Out With The Old, In With The New. Again. Yawn.

The new year is almost upon us. Resolutions are being made as predictions are flying left and right.  Oh… and nothing that was supposed to die this year has died yet.

So now it is time to just change the year on those predictions to ‘2010’ and hope that no one notices that our predictions from past years haven’t come true.

I apologize for the lack of posts this month, but most of the EdTech news has been so monotone recently.  Google Wave, Google Wave, Google Wave. I love to explore emerging technology just like the next person, but there are other things out there.  And many of them we can actually use now in education… not wait until some secret date in the future finally arrives.

The college I work for recently hosted a presentation by  Daniel M. Russell, a research scientist with Google. His insights into search were fascinating.  And his comments about Google Wave were concerning. He bluntly stated that the interface isn’t working for people at all. Then he clarified what the current status of “preview” means to Google: they can change or cancel the Wave project at any time if they want.  The email killer itself could get canned if Google just decides one day that it isn’t cutting it.

And just why does everything in the world of technology have to die? Why are there so many technology killers out there? iPhone killers. Email killers. Windows killers. University killers. Sheesh.

Why do we have to get rid of something just to get something new? Email works just fine (and 94% of the online activity of the millennial generation is spent using email (still), so I doubt it is just for old people). Why do we have to kill it? Why not use it with Google Wave?

I am one of those odd people that will listen to a vinyl record and an mp3 in the course of one day. I’ve always felt that if something has value now, it will have value in the future. New ideas and products should come along side existing ones, not kill them altogether.

Well, except for 8 tracks. Those never made sense to me.

Of course, since nothing that is predicted to die actually ever dies, I am really just making a big deal about nothing. I guess I am just growing bored waiting for people to realize that nothing ever really dies in the technology world, and that Google Wave is still too around the corner to be any use to us right now. Then maybe we can get some interesting ideas flowing again.

Kicking The Tires on Google Wave

Finally – my Google Wave invite is here. I have heard that if you get invited by someone else, don't mention their name on a public site – because that person will get inundated by requests for an invitation!  Of course, the person that sent me an invite knows who they are – so to that person: thank you! You rock!

If you are still wondering what Google Wave is, you can head over to the handy Complete Guide to Google Wave for more information.  Of course, I am in Wave now and I still can't really describe what it is that well.  You see, it really just isn't what email would be if email was invented today. Gmail is what email would be if it was invented today.  Email is just electronic mail – a system to send messages and documents electronically.  You can't really change that much, because it was never meant to be synchronous communication. Even though I have been in many situations where the emails are flying so fast and furious, you kind of have to wonder…

So far, Wave seems more like a slick mixture of a synchronous wiki and a synchronous discussion board.  The ability to slip in and out of the conversation – to go from asynchronous to synchronous as you wish – is really cool. What few plug-ins they have are pretty cool. Watching others type in real time is creepy, but still kind of cool.

But this is the problem I now have – I have to separate the geek side of me from the educational side of me.  The geek side of me loves Wave so far, even though I barely ever use it (because so few people I know are on it).  The educational side of me is a little more skeptical.  It is true that Wave is information overload. Even one active wave is hard to keep up with, because people can be adding information and responding to other people all over the place.  You can be reading the bottom of a wave and find out that a better exchange is taking place two scroll lengths up. Kind of frustrating.

I have seen many of the long lists of ideas people have for educational uses.  Which all look nice, but you have to realize that you can also come up with a long list of educational ideas for NotePad (I have seen them).  The problem is, most of those ideas sound good on paper, but they turn out pretty boring in implementation.  Will people be able to implement these Google Wave ideas in an effective manner?

That remains to be seen. The learning curve for Wave is steep. Second Life is floundering in many areas because of this same issue, while FaceBook keeps growing and growing.  FaceBook is way more complex than Wave, but it is fairly simple to ease yourself in and then explore new features as you feel comfortable.  I don't know if I see Google Wave as being as simple to ease in to. Maybe they are working on that.  All of this is just to say that Google is going to have to get Wave to appeal to more than geeks like me for it to go anywhere.

I also find it interesting that Mozilla has recently announced the Wave-like Raindrop product.  Raindrop is different in many aspects, but I already understand what they are going for… while I still struggle to get exactly what Wave is going for.  I bring up Raindrop because competition is good, and I think the best thing for Wave will be a good, solid competitor.  So keep your eye on Raindrop.

Of course, don't let my reality check fool you – I will still be using Google Wave as much as I can as long as I can.  And no, I don't have an invites to give!

Guess That Google Wave Invite is Not Coming?

