Functionality
A popular theme, as expected, on Google Wave that I've noticed amongst a group of educators is the functionality of Wave.
Beyond the fact that it has bugs (slow, locking up), much discussion in the educator section (some found here) is how could Wave be used in the organizational setting.
Amongst the ideas: wikis, customer service, advising, and discussion boards.
A standard that is bubbling up is the number of people suitable to make a Wave useful. I participated in one Wave that had over 400 people, and it stopped just short of chaos. Early on participation in the Wave was robust, but after a very short time hundreds of messages can appear in the Wave, and it simply becomes impossible to keep up with. Hence, that Wave came to a grinding halt.
Talking about functionality at this stage of Wave is perhaps a bit moot as we begin to see bots, gadgets, and extensions being built for Wave. Just as the Twitter core was developed, Twitter did not gain a wider spread use until extensions, apps, and third party services tapped into its API (think Tweetdeck, Seesmic Desktop, Twitpic, etc...).
At current it appears many of the "Wave extras" are being built for the internal Wave.
As with Twitter, I'm curious to see how third party services extending the functionality outside of the Wave into websites and peripheral internet use will grow the idea of Google Wave: communication and collaboration.
http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Google Wave Review 2
Why Collaboration is a sticking point
It will be very interesting to see what informal and formal situations will guide the use of Google Wave.
Given the heightened nature of interaction, how often, and how deep will participants Wave?
There's no question that social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter have filled a gap of connection for nearly every cohort, at least in US society.
But what about the depth of interaction, the willingness to "work together" on not only relationships, but informal and formal projects? At a basic level, will users get together via Google Wave to plan a night on the town, a short field trip, or share images, video, and other artifacts regarding an event or experience?
For organizations that thrive on collaboration of ideas and projects, an adoption of the Google Wave "system" into their existing communication structure would be ideal. This potential that I garnered from watching the initial Google Wave video struck me as profound.
That indeed might be what is needed for users to experience the possibilities as it relates to meaningful communication with strangers and significant others alike. I just don't know that people have a willingness or desire for the type of communication that Google Wave can afford. Yet.
Will casual use over time by participants result in enough of a critical mass that Google Wave could have the type of benefit regarding human communication and collaboration that would come near its potential? Likely only on a community (both real and virtual) by community basis at first.
http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com
It will be very interesting to see what informal and formal situations will guide the use of Google Wave.
Given the heightened nature of interaction, how often, and how deep will participants Wave?
There's no question that social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter have filled a gap of connection for nearly every cohort, at least in US society.
But what about the depth of interaction, the willingness to "work together" on not only relationships, but informal and formal projects? At a basic level, will users get together via Google Wave to plan a night on the town, a short field trip, or share images, video, and other artifacts regarding an event or experience?
For organizations that thrive on collaboration of ideas and projects, an adoption of the Google Wave "system" into their existing communication structure would be ideal. This potential that I garnered from watching the initial Google Wave video struck me as profound.
That indeed might be what is needed for users to experience the possibilities as it relates to meaningful communication with strangers and significant others alike. I just don't know that people have a willingness or desire for the type of communication that Google Wave can afford. Yet.
Will casual use over time by participants result in enough of a critical mass that Google Wave could have the type of benefit regarding human communication and collaboration that would come near its potential? Likely only on a community (both real and virtual) by community basis at first.
http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com
Google Wave Review 1
Well, I was fortunate enough to get a Google Wave invite last night, and I spent about 4 hours playing around with it.
Here are some initial thoughts. After "waving" with three people, what struck me the most was the sense of melding of communication. When in a "wave", you can see what the other person(s) is typing in real time, you can be typing at the same time, and you can enter into another one's comments as they are typing to address something that perhaps you find in the middle of their sentence.
That is an extremely interesting notion, one that will take a while for folks to become comfortable with. After waving for a bit, and because of this, I at least got a sense of fulfillment. I waved with three people that I had never met before, and the openness and willingness to share was something very "cool", maybe extraordinary.
