Those nice people at Google sent me an invitation to use GoogleWave and I am now in the very early stages of working out what it can and cannot do.

I would have to say, it looks very cool so far with a wide range of capabilities and varying options as to how it can be utilised. For some time, I have been after a tool that will help me with my email control [I currently use Gmail as my main account with others being forwarded to this address], help me to keep the communication channels open with all I know – including but separate – colleagues, family, friends, clients, acquaintances an new people I meet almost daily.

Hopefully Google Wave is this tool.

It comes with quite a bit of helpful documentation in the form of emails and correspondence built-in to the product itself and also includes self-help type videos and simple examples of what can be attained using the various tools it offers.

So, what can Google Wave do exactly? Here is a copy of what they say themselves….

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There are tons of ways to use Google Wave–here are just a few examples to get you thinking.

Organizing events

Keep a single copy of ideas, suggested itinerary, menu and RSVPs, rather than using many different tools. Use gadgets to add weather, maps and more to the event.

Meeting notes

Prepare a meeting agenda together, share the burden of taking notes and record decisions so you all leave on the same page (we call it being on the same wave). Team members can follow the minutes in real time, or review the history using Playback. The conversation can continue in the wave long after the meeting is over.

Group reports and writing projects

Collaboratively work in real time to draft content, discuss and solicit feedback all in one place rather than sending email attachments and creating multiple copies that get out of sync.

Brainstorming

Bring lots of people into a wave to brainstorm – live concurrent editing makes the quantity of ideas grow quickly! It is easy to add rich content like videos, images, URLs or even links to other waves. Discussion ensues. Etiquettes form. Then work together to distill down to the good ideas.

Photo sharing

Drag and drop photos from your desktop into a wave. Share with others. Use the slideshow viewer. Everyone on the wave can add their photos, too. It is easy to make a group photo album in Google Wave.

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I have a few invites [7 left] and may [not sure yet] give some away to those people who can convince me to do so. All in all it looks like a fantastic new and innovative way to move forward and being a big fan of google’s products already, I have no doubt it will exceed my expectations.

Update: I am trying to set up a Google Wave page on this site with a public wave embedded [link]. It looks like it is definitely possible, but having trouble with it so far. I have installed the Wavr plugin and have set up a public wave successfully. So far though, adding the required shortcode and/or the script option has not given me any positive results. If you happen to read this and have some useful insights, please let me know. Thanks.

Categories: Bits and Pieces, Featured, Resources | Tags: Google > Google Wave