Blog hibernation period
When I decided to start with this blog, now almost a year ago, I indicated that it was experimental and the targets that I set were mostly targets for myself as can be read in my first blog post. Since then I have tried to write with an average of approximately two posts per month, a bit depending on the subjects I came across. So why did I stop writing for nearly two months?
Looking back I think there was a combination of factors that contributed to my hibernation period. Over the last years I have been quite active on several Linux support forums. Mostly on the Linux-Hardcore Forums and related “sister” forums. Although I very much enjoyed trying out new releases, provide feedback on “issues” I encountered and help out others with hints and tips (also a main content of this blog) I noticed that I became “support tired”. The time needed to actively participate is more than anticipated in the beginning and I noticed that the “fun” was reducing.
Additionally we were faced with — since years — a real winter. Since approximately the middle of December last year snow has fallen in large amounts, at least for the region I live in, and brings along quite some additional work.
Dec. 17, 2009 - The front
Dec. 17, 2009 - The rear
Sure a winter brings along great pictures and also “fun”, but having the animals we have and living like we do it also requires additional work to make sure all animals have plenty to eat and drink. Additionally we had to come up with solutions to simply be able to leave the property with our cars. Like building a “shovel” to simply the removal of the snow from our driveway.
Jan. 03, 2010 - Our "shovel"
Concluding … the hibernation was partly a “sabbatical” to prevent that I would loose all fun in helping out on forums and provide information on my experiences with Linux. Partly it was simply because I had to spent the required time on other activities.
As of today I will try to get back to an average of a post every two weeks. And as from the beginning it will be mainly focussed on Linux with occassionally a post related to my work or my family. So while I am (slowly) awakening from my hiberanation I hope also this year people will enjoy coming back to my blog and hopefully also gain some benefit from what I write.
Google Wave: First experiences and a lesson learned … a wave is not chat
In my blog post “Trying out the Google Wave Federation Prototype Server on Ubuntu Karmic” I already indicated that I first was interested and later enthusiastic about the Google Wave concept. Since last week I am in the fortunate position of having received an invite and actually in the possibility of trying out Google Wave. Already many have been blogging and writing about Google Wave, in this blog post I like to add my experiences after my first waves.
Some information up front. I am running Google Wave from a browser on a desktop that has Ubuntu Karmic Koala as operating system. The browsers I use are either Chromium (daily built) or Firefox.
The interface is very straight forward and also gets very well explained in the introduction waves that are in your inbox when you first start Google Wave.
Google Wave - Overview
The top left shows your inbox, settings, folders and so on. All very self explanatory. The bottom left shows your contacts (names have been removed from the image to protect the innocent). The center screen shows your inbox. In the image my inbox is empty since I had either moved waves to a folder or to the trash. The trash by the way can not (yet) be emptied. The right part of the window shows the wave active wave if you have opened one.
Google Wave - Wave Opened
The Wave in the illustration shows one of the first waves I participated in and these waves resulted in my following tweet:
Having first Wave conversations with @bart_h First impressions: Feels a bit like chat. Maybe have to learn more of the possibilities first.
Thinking about this tweet and the basic concept of the Wave, I — slowly — started to realize that it was not Google Wave that gave me this impression. It was me, treating the Wave interface in the way I was accustomed to. I get a message, I reply. Thus making it feel like a chat and look like a chat.
With the only exception being that I can see — character by character — what the other party is typing, including typing mistakes 
The idea behind the Wave, I realized, is that the conversation should be the center and that in this conversation you can participate, add, remove and alter. Additionally invite others to participate or remove people from the conversation. So it was not the tool, it was me.
So I looked what I could do with a post that was already in the Wave and clicking on the down arrow I noticed I could edit a post, reply to a post (which is what I basically did from the beginning), reply privately and move the post to a new Wave.
Google Wave - Edit
When editing an existing post also suddenly the playback function gets meaning. By playing back a Wave you can see, step by step, what people have added, changed and or removed. The video shows a sample of the playback function in action.
Click to view a video of the Google Wave Playback
Now the Wave concept started to make more sense. So instead of replying in the “old fashioned” way, the conversation sticked to one post and was growing over time. That seemed much more in line with the thought behind the entire Wave concept.
Another thing I tried out, without sharing it to the rest of the world (yet), is the use of gadgets. Although only a few are available currently I created a Wave and then clicked on the … button, for which you have to be in edit mode. This showed the available gadgets and I decided to include the “Yes/No/Maybe” gadget.
Google Wave - Insert Gadget
With this gadget in place participants can enter there reply to your question by simply clicking on Yes, No or Maybe. Furthermore they of course can add content or place a reply to your question.
Google Wave - Gadget In Use
I am sure that with the openness that Google has chosen more gadgets will become available over time. Furthermore also still more integration with other tools and/or communication channels are still very much in development or not even available yet. Personally I am looking forward to integration with twitter and this blog, something that — IIRC — is shown in the preview video but currently not available yet.
Then some links that may come in handy, although I realize there are many, many available across the web. I found the blog post at Web Upd8 with the Google Wave Search Operators Cheat Sheet very convenient. Additionally it is interesting to follow the Google Wave Blog and the Google Wave Developers Blog.
Concluding: Initially I was maybe even a bit disappointed until I realized that the concept also required an adaption from my side. That made the concept more clear for me and also gave more sense to using Wave.
Additonally there is still a long way to go with API’s needing to be developed and released.
So yes … I am still enthusiastic and are very much looking forward to how this will develop and to what extend it will change the way of communication.
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