Here’s how Google Wave works. You create a “wave” and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly-formatted text, photos, gadgets and even feeds from other sources on the Web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly.
It’s concurrent rich-text editing where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well-suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.
The Google Wave dashboard
Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, Web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files.
Google Wave actually has its own lingo – yes, you have to learn a few definitions if you’re going to really understand this new communication platform. Being aware of these terms will help you understand more about Google’s newest project.
Wave
A wave, specifically, refers to a specific threaded conversation. It can include just one person, or it can include a group of users or even robots (explained below). The best comparison I can make is that it’s like your entire instant messaging (IM) history with someone. Anything you’ve ever discussed in a single chat or conversation is a wave.
Wavelet
A wavelet is also a threaded conversation, but only a subset of a larger conversation (or a wave). It’s like a single IM conversation - a small part of a larger conversation and a larger history. Wavelets, though, can be created and managed separately from a wave.
Blip (BLIP reviews)
Even smaller than a Wavelet, a Blip is a single, individual message. It’s like a single line of an IM conversation. Blips can have other blips attached to them, called children. In addition, blips can either be published or unpublished (once again, it’s sort of like typing out an IM message but not yet sending it).
Wave, Wavelets and Blips
Document
A document actually refers to the content within a blip. This seems to refer to the actual characters, words, and files associated with a blip. Extension: An extension is a mini-application that works within a wave. So these are the apps you can play with while using Wave. There are two main types of extenisons: Gadgets and Robots
Gadgets
A gadget is an application users can participate with, many of which are built on Google’s OpenSocial platform. A good comparison would be iGoogle gadgets or Facebook applications.
Robots
Robots are an automated participant within a wave. They can talk with users and interact with waves. They can provide information from outside sources (i.e. Twitter (Twitter reviews)) or they can check content within a wave and perform actions based on them (i.e. provide you a stock quote if a stock name is mentioned).
Embedded Wave
An embedded wave is a way to take a Google Wave and the conversation within it and place it on your website. Users could use this as a chatroom, as a way to contact you, or for something more.
