Thanks to those who raised the Google Wave discussions.
I have been looking at the Google Wave presentation and I think that this is
an exciting development. I know that speaking to others a 1hour 20 minute
presentation is off putting. If you are limited for time, log in and just look at
the presentation for a few minutes from 6 minutes in to 16 minutes - this 10
minutes really gives you a good flavour of this product.
Why is this exciting for RM?
For over 30 years email has been the most popular communication tool and
holds large percentages of organisational data. Many records managers seem
to think that email is a problem but personally I don’t agree:
- You can journal every email that enters and leaves an account internally and
externally, thus ensuring a complete record.
- You can manage these records from behind the scenes whilst still
maintaining the look of the end user account.
- You do have a number of data fields, date, sender, recipient, subject line.
- Emails are highly searchable and increasingly their are new search engines to
assist with the process and tools such as deduplification etc.
- Emails work on protocols which mean emails can be easily exchanged and
thus also migrated over time. It’s the attachments that create problems.
The big challenge for RM is Web 2.0 because it is beyond known boundaries
and therefore out of RM control. However the Google Wave brings Web 2.0
into a potentially controlled environment that like email works on a protocol. It
also adds some really compelling features.
Its design looks like an inbox but comments are pasted on walls. However
users can be added to a conversation and in addition there can be private
discussions. New comments can be added into the chain logic. But there is a
playback feature so those joining the discussion can see how the conversation
developed.
With this tool there is a further merging of spoken conversation and writing –
the two increasingly operate in the same way. You can be reading comments
as they are typed - making it more like speech.
Take the time to log in and look at this tool – so that, when your IT managers
come to you, you are ahead of the technology game. The link is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ 6-16 mins is 10 minutes
well spent.
Elizabeth Lomas
Northumbria University
For any technical queries re JISC please email [log in to unmask]
For any content based queries, please email [log in to unmask]
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