Pulp Fiction, The Google Wave Way

Still confused about what Google Wave is all about? Even after my reading my post on it? Then there’s only one last chance for you to get it – the Google Wave Cinema: Pulp Fiction video. As far as demos go, that’s the most fun and surprisingly useful one I’ve seen. Enjoy!

Google Wave

You must’ve seen all the hype around Google’s latest baby, Google Wave. It is described as an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration and they just released 100,000 invites for it. After extensive begging to my account manager, I got one of them. My first thoughts are that Google Wave is over-hyped but quite useful nonetheless – but let’s start from the beginning.

Right now if I want to manage a half-complex project I end up with tons of emails and attachments. Administration can end up more time-consuming than “real” work. The nature of collaboration over distance simply requires hefty communication.

Google Wave sets out to remedy this problem. We can now use a wave which, to quote Google, can be “both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together”. It facilitates neat and organised collaborative work that is easy to access and share. Each person can then contribute blips to expand the wave and progress with the project.

Here are three main points that I so far see as benefits of Google Wave:

1. A single information point. The wave sits on Google’s server and can be updated by anyone involved simultaniously. No more emails cluttering our inboxes, updated files being attached and CCed across and getting stuck in corporate Spam filters. A wave not only saves disk space, it also makes it easy to find the most up-to-date version and contribute to it.

2. A full record of changes is kept. If any undesirable changes were made by anyone, just use the Playback scrollbar to go back. Every drop of wisdom is always saved and easy to access.

3. Multimedia. Images and videos can be inserted into the wave, using drag and drop. You can also add gadgets such as polls and maps. All of these sit within the wave, in one location.

Overall, I quite like Google Wave. I haven’t used it properly yet, simply because I don’t know anyone else with an account due to the limited invites. But I love the idea and aim to be the first to start saying “I’ll wave you” and “can you blip me?”.