Topics in Digital Media – Fall 09

News: Google Wave Sandbox is now open for federation

Our Experiences With the Wave

In previous Travelogue entries, we’ve twitted our way into Google Wave, gauged the public’s reaction to it, and tried to critically expose the sociocultural implications of it.  Now that I’ve used Wave a fair amount, I thought it proper to speak about my own experiences in this concluding entry.

I’ve started and joined a number of public waves to interact with/understand Wave’s users as much as to understand the software itself. Using Wave is like starting your freshman year of high school; you’re not quite sure what to expect although you have a preconceived notion that things should be better and new, and after a few visits you realize that its going to be quite a while before you (and your freshman classmates) completely figure things out. In short, this means that there is a serious learning curve.

As Google Wave is currently in preview version, many people do not have familiar users with which they can communicate or collaborate. The average user has to simply follow and create public waves; it seems that the general discourse is about how to use this new tool and what it might mean.

(H-Man)

I tend to slightly disagree with Jason in some respects, although there is a learning curve, I find it fairly easy to use Wave, especially considering the 2.0 IQ of many users nowadays. Eve my grandma (in her late 80’s) has incorporated e-mail into her everyday life (including more complex function such as MP3 attachments and what have you), there is no reason that most of the Internet surfing population would be unable to figure out Google Wave and use it to their advantage in a great number of circumstances. When one thinks of the complicated functions we are able to achieve online now, there is no doubt in my mind that Wave will not be that difficult to figure out.

Will Wave Catch On?

Ultimately, I think that wave will catch on. However with the “tl;dr” mind state of the internet, people may  put off learning to use Google Wave – or possibly ignore it all together. In the introduction of “The Complete Guide to Google Wave,” (a helpful guide manual by Gina Trapani and Adam Pash), the author(s) explain that “because Wave is mostly a document collaboration tool, the oversimplified email metaphor can mislead new users. The initial Wave experience can feel chaotic and confusing.” I think this echoes a lot of users’ sentiments – especially because of the need to use public waves.

While there is a certain level of convenience with Wave because it takes place in the browser, it seems to be incredibly taxing on my computer’s functionality (a 2-yr-old Macbook). Other programs and browser windows that are simultaneously running with Wave are constantly stalling or freezing. This might serve as a barrier to would-be users.

The conversations in Wave seem to be very cluttered. While the philosophy behind the real-time chatting seems very sound, I would probably advise Google to do away with it. You have people responding to IMs that are unfinished and often changed after responses already come.

Just as any other product, I think that Wave will need to be improved and even simplified via its early adopters.  Perhaps we’ll see a wave platform (the wave version of outlook or thunderbird). Wave will not develop best user practices and standard functions until it’s released to the public, and people begin interacting with “real life” acquaintances that they have the need for functional collaboration with (I for one see Wave monopolizing the process of collaborative note taking).  Make no mistake, because Wave is open source and readily available, I think its widespread adoption is a matter of when rather than if. I’m excited to observe Wave’s evolution.

(H-Man)

Right now, there is little to point to Wave actually becoming the true dominant platform online (as it is still at the trial stage, it is not nearly perfected yet), but it does show some serious promise. By combining pretty much all aspects of Internet communication (email, chatting, blogging, picture sharing) on one open source platform, Google certainly provides an incentive for people to sign up for it.  After messing around with the platform and watching the introduction presentation, it is not as complicated as it may seem. Once the concept of inviting everyone to the same conversation or project rather than sending out individual messages to each member is understood, the rest seemed to fall in place for me.  It is definitely more complicated than email, but by now even our grandmothers have incorporated email into their daily lives, so the incorporation of Google Wave would be fairly swift if it were to take off.

Of course, as advantageous as this may be for users (if the platform becomes more mainstream and users are accustomed to it), it is immensely advantageous to Google, as they would have a virtual monopoly, forcing companies to compete with them using their own software.  By creating such a potentially revolutionary platform, Google is trying to force the Internet to follow them, rather than the other way around. As afore mentioned, Google would be seen as a real pioneer in the (so far quite short) history of the Internet.

In short, Wave is still a pipe dream, and there are critics (Google did hype it as the 2.0 coming of Christ…), but despite Google’s plan for Internet (or world…) domination through it, it seems to be a very effective tool that truly could revolutionize online social interaction and collaborative document creation.

Tips:

• To find a public wave search with:public in your wave-search window
• To begin a public wave, add public@a.googlewave.com as a contact; begin a new wave and give that username access.

Possibly Relevant Posts:

• What’s the appeal of Google Wave? (12) | Jason
• Travelogue 3 – Riding the Google Wave (5) | Jason
• Federation (4) | Jason