Google Wave Jobs in Sydney

Pamela Fox has mentioned that Google have jobs available in their Google Wave team at their remarkable Google Sydney building for: a Developer Programs Engineer and a Associate Program Manger. My ex-students from ANU would have a head start with these as several ANU graduates already work at Google and the Google team drop in a couple of times a year to give us workshops and seminars.

Google Apject Takeover

Greeting from the Sydney Wave User Group meeting. The first topic is the takeover of Apject by Google. There was some concern by the user community that EtherPad's non-Google implementation would be discontinued. In response at short notice a decision was made to provide it as open source.

Pamela Fox from Google gave a quick introduction to Wave, explained as three components as a product, protocol and a platform. The product is Google's web based implementation. The protocol includes a way of having transactions and a data model, this allows companies other than Google to implement Wave. The Platforms include Robots, Extensions and Gadgets. Robots are computer applications which can participate in the conversation, assisting human participants. Gadgets are small applications which extend the wave interface. Extensions allow Wave content to be integrated with other systems.

Wave uses XML for storing and communicating. Robots operate on the XML "Wavelets. Each Wavelet has participants, a title and one or more "blips", which represent the atomic components of a conversation. The blips can be manipulated by Robots.

The Blips are text, annotations, and elements. Annotations are similar to HTML markup. Elements are added items such as a map. As these components are kept separate this allows easier manipulation of the information. In a way the Wave way of doing markup is analogous to Wiki text and designed to make changes, particularly by multiple users, easier. This allows, for example, chnages in real time to the mark-up of a document. This is one of the features which Google find "cool", but I find confusing.

Robots react to events and perform operations. Each robot has a URL which is sent events and performs operations on them. The state of the gadget is stored in the XML sent to the gadget and is therefore not secure. Also there are all the usual problems of real time and multiple updates of the same data. An example of a robot is one which goes through waves converting web addresses to links.

ps: This is about the third Google Wave event I have attended over the last six months. The first glimmerings of understanding of what Google Wave is are now starting to form in my mind. This is three times as long as it took me to get "The Web". I remain to be convinced that Wave is the next big thing or is significant at all. The Web turned out to be based on a few simple ideas and lots of reuse of existing technology. I am not sure Wave could be similarly decomposed.

Google Wave Real-time Document Collaboration

According to news reports, Google has acquired AppJet so that its EtherPad real-time document collaboration tool can be incorporated in Google Wave. I was not impressed with Google Wave's interface and offering EtherPad's fmailar wordprocessor like interface on top will be an improvement. The idea is to allow several eople to edit the same document at the same time and see the changes each other are making in real time. I will be incuding some of this in my new ANU course "Electronic Data Management" (COMP7420).

Mozilla Raindrop message manager for Google Wave

Mozilla Raindrop message manager is intended to combine email, twitter, blogs and social networking in one conversation. In "Introducing Raindrop" (22 October 2009) the Raindrop Team (who developed Thunderbird) explain the Raindrop 0.1 prototype.

From the explanation, it seems to me that Raindrop might provide some of what I found missing from Google Wave. Having sat through the Google Wave Hackathon Day the problem I most had was with the user interface. The protocols and architecture behind Google Wave are elegant, but the user interface is not. Perhaps Raindrop could be a people-centric front end to Wave. After all raindrops can result in Waves. ;-)

There is a flash video explaining the Raindrop design. The first iteration of the interface design "Inflow" shows just two panels on the screen, with a conversation shown by intending of the text. The second iteration of the interface design is called an "Inflow Grid", with a rectangular table of messages.

In all of this it should be remembered that there has been considerable work by others on how to intelligently sort messages (such as by Eric McCreath and Judy Kay).

Google Wave Social Networking for Business

After the Google Wave Hackathon in Canberra on Friday I have more if an idea of what this is about. I will explore some of the implications in my "Social Networking for Business" talk in the Entrepreneurship stream of the International Young ICT Professionals Conference in Sydney on 3 September 2009:

Social Networking for Business: The Year It All Changes - 2010

Running your company, or the country, using social networking software and a mobile phone

Social networking web sites, such as Facebook are popular for keeping in touch with friends. But the same technology can be applied to promoting a young ICT professional's career and in the workplace to help run a business. Business orientated social networking systems will be demonstrated, along with the software used for this by the ACS in its education courses. The application of the this technology on a smartphone will also be demonstrated.