I use the word extraordinary intentionally, because I believe a significant issue with using Google Wave will be the willingness of others to engage and collaborate with others. Thus overcoming this barrier could point the way to collaboration on an unprecedented level. That to me is very exciting.
One does have control over the tempo of each Wave. However, the norms around "how to Wave" are completing up in the air at current. I believe that establishing common norms around "netiquette" was a useful framework to better assist everyone in knowing proper and improper manners and actions of interaction for forums, discussion boards, and now found in text messaging. Some of that will obviously be carried over into Google Wave, but nothing more at current exists regarding Google Wave.
Why is this important? Because users are "playing" with Google Wave trying to determine what it is, and more importantly, what is it for. The most significant potential use, as I see for Google Wave, is collaboration. This then is why I see collaboration as a major issue. With Google Wave, people have the chance to collaborate at a pace and without barriers in ways that I have never seen or participated.
So at current, for me at the very very early stages of using Google Wave, is that it is a very open medium for communication and collaboration. I sense that many with Google Wave accounts really like it, but just do not know how, under what circumstances, and the what to expect when one engages with others in a Wave.
http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com
Here are some initial thoughts. After "waving" with three people, what struck me the most was the sense of melding of communication. When in a "wave", you can see what the other person(s) is typing in real time, you can be typing at the same time, and you can enter into another one's comments as they are typing to address something that perhaps you find in the middle of their sentence.
That is an extremely interesting notion, one that will take a while for folks to become comfortable with. After waving for a bit, and because of this, I at least got a sense of fulfillment. I waved with three people that I had never met before, and the openness and willingness to share was something very "cool", maybe extraordinary.
I use the word extraordinary intentionally, because I believe a significant issue with using Google Wave will be the willingness of others to engage and collaborate with others. Thus overcoming this barrier could point the way to collaboration on an unprecedented level. That to me is very exciting.
One does have control over the tempo of each Wave. However, the norms around "how to Wave" are completing up in the air at current. I believe that establishing common norms around "netiquette" was a useful framework to better assist everyone in knowing proper and improper manners and actions of interaction for forums, discussion boards, and now found in text messaging. Some of that will obviously be carried over into Google Wave, but nothing more at current exists regarding Google Wave.
Why is this important? Because users are "playing" with Google Wave trying to determine what it is, and more importantly, what is it for. The most significant potential use, as I see for Google Wave, is collaboration. This then is why I see collaboration as a major issue. With Google Wave, people have the chance to collaborate at a pace and without barriers in ways that I have never seen or participated.
So at current, for me at the very very early stages of using Google Wave, is that it is a very open medium for communication and collaboration. I sense that many with Google Wave accounts really like it, but just do not know how, under what circumstances, and the what to expect when one engages with others in a Wave.
http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Strangers, Presentation of Self, Private and Public Spaces
This week in Intro to Soc we have been discussing Georg Simmel's "The Stranger".
We've also been discussing the tenets of Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Analysis.
I was pleasantly surprised....wait, THRILLED when Ricky Lax sent me an article from the Las Vegas Weekly about a little "experiment" he conducted at the Town Square.
Too funny!
We've also been discussing the tenets of Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Analysis.
I was pleasantly surprised....wait, THRILLED when Ricky Lax sent me an article from the Las Vegas Weekly about a little "experiment" he conducted at the Town Square.
Too funny!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
A Five Year Old Learns the Alphabet
Discussion in our Introduction to Sociology class today centered around symbols and the social construction of language.
What you see below is the effort of a five year old kindergardener concentrating diligently on constructing her letters. Not too far to follow is linking these symbols to construct words. Understanding their meaning will begin to occur over the next few months as well.
What you see below is the effort of a five year old kindergardener concentrating diligently on constructing her letters. Not too far to follow is linking these symbols to construct words. Understanding their meaning will begin to occur over the next few months as well.
Friday, August 7, 2009
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