Two weeks ago I was very pleased to get an invite for Googlewave from Katie, so I got exploring straightaway and liked what I found. When I started a wave I found I was using it like an instant messenger service, but once I was on waves with colleagues that had a purpose I found it a really effective way to share ideas, plan events and just chat as well. It’s pretty cool the way you can see people’s letters and words appear as they type, makes you think before you type!
I agree with Sarah on this. I first used this to discuss a conference workshop proposal with Jo Alcock and what I liked about it is that you can edit waves or start a new one. I’ve not used it in the instant messanger way so much, but I can see how this would be valueable. I had a brief email coversation with Chris Rhodes about the potential benefits of using it and decided that there is value in it and it does have a purpose. That’s my two pence worth! Librarian Emma.
Librarian Emma got on there too and we’ve started collaborating to share ideas about how we think our library can be improved. It was a really easy way to share thoughts and comment on each other’s ideas. The best thing is that our manager is on the wave too as he is interested in our ideas and suggestions. I am also using it with colleagues to organise the quiz part of the departmental Christmas party so we’re able to keep all our ideas and plans in one place.
I wished there was a way of finding friends who were also on Googlewave, Katie started a wave to try and find other colleagues from Uni, so I’ve resorted to posting the odd message on Facebook to see if any of my pals are also on it. If there’s a proper way to find people- please enlighten me!! However it’s yet another thing to log in to and check… what will be next?!
That’s all for now,
Librarian Sarah
I’m still trying to understand the bugger. It’s all a bit clunky still and takes a while to get used to but it could be useful. I can see this being used as an online collaborative and collective notebook. We’re trying to use it for the MA students (Tara and I) to see how it can be applied in a distance education/asynchronous communication environment and we’re trying to apply it to the PhD students as well which might be a lot simpler since there are fewer people involved. Do you think it works better for larger groups than just a few wavers?
Hi Yanni,
thanks for your comment, great that you’re all thinking of using it for the distance learners, I think it could be a great tool. My colleague and fellow blogger melonthelibrarian (http://melonthelibrarian.wordpress.com/) has just blogged about a crazy error message that flashed up saying the wave may explode… but, as long as it stays stable and doesn’t explode it will be great for the Creative Media crew I think. I’ve only used it in smallish groups so far, so great to experiment with a larger group and see how it goes. You may need a few guidelines so the waves don’t get massively long… so keep the waves fairly focused on a particular subject I guess. Let me know how you get on! Librarian Sarah
Haha, that error message made me laugh. I haven’t seen it myself, the one I get usually sounds a lot more serious. I know what you mean about the long-winded waves. This is a very good point. We’ll have to look into it. Yes, I’ll be in touch.
[...] Jump to Comments Sarah Ison and Emma Illingworth posted recently about the value of GoogleWave, and I got an invite last week – so basically I [...]
I like the realtime editing of messages. I also like the way google are promising to give the code for wave for people to start incorporating it into other sites and other functions – it would be really fun to use it on facebook and on blog comments etc. And clearly editing docs and sharing ideas is really helped by a tool like this. But its so buggy at the moment and there are so many features that it should have but doesn’t yet, that its actually quite annoying. I guess we have to be patient and wait for it to come through beta etc…
Glad to hear you’re interested in this too. Have requested an invite from Google but hear it’s a 4-6 week wait!
Nice post title! I’m leaving myself logged into Wave on a tab – because I also forget to check it (so little activity at present) but it live updates for new messages in the tab title, so I tend not to miss anything for now. I can really see the benefits down the line and would gladly drop email for it – but only when everyone has wave accounts and everyone else drops email. I can see it being a very slow transition…