Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Getting Your Feet Wet: Introduction

Are you ready to take the water? Not quite sure?

In this blog, you will get a better understanding what Google Wave is and how it may be able to positively impact your role as an educator.

Google Wave is a messaging platform that combines email, online chatting, social networking and a Wiki-style group access to posted content.

What is Google Wave?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Learn the Lingo: Wave Terminology

The first step in preparing to use Google Wave is to get a handle on the terms associated with the technology. It is especially important to understand that communication occurs within a Wave and the item that each person contributes to a discussion is called a Blip.

Review the Wave Terminology from the Google Wave Community to better understand common terms. Some terms have been pulled from the site and presented below.

  • WAVE
    -
    A wave is a threaded conversation, consisting of one or more participants (which may include both human participants and robots). The wave is a dynamic entity which contains state and stores historical information. A wave is a living thing, with participants communicating and modifying the wave in real time. A wave serves as a container for one or more wavelets.


  • WAVELET
    - A wavelet is a threaded conversation that is spawned from a wave (including the initial conversation). Wavelets serve as the container for one or more messages, known as blips. The wavelet is the basic unit of access control for data in the wave. All participants on a wavelet have full read/write access to all of the content within the wavelet. As well, all events that occur within the Google Wave APIs operate on wavelet level or lower.


  • BLIP
    - A blip is the basic unit of conversation and consists of a single messages which appears on a wavelet.

    Blips may either be drafts or published (by clicking "Done" within the Wave client).

    Blips manage their content through their document.

    Blips may also contain other blips as children, forming a blip hierarchy. Each wavelet always consists of at least one root blip.


  • GADGET
    - A gadget is a small application that runs within a client. The gadget is owned by the wave, and all participants on a wave share the same gadget state. The only events a gadget responds to are changes to its own state object, and changes in the wave's participants (for example, participants joining or leaving the wave).

    The gadget has no influence over the wave itself. Wave gadgets typically aren't full blown applications, but small add-ons that improve certain types of conversations.

    Example: a wave might include a sudoku gadget that lets the wave participants compete to see who can solve the puzzle first.

  • BOT
    - A roBOT is an automated participant on a wave.

    Robots are applications which run in the "cloud" and can modify state within the wave itself.

    A robot can read the contents of a wave in which it participates, modify the wave's contents, add or remove participants, and create new blips and new waves.

    Robots perform actions in response to events.

    Example: a robot might publish the contents of a wave to a public blog site and update the wave with user comments.

Prepare to Surf Google Wave

You cannot just dive into using Google Wave without some preparation.
  1. Register for a Gmail Account
    In order to use Google Wave you need to sign-up for a Gmail (email) account.
  2. Personalize
    Once the email account is setup, personalize the following areas:
    Contacts > Add Other Gmail Users
    Settings > Add Picture








  3. Receive an Invitation
    The Beta release of Google Wave is not open to 'everyone.' In order to interact with others in a Wave someone needs to send you a Wave invitation.
  4. Prepare Your Browser
    Google Wave will require a plug-in for IE users called Google Chrome Frame or use the following compatible browsers: Chrome, Safari 4 or FireFox 3.5

Dude. What Is That? Google Wave Layout

The Google Wave interface may take some getting used to. As with any new technology or piece of software there is a learning curve. Spend some time reviewing keyboard shortcuts, parts of the interface and other screen elements in order to smoothly transition yourself and get the most out of Wave.

The 'Mastering Wave Interface' is the perfect place to start!

Party Wave of Educational Uses

Google Wave is an exciting new technology that is bound to change the landscape of electronic communication, but what are the implication and uses for education?

How will you, as an educator, choose to utilize this medium in order to create rich learning spaces for students?
Joe Corbett, online community manager for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) wrote, "Teaching about France? Plug Google Wave into your Wiki and invite French students to work with your students in real time with translations on the fly for both groups." Read more...
Examples of Wave in Education

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Getting Started with Wave

Additional Resources

Getting Started

Gagdet Resources

Bot Resources

  • Search for Bots - http://googlewavebots.info/wiki/index.php
  • Aunt Rosie - aunt-rosie@appspot.com
  • Bitly bot - bitly-bot@appspot.com
  • Emotocony - emoticonbot@appspot.com
  • Easy public - easypublic@appspot.com
  • Cartoony - cartoonybot@appspot.com
  • Notify bot - wave-email-notifications@appspot.com

Searching & Shortcut Resources

Public Waves

Google Wave Reading Lists