It goes without saying that these days, being on top of new technologies is synonyms with being on top of the music industry. Today I got my Google Wave preview, and I must say that this indeed is the wave of the future.
Don't get me wrong, after waiting forever to get an invite Google Wave seems like a total let down, but when you start exploring it and think of its possibilities it is easy to see this is going to kick the pants out of many web 2.0 applications.
So ok...what is Google Wave?
If you have heard of it before you like I, have probably endured the hour long youtube video made by the Google Wave developer and presented at the 2009 Google I/O.
If you have a medieval amount of patience and you haven't seen it here it is:
Lucky for those of you haven't heard about it, Google understands we have no attention span and have released an 8 minute overview:
But if you subscribe to being part of our beautiful ADD nation, I think this unofficial video hits the core of what Google Wave is, in under 3 minutes
All caught up now? Great!
The things I love:
With Google wave you can manage a band remotely from anywhere (with internet), but wait...it's arguable that you can already do that...but hear me out.
One of the hardest things about working with a group is getting them all together for a meeting, they all have lives and lets face it, so do you (or at least now you can)!
Currently we can have conference calls, video conferences, or send a slew of emails that get forwarded and re forwarded so many times the subject line only says "Re:FWD:RE:FWD etc"
The problem with conference calls and video (and even in person meetings) is the lack of documentation. We have all had super uplifting on task meetings but no one can remember what jobs were delegated to them, and then the finger pointing begins. Sure...you could force the poor drummer to take minutes, but I think that violates my code of ethics. With google wave you can have the same interactive conversation but it is documented and can be revisited by everyone. So boil that down and it is one beautiful word...
Transparency! With everyone's eyes on the conversation and the ability to revisit it, there is no room for people bullshitting anymore!
Google Wave has "extensions" much like applications for the iPhone, they are loadable customizable tools for your waving needs.
Currently the selection is lacking (but give 'em a break, its only a preview of what it will be) However there are already some great ones available. You can share a map, and place pins on it together to plan tour routing allowing your band to collaborate on tour booking. There is also a surveying extension where you pose a question and the people added to the wave can simply sate "yes, no or maybe" for those times that you just have to cut out the chatter and get a consensus.
The exciting future:
Im sure that soon enough there will be a calendar extension which will allow you to update a calendar among a selected group of people instantly. Imagine that? Actually knowing your band members schedules all the time! I know that this is already accomplishable with Google Doc's but this way you can use it for various groups of people (including your personal life) without having to do all the set up work.
Programmers can currently download a tool to create new extensions to the possibilities are endless.
Think about it. This might be the murder of Twitter. If you add all of your contacts to one wave it has the the same abilities as twitter, however its more interactive and easier to find responses.
I can't wait until I can wave from my iPhone, lets get crackin developers!