See how to:

1. Use social networking to promote your career
2. Implement social networking software in your workplace
3. Run a business, or a nation, from your phone
4. Benefit from free open source software ...

From: "Social Networking for Business: The Year It All Changes - 2010"

Google Wave interface to Email

There are a few technical issues with interfacing Google Wave to email and some more fundamental logistical ones. It would be quite simple to send the wave via email as a HTML. However, responding to this would be very much more difficult. The problem is that they delay when using email is likely to be much longer than with a web based online interface. As a result what you are inserting your response into may have changed significantly by the time the reply arrives. It might be useful to introduce some delays into the system to account for this. This is the opposite of what would normally be assumed, where the faster updates happen the better.

Google Wave and Advertising

An interesting topic is how advertising will fit into Google Wave. It would appear that Google Adsense type advertisements would be a good fit for Wave. A Wave robot would be able to carry out an analysis of what was being discussed in the wave and insert appropriate advertisements. This could be done more interactively and at a much finer level of granularity than with an email message, web page or a blog. If well done the advertising should be helpful, rather than obtrusive, rather like the robot being another participant in the conversation.

Google Wave Implications for Government and Security

One interesting question at the Google Wave hackerthon is the implications for corporate users (and government) with security and accountability. Because the waves are dynamic, many security measures designed for email (and adapted from paper documents) are not applicable. In terms of accountability the dynamic and group nature may cause problems. However, it occurs to me that the way the components of the wave (Wavelets) are separately maintained and labeled could improve security and accountability. This might create problems of its own, particularly in a political environment. Not only would it be possible to see who wrote what (avoiding the problem which occupied Parliament for several days recently). What might make corporate user less comfortable is that it would be possible to reconstruct exactly who changed what text when, allowing for a forensic analysis when a disaster occurs, such as the in the case of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

Google Wave Interface

Google Wave's default user interface looks much like email, with three panels: a list of menus on the left, list of messages in the middle and contents from selected items on the right. One problem I am having is that Google Wave is a bit slow. I thought this might be because I am using a slow wireless Internet connection, but the team suggests it might be due to problems with Firefox 3.0 (later versions work better). However, I suspect my Virgin 3G wireless the interface, which is working at about 64kbps, is too slow to be usable.

However, another is is that Wave is very dynamic. Unlike email, blogs and even twitter, the Waves change dynamically as participants (and robots) enter change and change content. As a result there is data being transmitted continually to the client (this may cause problems on slow and expensive links).

Also as a result there is continual movement on the screen. As a result I am having difficulty in following what is happening. While looking at something it can suddenly move. Even while typing this in Blogger, I can see the title of the Wave tab in the browser flickering, which is very annoying.

The Wave team need to provide a way to smooth the interface so it does not change to abruptly and even a way to have it happen in steps on request. An interface which shows gradual movement, so the user can see it happening, rather than making sudden jumps could be useful. This might also avoid make slow links more acceptable and also avoid photosensitive epilepsy seizures.

There could also be some interesting issues with the accessibility of the interface for people with a disability. The interface is respecting the minimum font size set by the web browser, allowing me to make the text large enough to read. However, there are so many images and columns used that the text is too narrow to be read.

Exactly how to interface to accessibility devices with Wave would be an interesting issue. This area of work might be usefully combined with interfaces for netbooks and smart phones, with small screens.

What is Google Wave?

It is an unusual and slightly refreshing feeling to sit in a technical computer presentation have no idea of what the presenter is talking about. The experts from Google Sydney who have developed the technology are giving an introduction for developers on how to use it. While the details of Java and Python APIs and the use of various techniques is familiar and by the end of the day I could probably code a Google Wave application, I am still having difficulty understanding what it is for. There are some glimmerings of understanding happening. One is that Google Wave robots (applications running out in the cloud) can manipulate the Wave data in XHTML format. Also there is an OpenSocial interface coming to allow for interaction with social networking services (or for building social networking services). These are of interest for my intended application in e-learning. This could be used to build web based services for students to interact with each other and the tutors. Even if it does not turn out Google Wave is not the technology for this (or more likely is more technology than needed) it might make a good prototype.

ps: On a less serious note, the first Google Wave presentation was illustrated with images of not very friendly or pretty looking robots. Ruth Ellison, head of WSG Canberra, gave a presentation The Uncanny Valley at BarCamp Canberra with more interesting robots.

