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• Robbie McClintock, Instructor
  • Office hours @ 2nd floor, Gottesman Library
    Thursdays 4:00 to 6:00 pm and by appointment
    
• Frank Moretti, Instructor
  • Office hours @ 603 Lewisohn Hall, by appointment
    (Call Teresa Gonzales, 212 854 1962, or email her teresa@columbia.edu)

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Getting started with Google Wave

     Google Wave is a communication protocol/program, the prototype of which is currently in an extensive, yet limited preview. It combines a variety of common, but separate tools -- email, threaded discussions, instant messaging, and shared text editing -- in one, fairly easy-to-use program, and it further supports posting images, audio, and video, and frameworks for Internet phone and video conferencing. This semester we will test its potential as support for online discussion in A&HH4078 and MSTU5606.

     To start using Wave, we need to invest a little effort in dealing with initial logistics. Wave accounts are free, but Google is issuing them only through invitations, which it makes on recommendations by existing account holders (a neatly recursive process). I can issue sufficient invitations for everyone associated with my courses this Spring to start Wave accounts. The main problem some will have arises because Google Wave uses HTML5, which older browsers do not recognize, including the latest version of Internet Explorer. Wave works with Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox 3.5, and extensions to make it work with the current version of Internet Explorer are available.

     To get things going, please do the following. If you already have a Wave ID, please email it to me. If you do not have one, send me email indicating that you want an invitation to get a Wave ID (you do not have to use Wave for the course, but the account is free and whatever discussion that takes place through it will be accessible only by those with accounts). I will ask Google to invite you to start a Wave account and they will email you an invitation, which will have a link to an account setup page. Click on the link and follow the account setup process there, which should result in your being issued a user ID for Wave. The ID looks much like an email address (mine is rom2cu@googlewave.com), although it is not an email address (googlewave.com is a wave server, not an email server, and email sent to a googlewave address will go nowhere). Once you have a Wave ID you use it and your password to sign into the Wave program through which you can initiate and participate in waves. Once you know your Wave ID, please email it to me so that I can include you as a participant in Waves connected with MSTU5607.

     Wave has useful Help pages and as soon as you open your account, you will be included in a Wave welcoming you to Google Wave, which is helpful for getting started. You will find a Wave for each week of the course embedded in the "Study" page for the week and you can participate in the Wave from there or from your account at wave.google.com. There will also be a wave for Course Announcements, Queries, and Suggestions, and possibly other course Waves as the idea for them occurs to one or another of us. Once things get started, we will probably have a couple workshops for those who want them to share know-how. Basic use of Wave is not much different from using an email program; some of the cooler things are a bit more complicated.

     So to get started, let me know (rom2@columbia.edu) that you want a Wave account. The rest will follow (I say with a prayer).