ShareWell, I had almost given up hope of receiving a Google Wave invite when – lo and behold – a good friend of mine emailed me. Subject line – “Want a google wave invite?”
It turns out he had beeen chosen in Google’s lottery to get an invite, and he was given a few more to give out. Luckily he was generous enough to hand one of those on to me (and not just stick them on ebay – http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=google+wave+invite&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=)
So I’ve been playing around with it a little this afternoon, but I’ve not really had enough time to figure out what it can do. I’m hoping to get a bit more involved with it at the weekend, so may have some more feedback next week!
First impressions are good. The interface is slick, and easy to use. I’ve managed to pull my Twitter feed in, watched the 8 minute video on the potential uses (which I must say looks very impressive) and had a play around with a few waves and some of the apps, as well as dragging images into waves from my desktop (which is very nice!).
One thing I’m very keen to investigate more is Wave’s ability to integrate into other sites as a publishing tool. The intro vid shows it being done, but doesn’t cover how…
I think there’s definitely some great potential here. Collaborating on a document is nothing new admittedly, but it’s the way wave handles being able to add notes, diagrams, images, videos (and whatever else you might want to add) that makes it stand out. I can see it being used a lot for brainstorming sessions becuase you can chuck anything in it and everyone can see it. (Stinky white board pens will soon be a thing of the past!) .
It would also be beneficial in conference call situations. All conference call attendees could be in on the wave, which would initially contain an agenda. This could then be built out with notes, and files that need to be shared, a map to a location (if you’re arranging a meeting) and so on.
Anyway I feel like right now I need a colleague to share this experience with to make the most of it, so I’m hoping that Google sees this and gives me an invite or two to send out to my fellow Coasties. *HINT HINT*
