Official Google Wave Kickoff Thread

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

It seems that when posters leave ChiefDelphi and post in other places involving FRC discussions such as matches that occur during district, regional, and Championship competitions, the discussions take a downturn regarding respect towards teams, competitors, individuals, and FIRST. This doesn't do much in the way of spreading inspiration to others - it rather makes for opportunities to create ugly reputations. Networking and communicating among teams and individuals can be a very good thing. It can also be a bad thing if misused.

.02

While I agree with this sentiment in a general sense I have to disagree for this specifically. I have read almost every item posted to the Wave (what would these be called, Wavelets? Molecules?) I saw nothing worse than what I have seen on CD. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that I felt the quality of discussion was almost higher than much of what I have seen on CD. Maybe not quite as technical or as inspiring but it has been incredibly respectful. I have been quite surprised at the politeness and professionalism that has seemed to be the norm. The conversations, while fragmented and chaotic, have not devolved into name calling or insults.

I have also been very interested in the social behavior of the participants. Because of the way that Waves are set up every single user is a moderator. You can go in and edit anyone else's post or delete it. I think part of the reason people are acting much better is that if you post "hey guyz i thin such and such is stoopeed" and then go back and edit it people can still see what you originally posted.

However, I don't see Wave as ever replacing Email or Forums. It may replace IM (it is built off the XMPP protocol which is the same system Google Talk works on) and may be wonderful as a collaboration tool but becomes chaotic as soon as more than a dozen people are involved.

I can foresee Wave become a useful tool for collaboration, 397 will be making an attempt at using it to help keep the electronics/programming mentors in sync because of scheduling conflicts breaking them up. Wave is currently a solution in search of a problem in my opinion.

EDIT: I misread the intent of Jane's post, I do have to agree that communication is a wonderful tool if used properly and that we all need to exert great effort into communicating in an efficient, accurate, and respectful manner.