Google Wave
Sunday, October 4, 2009 by Aalia
Google has launched its new real-time publishing and collaborative tool - Google Wave that actively engages with the phenomenon of "real-time web". Wave takes it to a literal new level - you can even see a comment as the sender types it. And I think this raises some questions about "privacy", already a highly contested and probably soon to become an extinct notion in the online sphere.
Wave is touted as the rival to twitter but I think it goes a step further as not even twitter so blatantly compromises an individual's privacy and in the same 'wave' celebrates the invasion of privacy. Personally I would not want people to see what I'm typing - I edit, I fumble, I think when I type depending on the context. Just think the pressure and expectation each letter that one types will have, knowing that there is someone watching your each alphabet, even if you know that person. The defense here is that it enhances productivity, I would like to argue that it places too much pressure on the part of the individual to participate adequately, so much so because it is in real-time. Much like News Feeds, which brings out-of-context data to the forefront, Wave promises to bring every character into the spotlight. I see this as an attempt to bridge the ever-shortening gap between the online and off-line lives of people. Which is to an extent frightening because once that gap is closed, the two selves will battle it out for dominance and there is no telling who will win. And so resumes that age-old conundrum - master of technology or its slave? And in this case, a technology that imprisons you in an ever-burgeoning virtual bubble.
Wave is touted as the rival to twitter but I think it goes a step further as not even twitter so blatantly compromises an individual's privacy and in the same 'wave' celebrates the invasion of privacy. Personally I would not want people to see what I'm typing - I edit, I fumble, I think when I type depending on the context. Just think the pressure and expectation each letter that one types will have, knowing that there is someone watching your each alphabet, even if you know that person. The defense here is that it enhances productivity, I would like to argue that it places too much pressure on the part of the individual to participate adequately, so much so because it is in real-time. Much like News Feeds, which brings out-of-context data to the forefront, Wave promises to bring every character into the spotlight. I see this as an attempt to bridge the ever-shortening gap between the online and off-line lives of people. Which is to an extent frightening because once that gap is closed, the two selves will battle it out for dominance and there is no telling who will win. And so resumes that age-old conundrum - master of technology or its slave? And in this case, a technology that imprisons you in an ever-burgeoning virtual bubble.