Google+Wave

=Google Wave= A new way of holding conversations. Google Wave is combination of email, Google docs, instant messaging. Collaboration can be real-time or offline.

Resources:
Video from I/O developer preview of Wave. (Video is over an hour long). About - What is Wave? Updates - Where is Wave now? Samples - can't view live samples, only descriptions. Live sample viewing for developers only.


 * Playback feature makes it easy to follow conversations that began before a user was added.
 * Can easily include photos, videos and maps through drag and drop
 * Easily to complete a group photo album
 * Can choose to share all or only parts of a conversation with different users
 * Waves can be embedded onto individual webpages and individual readers of blogs can respond
 * Can access all conversations through the Wave Client
 * Accessible through mobile devices
 * One one copy of conversation really exists so edits to Wave get updated everywhere they appear
 * Can collaboratively author documents
 * Can do discussion and editing content in one tool
 * Can search to find previous Waves on a topic
 * Can create a "fresh" Wave from previous document that merges all changes and comments
 * Different teams can work on different parts of a Wave and then merge all together into a final document
 * More than one member of a Wave can edit at the exact same time with all the changes appearing simultaneously.
 * Supports multiple languages and characters.
 * Extremely powerful spellchecker that can delineate between common misspellings such as "bean" and "been" or "two" "to" and "too" an replace them //appropriately// into the document.
 * Very simple to add links in a document.
 * Can incorporate Gadgets into a Wave to make it even more productive.
 * Can create polls into a Wave through a form. Forms can be created collaboratively.

Weaknesses:

 * Still in development stage
 * Drag and drop not yet available in html 5.0. Must be downloaded onto your computer.
 * May be filtered for schools if other social networking apps are filtered.

Opportunities:

 * Students can collaborate globally or locally on projects with other students or experts in a field.
 * Students can combine small group projects that were completed in Wave into a larger, class project.
 * Students can access projects at school even if they are out of the classroom for an extended time due to illness or vacation.

Threats:

 * Difficult to determine until Wave is available to the public.

Classroom Uses:
No examples currently available as Wave is still being developed.
 * Ideas for uses can be found here.
 * Can be used for online collaboration with a class during extended absence (sickness, school closing due to hurricanes, etc)
 * Students can collaborative with others for projects such as an investigation of the pH levels of the Gulf of Mexico. Students from states or countries bordering the Gulf of Mexico can collect data and photographs, share it in a Wave and publish their findings.
 * Students can collaborate on a writing project with others. Groups can have specific chapters to write or can write chapters collaboratively.
 * Students can compare communities, countries or cultures via a Wave and can compile photos and videos into the Wave.
 * Interactive games students can play with others globally.