Posted by samuel lampa on June 9, 2009 at 11:54pm
I suppose it is quite clear, after watching the developer preview that, as far as one can imagine, Google wave (or better: the algorithms, architecture and formats behind it) will be of huge importance for the future of Internet. Google wave itself will of course be discussed a lot elsewhere (Maybe someone can start another thread for that if needed), but turning to the implications for Drupal:
To start off, what are your initial thoughts and ideas on how GW might influence Drupal, and how Drupal and GW might work together? (was a little suprise I didn't find more here already ;) )
Comments
Ah OK, I found the first
Ah OK, I found the first comment now: http://buytaert.net/google-wave-is-wow
Samuel Lampa
RIL Partner AB
embed/api
Well the embed is dead giveaway and super simple. I'm actually more interested in how to use the API/protocol from a raw standpoint and all that it entails. Upon watching the developer preview I envisioned being able to register Drupal data (users/nodes/comments) to gWave so that (for instance) existing Drupal sites can simply install a gWave module and be able to communicate with other gWave servers out there. Would love to hear other ideas on how people think it could be used.
Roadmap? btw. is there a maintained chat module?
Google wave has a client and a server, so this a first design decision:
There is a server module and a client module.
Drupal could incarnate both, since the api for the client is released the (natural) first step is to implement the client.
With the knowledge of the the behavior of Google wave server a server module can be programmed - if google won't release the server code.
includes these features
To check the different existing modules see
http://groups.drupal.org/similar-module-review
and http://drupal.org/node/266179
Tasks:
Checking the API-doc and extracting a summary of features to identify categories and existing modules.
Listing existing modules
-> check also http://drupal.org/node/266179 and http://groups.drupal.org/similar-module-review
and checking the available chat modules i did not find one, that is activly maintained (please correct me, if i'm wrong) - so the Google wave is a new approach to chatting in the browser.
I agree with a lot of people that Google wave has a huge potential - but on the other hand it is just a mashup ;-)
wave content type
I would like to see the ability to create a wave content type, similar to blog or story, but hosting an embedded wave conversation. The basic embed code:
<div id="waveframe" style="height:500px,width:100%"/><script type="text/javascript"
src="http://wave-api.appspot.com/public/embed.js"></script>
<script>
var wavePanel = new WavePanel(
"http://wave.google.com/a/wavesadbox.com/");
wavePanel.loadWave('wavesandbox.com!w+PfYnNrZk%1");
wavePanel.init(document.getElementByld('waveframe'));
</script>
Waveframe should be able to be styled in style.css. There may be some need to insert the script into the head of page.tpl.php and then the big issue is assigning the Wave ID. Since there are going to be different servers hosting waves, either admin must configure which server will assign the Wave IDs or possibly give the user the option to select Wave server from a drop-down in the Wave node create form.
That would be enough to wrap a Wave conversation with all the other modules & aspects of a Drupal site. Then there is embedding Drupal functionality within a Wave, like "Facebook for Drupal" module. Widgetizing Drupal functionality to work within a wave and link back to the Drupal site & database from Waves across the web. Another real challenge is doing the Semantic mashup that integrates Wave data with Web 3.0 microformats.
Wave robots should be a good place to work with RDF data. The fact that the "chat bots" of Web 1.0 are going to evolve into Web 3.0 is interesting. They should be able to process XML data on Python code base to become functional as personal assistants, filtered search interfaces, data miners, etc. for a Wave. AIML patterns + XML/RDF data served into the Wave through the robot.
We are using "Disqus" now on our website, and I am wondering if there would be any way the Wavelettes, or blips would be converted to nodes or just "appear" as a JavaScript overlay on the Drupal page like the Disqus comments do? As Wave conversations grow and scroll, there may be problems communicating page height at the theme layer.
Still waiting for Sandbox access, so a lot should be clearer when everything is publicly released.
So I embedded a public wave on my site...
See: http://www.smagula.net/test/google_wave.html
It's a public wave, so anyone who is logged into wave.google.com should be able to access, edit, comment, etc. I can't really test this, so I'm not sure. If you can edit it, please leave a note.
I'm kind of wowed by the potential to embed these tools into sites, including Drupal sites--but need time to let it soak in. I think my moment of epiphany came when I was editing the wave in Google Wave, and happened to see the other window updating as I was typing, with a little marker that said "ME" moving as I typed. OK, that's wild. Imagine if there were dozens or hundreds of people, voting, commenting, debating a topic--as an event took place. That might work.
Comments module suddenly seems so 2009!
Stefan
--Stefan
www.smagula.org
Not working for me
I was logged into my preview account, but couldn't see your wave.
Not working for me too
logged in in my preview account - but nothing happens
You're right--I must have broken something last night
I'll take a look at it after work tonight. It was working yesterday.
Stefan
--Stefan
www.smagula.org
What happens for me ...
On your site I see (saw) a wave login iframe (I assume).
I logged in and it disappeared :-(
May be it has something to do with my wave account ...
What about non-public waves?
How tricky will it be to tie Google accounts to Drupal users so that we can limit participation in a wave by user type via permissions? Will it be possible to give separate permissions to users allowing them to, for instance, comment on a Wave but not edit the comments of others?
If you wanted to limit access...
To just the people who are logged into your Drupal site, I think you'd need to have a Wave server running on your server. At least that's what I've read in some other comments here on Drupal.org. But there must be a better way.
--Stefan
www.smagula.org
Urk?
I'd hope so. That will seriously limit the usefulness. Embedded public waves are OK for many purposes, but I could easily see them being abused and rendered useless/unreadable...
but conversely, abused,
but conversely, abused, useless, and unreadable web sites are some of the most popular plates on the Internet. See craigslist, 4chan.
The embedded wave is working again
Google Wave itself must be a bit flaky. I had the same problem Hagen and AdaptiveCampus had yesterday, but this morning it was working, no problems. Someone voted in the Poll ("Will Waves replace email?") and commented, so I know it's working at least some of the time.
http://www.smagula.net/test/google_wave.html
--Stefan
www.smagula.org
Safari says "too many redirects" on embedded waves...
Safari is giving me a "Too many redirects" error when I load embedded waves, but all other browsers I've tested seem to work.
RE the potential for abuse on public waves: this is true of the Web, itself. Maybe community-flagging, and user reputations are in Wave's future?
--Stefan
www.smagula.org