I wish I could tell you that I have been secretly playing with Google Wave for the last week, and this was my report on what I found. But, sadly – no Google Wave invites have appeared in my account. The good news is that I finally got my Google Voice invite! (how long has that been out?)

What really worries me is that there are probably about a thousand or so technophobes out there sitting on their invites because they had no idea what they were signing up for. “Oh, Google Wave. That sounds so nice and refreshing, don’t you know. Sure I’ll sign up. Is it a new soft drink or something? Well, I’ll agree to all this mumbo-jumbo talky-talky on this page and find out.”

Anyone got a spare invite? So far, I have read some good feedback and some not-so-enthusiastic feedback. I am guessing that some of the negative feedback is coming from people that just like to be anti-hype. There have even been people that have made a list of Top 10 Google Wave problems. Already? Sounds kind of speculative at best, and others have already successfully argued that it is too early to dismiss the G-Wave so easily.

The real question is whether or not Google will draw out this private Beta stage so long that people will stop caring about Wave by the time it is open to everyone. If you want to change the way that people communicate online, you’ve got to get everyone on board pretty quickly. People can prove to be resistant to change if it takes too long.

Trying to Figure Out That Google Social Thingy? Me Too.

Somewhere, deep in the bowels of the Google Bat Cave, I bet there is a very closely-guarded vault that only a few people have access to.    Inside this vault is a document that everyone from Microsoft to FaceBook to yours truly wants to get their hands on.  Some object or map or piece of paper – kind of like a real life Book of Secrets – that many claim is only a myth, but a few people (like myself) believe is a reality.  What is in the mythological document, you ask?

Why, no other than some kind of weird explanation for Google’s scattered and confusing social networking plan – of course.  The master plan for where they are going…. because there has just got to be some kind of rhyme to all the random pieces they seem to just be throwing to the wind every few weeks or so.

Will Google Wave be the final piece that pulls it all together?  I hope so.  But whatever it is, they need to get their social plan fully out there before social networking goes the way of Web 1.0.

I think the reason I want to figure out this master plan so much is because I like what I see so far.  I have iGoogle all set-up with the widgets I like, and now I can share information from some widgets with other friends.  Well, assuming I can ever coax any friends in to trying them with me.  Updates from those social gadgets show up in a FaceBook-like friend stream.  Or, at least… mine do. Until I get that first friend to join me in playing with these… I won’t know what their stuff looks like.

I also have a Google profile that now follows me as I use Google Friend Connect gadgets on different sites.  I can share things in Google Reader.  Then there is that Google Latitude thing that no one wants to touch, because, well… it is kind of creepy.   And probably a few other things I am missing.  Like Gtalk, Google Voice, etc, etc.

Oh… and then there is that social network that Google already has…. called…. ummm… Orkut?  Something like that.  Does that fit in there?

Probably does, but until the master plan is revealed to us someday, we’ll just have to keep waiting patiently for our invite to the next piece.  Which reminds me that I still need to kick myself for waiting so late to get on the list for Google Voice….

Zoho Projects 2.0 Beats Google Wave to the Punch (Kindof)

Is social project collaboration the next big thing online? Will we finally see all of the separate tools that we currently use for communication and collaboration (email, IM, documents, micro-blogs, etc) integrate into seamless tools? Google is heading that way with Google Wave. Or, at least we think they are. Still waiting for that invite to come through…

Which leads me to the big problem with hyping a tool before you release it – your competitors will beat you to the punch. Maybe Google is banking that Wave will be cooler than anything else anyone else can rush to the market. But if your competitor comes out with a tool that works for everyone that wants to use it – people will stick with theirs no matter how cool your idea is.

That brings me to Zoho Projects 2.0. Many of the features sound similar to Google Wave – like integrating chat with online documents and project flow and all that. Zoho’s take on social project collaboration is a bit more business minded – you can create milestones and post progress updates and such. Zoho doesn’t hype the synchronous/asynchronous integration like Wave does, but it is there. Which I think is okay – I really don’t think people are going to care that much about switching between synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous communication is a huge drain on productivity, so I predict that many people will be turning off some of Google Wave’s synchronous innovations. Really – who needs synchronous online document editing? Too many editors in the room will cause some big arguments. There is a reason that face-to-face meetings only have one person at the white board taking notes, even thought many whiteboards are monstrous in size these days and there are usually enough pens for everyone to go around.

But the biggest missing feature of Zoho Project 2.0 is the open-source attitude that Google Wave embraces. The ability to install Google Wave on your server and then customize it the way you want will be killer. Zoho Projects will only be good for educational projects that can fit into it’s design and flow. Which will be several, no doubt – but Google Wave will potentially have the ability to adapt to whatever anyone wants. If you want to dig into the codes and/or APIs, that is.