Google Wave in Canberra

Greetings from the Google Wave Hackathon at the the Australian National University in Canberra. This free technical event about Google Wave platform. It started at 9am, but there is still room for more people and it runs until 5pm. There also some people following on Twitter: #cbrwave. I am here to see how it might be used for collaborative education with a learning management system: think social networking for a tutorial group (I talked about teaching Green ICT with a smartphone at Google Sydney on Friday).

Canberra Google Wave Hackathon Day
Saturday 8th August

PROGRAM:
9:30am Registration
10:00am Talks

A presenter from Google (details available soon) will give an introduction to the Wave API.

If you have already been developing for Wave, please consider giving a short presentation about what you have done (doesn't have to be a formal presentation).

12:00 pm Brainstorming Lunch (BYO or we will take orders & payment for pizza at registration)
1:00 pm Hacking
5:00 pm Demos
7:00 pm Head out for dinner at restaurant (at your own cost).

REGISTRATION
You must register if you wish to attend so that a Google Wave Developer sandbox account can be created for you. Registrations will close on Tuesday, 4th August so that the accounts can be created.

Numbers are limited, so please register as soon as possible at: http://tr.im/cbrwave

This day is being organised by volunteers who are interested in Google Wave development and thought it would be useful to have a Google Wave developers day in Canberra. Please indicate if you are willing to assist with organising and running the day. Contact brenda@moon.net.au for more information.

We will be providing WiFi internet access, but you will need to bring your own computer. Please have a look at the developer information on the Google Wave site (http://code.google.com/apis/wave/) as an introduction.

Dumped by Google Wave

Google issued me with two developer accounts for the Google Wave Hackathon being held in Canberra on 8 August. The account brings up what looks like an email interface with three vertical panels for menus, messages and composing. My first attempt at creating a Wave (message) was not a great success. I pressed "Create", but only got as far as typing two characters when this error message appeared:

This wave is experiencing some slight turbulence, and may explode. If you don't wanna explode, please re-open the wave. Some recent changes may not be saved.

But then this is early days for Wave and if it was easy, they would not need us experts to help get it to work. ;-)

Canberra Google Wave Hackathon Day

A Google Wave Hackathon is being held the the Australian National University in Canberra on 8 August all day from 9am (registration essential). This is a free technical event about Google Wave platform. I am going along to see how it might be used for collaborative education with a learning management system: think social networking for a tutorial group (I am talking about teaching Green ICT with a smartphone at Google Sydney on Friday):

Canberra Google Wave Hackathon Day
Saturday 8th August

PROGRAM:
9:30am Registration
10:00am Talks

A presenter from Google (details available soon) will give an introduction to the Wave API.

If you have already been developing for Wave, please consider giving a short presentation about what you have done (doesn't have to be a formal presentation).

12:00 pm Brainstorming Lunch (BYO or we will take orders & payment for pizza at registration)
1:00 pm Hacking
5:00 pm Demos
7:00 pm Head out for dinner at restaurant (at your own cost).

REGISTRATION
You must register if you wish to attend so that a Google Wave Developer sandbox account can be created for you. Registrations will close on Tuesday, 4th August so that the accounts can be created.

Numbers are limited, so please register as soon as possible at: http://tr.im/cbrwave

This day is being organised by volunteers who are interested in Google Wave development and thought it would be useful to have a Google Wave developers day in Canberra. Please indicate if you are willing to assist with organising and running the day. Contact brenda@moon.net.au for more information.

We will be providing WiFi internet access, but you will need to bring your own computer. Please have a look at the developer information on the Google Wave site (http://code.google.com/apis/wave/) as an introduction.

Google Wave

Google have demonstrated a new product called Google Wave. It is a little difficulty to work out exactly what it is through all the hype, but it appears to be a real time collaboration tool. The idea seems to be to expand the idea of a collaboratively written document, with people adding content in real time. But the examples provided look very complex and this reminds me of some office applications from ten years ago which had so many features that they were unusable. There are some screenshots and descriptions, protocol description and a Google Wave API.