Based on the recent Wave conversations I've seen at Cole's Blog and at CogDog (here and here), I revisited my google wave post from a few weeks ago. Man, it is a rambling wreck. So, I am going to rewrite my central idea from that post a little more succinctly:
Google wave is not a web-based application. Google wave is a basis for building and deploying applications that facilitate interactions among participants that are simultaneously synchronous and asynchronous as well as linear and non-linear.
Just as the web shook up old models of organization (hyperlinked instead of hierarchical, bottom-up instead of top-down), the wave aims to shake up models of interaction.
The jury is still out on if the human mind is capable of grokking this kind of interaction, or what the benefits and downsides are. I think it is an issue worth exploring.
Brad, thanks for expanding on this during our lunchtime discussion today, to help this nondeveloper get a little closer to grokking it.
Yeah, it's definitely got my mind all grokked up. Whether that's a good thing or bad remains to be seen. I'll tell you this much -- the possibilities of Wave are simultaneously mind-boggling and terrifying. I feel like if humans accept this technology and fully integrate it into their modus operandi it could spark the dawning of the age of aquarius.