Still, I can see Zoho Projects appealing to a certain mindset. For more information and a demo video, see this post:

Announcing The Social Way To Get Things Done: Zoho Projects 2.0

Google Nods to the Future With Wave

Everything Google does gets hype.  So you probably already read all there is known (so far) about Google Wave.  For the two anti-Google people out there in the world that just refuse to read anything about Google, it is said to be a new way to communicate online, based on new concepts of how we interact online.  Of course, I probably lost those two people at “Google”, so I just wasted time writing that.  Guess that makes me a true blogger.  Anyways, there is a really looooonnnggg video about it out there, too.  Which I haven’t watched, because I really just don’t have time.  Is it just me, or does it seem to be blasphemy to put a long video on YouTube,  THE website that proved people are more into short, concise summaries rather than long dissertations covering every detail?

Really?  How much can you talk about a service that is still in planning stages?

Well, the universe didn’t explode when it was posted, so I guess it is okay.  For now.

Everything that Google does usually turns out pretty good.  Even when it is something that doesn’t prove to be popular… like say Lively or Jaiku… they still do a good job with it.  But will Wave prove to be their first major misstep?  I’m thinking there is a slight possibility.

I’m sure it will work great.  I’m sure I will like it.  I’m just not sure it’s going to catch on.  This is what caught my eye, from the blog post quoted ’round the world:

He pointed out that two of the most spectacular successes in digital communication, email and instant messaging, were originally designed in the ’60s to imitate analog formats — email mimicked snail mail, and IM mimicked phone calls. Since then, so many different forms of communication had been invented — blogs, wikis, collaborative documents, etc. — and computers and networks had dramatically improved. So Jens proposed a new communications model that presumed all these advances as a starting point, and I was immediately sold.

What if the reason that email and IM caught on was because they did mimic what we were used to?  What if is had nothing to do with network limitations of the time, or lack of other ideas? Let’s face it – Twitter caught on because it mimicked texting.  Skype caught on because it mimicked phone calls. FaceBook caught on because it mimicked interaction and games from real life.

What if online stuff has to mimic something we are already into before it will catch on?  Most people are attributing the death of virtual worlds to the fact that they just seem too surreal sometimes.

Sorry – as much as I wish virtual worlds would catch on and take over the world, the cold hard truth is they seem to be dying.  Blogs are still kind of popular and kind of not… wikis never truly caught on as a tool (Wikipedia is seem more as an information source than a tool by most people)… and collaborative documents haven’t really caught on yet.

I’m pretty sure I will love Google Wave (as I also love virtual worlds, blogs, wikis, Skype, you name it).  But are we going to lamenting what could have been in a few years, just like we did with Lively earlier this year?  I guess only time will tell.  Twitter was pretty much dying until Oprah and a few other key events breathed some life in to it.  Now it is every where.  Maybe we can get Obama using Google Wave?

First Google, Now Gcast Demonstrate the Pitfalls of Web 2.0

As much as I love Web 2.0 sites, I also recognize that there are some drawbacks.  The biggest being the fact that the end user loses control of their content.  Recently, Google became a good example of how that can affect education when it shut down the Lively virtual world program, despite the protests of educators that used the service in education.

Now Gcast is giving us another example of a different issue related to relying on a third party website for educational purposes.  Gcast is a podcasting service at its core with many options.  One of those options is that you can get a toll free number to call in a podcast.  Nice for live podcasting from events or on the go.  A recent letter to users notified us that this phone-in podcast service is no longer free, pretty much effective immediately.  It now costs $99 a year.  For most cases, this places the service out of range for most educational purposes.  Are instructors really going to require their students to shell out nearly a hundred dollars to keep doing that podcast project?  It’s doubtful.

This is doubly hard for those that are in the middle of semester, maybe even in the middle of projects that are using this service.  There is talk of pro-rating the cost for the rest of the year.  Also, I have to mention that you can still upload audio from your computer for free.

The cause of this change? All we are told is that it is based on “fees charged by Microsoft.”  Nothing about the recession.  So this is a problem that could really affect any service at any time.

How can educators avoid getting stuck with a problem like this?  Well, there are a couple of things:

  1. Carefully choose your product in the first place. Even though you might love picking the underdog, they are the ones that tank the quickest. Make sure you go for a service that is fairly popular and even that is supported by advertising (these aren’t immune to financial problems, but at least they have thought about costs beforehand).  And, FYI – just because something is run by Google, that is no guarantee that it will be around forever.
  2. Have a back up plan ready to go at any time.  That plan should not just be “switch to the competitor.”  But that plan can change over time.  For example, Gabcast charges for phone in podcasts by the minute, but it is free using VOIP services.  Skype is realsing apps for smartphones like the iPhone that lets you make VOIP calls from your smartphone (with some limitations).
  3. If possible, consider installing a do-it-yourself open-source program on a server you or your school controls.  See #1 for which program to choose.  Keeping something under your control means no sudden changes without warning.  But it also means learning how to host stuff yourself (not that hard these days, but still something to consider).

