We all know the connecting power of Facebook- the power of sharing our life’s details and observations simultaneously with many of our friends.
We also are observing changes- less elective business travel, more focus on one or two key professional associations rather than multiple associations—with a desire to do more of our business electronically which is punctuated by the recession — using tools like GoToMeeting, WebEx, observing conferences using Astute Conference.CAST® and doing our certification and testing online (with tools like Net.SCORE®).
We are all getting used to the power of Google- in rapidly getting both the most direct and esoteric results of our search. The power to instantly mine the enormous wealth of the Internet.
News and publications are 24/7- and paper is being replaced with electronic media as the preferred and most profitable method for disseminating information. Publication deadlines are becoming compressed from old editorial paradigms in which the dance between writers and editors had involved mailing manuscripts and redlines between the parties for six months to a year leading to approval for publication.
Video is now becoming a key feature of all media- in the past couple of days, Firefox has introduced the capability to play videos within the browser without a plug-in. Look at the impact of video on the web- with the number of views of Michael Jackson videos in the past week… what a powerful and important ’shared resource’ that we now have at our fingertips!
So, with this quick review, we are seeing the ‘mash-up’ of all of the above events/patterns/trends.
In this background, we are seeing the evolution of a powerful new suite of software technologies- Google Wave and Microsoft Live Mesh. These platforms enable instant collaboration over networks – building on the power and popularity of social networks to enable the ability to share interactively. But instead of providing the ‘first wave’ of technology which provides only the ability to share one to many; the next ‘wave’ or ‘mesh’ of technology enables true, interactive communication/collaboration between individuals and groups. Sharing of images, text, the ability to self-assemble which groups/individuals that are part of the ‘conversation’ are all features of these new platforms as well as the ability to make use of computers and cell phones to share this information.
Catch the next wave of communications (Googlewave and MS Live Mesh)
I see the combination of Google Wave and/or Live Mesh coupled with rich media providing a powerful platform to dynamically share information to people who can use it to evolve that idea to new heights in a more rapid and efficient manner than ever before.
These platforms allow an unprecedented level of rapid, dynamic collaboration. We now have tools which break the barriers of space and time and allow for an unprecedented level of collaboration. The concept of providing a ‘virtual meeting’ which couples the traditional notion of ‘lectures’ and aggregation of participatory audiences is only the beginning of the possibilities- imagine coupling this information with dynamic aggregation of content and participants; information sharing as well as new dynamic advertising and revenue opportunities.
With the increasing agility of technology, organizations and individuals will have tools to process information in unprecedented ways and can either use these tools or watch others create and refine knowledge with them.
In the past, organizations tried to maintain control over information flow and insure that quality is maintained in a consistent and consistent fashion. One had to pick the right people to review publications and control the process. If those who were to review the information are not available; then there was a delay in reviewing and getting the information out.
Instead, speed to market of the information is a driving force, organically sharing information and letting ‘market conditions’ – availability and speed to react; providing the context of ‘group dynamics’ drive the decision-making process. Web 2.0 brought citizen journalism and less expensive and more rapidly created media available to enable professionally produced news to co-mingle with traditional news media. This next ‘wave’ will provide a new powerful capability for building communities of knowledge- on demand and with the necessary agility to cope with an ever increasing, exponentially building knowledge coupled with the speed of the Internet in sharing information.
References/Resources:
Microsoft has its live mesh approach; Google has Google wave; I
suspect that Apple also has something up its sleeve- as it is making
huge investments in data centers…
Microsoft polished commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFpwzg-AP_Q
-btw- it is getting more and more important for tech companies to do
great videos- the production quality of this is quite impressive…
Microsoft website:
https://www.mesh.com/welcome/default.aspx
French version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqfga2BMeUg
Microsoft lecture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKL2uOyGXC8&NR=1
Google may have an advantage- in their experience online as
well as the gadgets/tools that are being developed… open source-
big developer community- fact that Facebook is non-Microsoft…
Technology comparisons:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/09/198205/Ray-Ozzie-Calls-Google-Wave-Anti-Web?from=rss
Here is the statement by Ray Ozzie (lotus notes inventor and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft:
http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/05/ray-ozzie-google-wave-is-anti-web-mesh-is-good/
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-20/google-wave-taking-the-enterprise-from-microsoft-004821.php
http://defectivecompass.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/google-wave-is-impressive/
-above is a good review…
http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2009/06/04/DevelopersOnGoogleWave.aspx
