Google decided to shake up the web with Google Wave. I’m still not exactly sure how to define this tool, so I’m borrowing Fred Cavazza’s description:

Google Wave is a collaboration tool that sits somewhere between email, instant messaging, and a wiki.
A wave is both a conversation and a document—you can export it and it can include social widgets (Open Social format).
It’s an online app, an open and extensible platform (anyone can build extensions), and even a protocol (you can use it in your own services/apps), with the source code published to leverage community contributions.

What interests me here isn’t a full breakdown of what you can do with Wave, but a few thoughts from a student’s point of view.

At university, we often have to work on group projects. And group work means collaborative writing, with all the mess that comes with it: trouble organizing who writes what, lost files, 15 different versions floating around, software compatibility issues, and so on. Sure, tools like Google Docs or wikis help, but they’re not perfect. Here’s what I think could really change with Google Wave:

  • While Docs already lets you co-edit text, Wave takes it to the next level with live editing. You see changes in real time, and you can interact directly within the document—no more switching between email, chat, and wiki. It’s all in one place: writing, discussing, annotating.
  • You can nest waves inside other waves. Basically, you could break a big project into chapters or sections, each as its own wave that different students work on separately.
  • You can limit access to specific waves. So if you need to keep certain discussions, sections, or docs private—no problem.
  • Adding images, videos, or links is super simple. Forget the clunky uploaders and copy-pasting—just drag and drop directly into your wave.
  • There are already handy built-in apps, like spell checkers and translation tools, and they seem more powerful than the usual ones floating around online.

Bottom line: I think Wave will bring a double benefit—huge time savings and better efficiency. No more messing around with tools that don’t really fit the job. You can actually focus on the work itself.

Of course, we’ll have to see how Wave evolves by the time it’s open to everyone. I’m especially curious how it’ll handle more complex document formatting (like chapters, TOCs, footnotes, etc.), because that’s always been a weak spot in Google Docs. And will it support Word, Excel, or PDF import/export? I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it and really putting it through its paces.

What about you? How do you think Google Wave could change how you work or even your day-to-day life?