Web 3.0 Watch: Google Earth

Someday, hopefully soon, I will publish a chapter in a book about Web 2.0 and education on the future of the Internet.  My article passed about three rounds of review, but I haven’t heard from them in a while.  I hope the chapter gets publish before all of the predictions in there come true.  At the current rate that technology is accelerating… I’m not sure.

There are tons of predictions out there, but I chose to highlight a few that seem to be gaining traction.  One of those predictions was the ability to visit an online virtual recreation of our planet that includes historical views of certain areas.  Google Earth 5.0 seems to be bringing this prediction to reality.

The historical view of Rome in Google Earth has been blogged about here and elsewhere.  Google Earth 5.0 adds an interesting feature that acts as a time line slider – allowing users to view changes over time.  This is probably based on historical satellite imagery, but someday I am sure the virtual Rome idea will catch on and some of these flat images will go 3-D.

Of course, I have to mention that the newest version also adds ocean floors to virtual Earth.  So now Google does actually own the whole planet – at least virtually.  Physical domination is probably the next step with the (sure to be) eminent launch of Google World Government.  Keep an eye on gwg.google.com.

I think many of us in the education world were hoping that Google Lively would one day integrate with Google Earth, so that you could actually use Google Earth like a virtual world.  Maybe there is still hope for that.  Google also killed their Dodgeball project only to turn around and announce the launch of Google Latitude… which does about the exact same thing.  Maybe… just maybe.. we can hope for the same resurrection of Lively inside of Google Earth.

Problems With Google Highlight The Dangers of Being an EduPunk

Every time I talk about using Web2.0 in education with someone, or even being a do-it-yourself EduPunk in general, I always throw in a little disclaimer at the end: “just be careful what you use, because one of those sites that you base your entire class on could be gone tomorrow.”  I usually get this “yeah, right” look from them, or even a “I’ll just use Google – that will always be safe” response.  Truth is, I never really believed it myself.

Oh, how the times have changed in the 4 months since I last said that.  It seems like Google is actually leading the charge in cutting down sites educators might use.  Google is shutting down sites?  Excuse me while I check the forecast for Hades right quick.

First it was Lively, now several other minor services have been closed completely or just put on the shelf (i.e. no further development).  Lively was probably the only closure to hurt education in anyway – even though that probably only applied to the bleeding edge of education.  Jaiku, with the ability to create groups that micro-bloggers could post to (versus the only two options on Twitter: everyone or one person), probably had the most educational potential.  Jaiku is apparently going open source, so maybe it will re-appear as something better later (but we EduGeeks thought Jaiku was so much better than Twitter…  sigh).  Google Notebook was probably meant to have educational potential but never really went anywhere.  TechCrunch has a good summary article if you want to see if your favorite Google side project is toast.

What this means for educators is: be careful!  Something that you rely on heavily for instruction could be gone tomorrow.  Unfortunaelty, this also means that more instructors are probably going to go with the most popular tool for their needs, even if they find another service that is a better fit.  And I can’t say I would blame them.  This would just mean that there is a smaller chance we will be seeing new ideas popping up online.

More Details on The Google Books Project

Happy New Year!  With a new year comes more buzz from Google.  Did you really expect anything less?  New York Times has an interesting article about the future of the Google Book search project and what it can mean for education.  Now that Google has settled various lawsuits surrounding the project and made all parties happy (for the most part), the whole thing can move forward.

Here are some of the higlights of the article:

  • Over 5 million out-of-print books have been scanned.  This is a treasure trove for research purposes, as most of these will be available for free download.
  • New releases will even be available for paid download, usually cheaper than the print version.
  • “More students in small towns around America are going to have a lot more stuff at their fingertips,” said Michael A. Keller, the university librarian at Stanford. “That is really important.”  (Not to mention really important for distance education)
  • Google wants to push access to the entire database to school libraries, making sure that they make it affordable.  Students at schools that purchase access will be able to get “full contents of all the books free.” (!)
  • Paul Courant, university librarian at the University of Michigan had this to say: “One of the important things about this settlement is that it brings the literature of the 20th century back into a form that the students of the 21st century will be able to find it.”

So, will we one day see courses that use this project entirely for their textbook requirements?  Or maybe even a mix of current blogs and news sources with classic books?  Probably so, if not already.  To see the Google Book project, see http://books.google.com.