference roomwith your collaborators
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
Google Wave shares some featureswith other kinds of online communication/collaboration:
Wikis and Google Docs: Multiple author documents with revision control
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
Google Wave shares some featureswith other kinds of online communication/collaboration:
Wikis and Google Docs: Multiple author documents with revision control
Instant Messaging: You can see who’s logged in, and work together in real-time
Why Google Wave? Email Re-Invented
Google Wave shares some featureswith other kinds of online communication/collaboration:
Wikis and Google Docs: Multiple author documents with revision control
Instant Messaging: You can see who’s logged in, and work together in real-time
Online Forums: “Threaded” conversations
A Brief History of Wave
•Developed by brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen in Sydney, Australia circa 2004-2007
•Announced by Google May 2009
•Preview released to 100,000 developers in September 2009
•Released to the general public in May 2010
•August 2010 - discontinue new standalone Wave development
Basic Wave functionality
Let’s Look at a Wave
Basic Wave functionality
Running conversations both public (group) and private (individual)
Basic Wave functionality
Running conversations both public (group) and private (individual)
Basic Wave functionality
Embedded videos
Basic Wave functionality
Embedded web pages
Basic Wave functionality
Attached files
Basic Wave functionality
Photo slideshow
Extensions
Gadgets – Maps
Extensions
Gadgets – Yes/No/Maybe
Extensions
Extensions – Polls
Extensions
Robots
Extensions
Extensions – Games
Why Google Wave? Google Wave’s Strengths
Sharing lots of information with a team andquickly making decisions
Why Google Wave? Google Wave’s Strengths
Communication whichinvolves sharing images and files
Why Google Wave? Google Wave’s Strengths
Developing content collaboratively
Writing the Declaration of Independenceas a Google Wave demonstration
Why Google Wave? Google Wave’s Strengths
Developing content collaboratively
An important caveat: Google Wave is good for working out whatyou want to say, but is not good for creating polished documents!Wave’s formatting and document-export capabilities are limited.
Why Google Wave? Google Wave in Practice
Google Wave is not an“all-purpose communication tool”
Why Google Wave? Google Wave in Practice
Google Wave is not an“all-purpose communication tool”
The USF Tampa Library’s Experience with Wave
Wave was used by the library’s website-redesign team
• Many issues converged before the site could “go live”
• Decisions had to be made quickly – it was “crunch time”
• Information had to be shared with the whole team
Why Google Wave? Google Wave in Practice
Google Wave is not an“all-purpose communication tool”
The USF Tampa Library’s Experience with Wave
Unfortunately…
• Weekly team meetings were no longer enough
• Subsets of the team were sharing information by email,• but not everyone was staying “in the loop,” all the time.
Why Google Wave? Google Wave in Practice
Google Wave is not an“all-purpose communication tool”
The USF Tampa Library’s Experience with Wave
The new website “went live” in mid-December of 2009.
The library hasn’t used Google Wave since then.
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
A wave should not be regardedas a “permanent” product
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
A wave should not be regardedas a “permanent” product
A wave’s potential forgrowth is naturally limited.
As a wave grows,it tends to slow down.
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
A wave should not be regardedas a “permanent” product
A wave does not, moreover,have much intrinsic structure
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
A wave should not be regardedas a “permanent” product
A wave does not, moreover,have much intrinsic structure
If a wave gets too big, findingthe new content gets harder.
In a busy wave, new blipsmay need to be re-posted
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
So how “permanent” is a wave?
The USF-Tampa Library’swebsite-redesign experience:
• 6 project team-members
• used over a 6-week period
• 100-150 edits/day at peak use
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
So how “permanent” is a wave?
The USF-Tampa Library’swebsite-redesign experience:
• 6 project team-members
• used over a 6-week period
• 100-150 edits/day at peak use
5 waves, roughly 1 per week
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
Keeping waves manageable
Prune away digressions, “empty” blips, and any unneeded “me-too” blips.
Get team-members to use Wave’s ability to thread replies
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
Keeping waves manageable
Prune away digressions, “empty” blips, and any unneeded “me-too” blips.
Get team-members to use Wave’s ability to thread replies
Over-pruning can be reversedwith the “Playback” function
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
Keeping waves manageable
Divide your team’s total“traffic” between two or moretopic-specific waves.
Each topic-specific wave getsless traffic, and thus last longer
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
Keeping waves manageable
Divide your team’s total“traffic” between two or moretopic-specific waves.
Each topic-specific wave getsless traffic, and thus last longer
Agree, in advance, on a teampolicy for starting new waves.
Why Google Wave? Wave’s Limitations
Keeping waves manageable
Divide your team’s total“traffic” between two or moretopic-specific waves.
Each topic-specific wave getsless traffic, and thus last longer
Agree, in advance, on a teampolicy for starting new waves.
Wave in a Box
Future of Google Wave?
•an application bundle including a server and web client supporting real-time collaboration using the same structured conversations as the Google Wave system•a fast and fully-featured wave panel in the web client with complete support for threaded conversations•a persistent wave store and search implementation for the server•refinements to the client-server protocols•gadget, robot and data API support •support for importing wave data from wave.google.com•the ability to federate across other Wave in a Box instances, with some additional configuration