Innovation in Assembly is a design pattern positioned within Tim O’Reilly’s vision of Web 2.0. The pattern deals with the explosion of data available online due to shifts in technology and related use cases. The ability to leverage this data has become a key strategic advantage. There are a lot of companies leveraging their systems and data to deliver more customer value, including Flickr’s App Garden.
Google is well known as an innovative company which continuously strives to make use of new data sources and the information it makes available through it’s own knowledge of the Internet (i.e. through it’s massive search index and property portfolio). There were a lot of Innovation in Assembly examples that could be covered here: Google Public Data Explorer (a great way to view worldwide statistical data; I was tempted to blog about it) is just one example. Regardless, I found a much more useful tool (on a personal level) from Google: Google Wave.
Google Wave is a tool that facilitates communication, data aggregation and content creation in one central location. The tool provides a collaborative environment where users work together in real time on a “document”. A document can be anything, and Google allows users to add Maps, video, images and so much more data from Google’s own sources, plus from search results. Developers and organisations can build their own gadgets to provide user’s access to their data using Google’s open APIs for Wave extensions (called Gadgets and Bots).
The Wave tool is currently not under active Google development, but there is an active community of people using the tool and developing Wave gadgets and bots. Because Google makes the product open source, provides API options (for bots and extensions) and provides clear community guidelines means people are willing to contribute to the product. So much data becomes accessible in a flexible, collaborative environment. The openness of the platform and the flexibility provided enables collation and connection of data from any web-connected resource (As per O’Reilly’s statements in his famed 2005 article on Web 2.0. Google emphasises community and platform involvement, making functionality highly available and involving people in the process (see the Community Principles) of development. This entire integration of data, sources, users and Google means the Google, although not building the product, has created a product which is the epitome of Innovation in Assembly.
The power of Google Wave lies in the power of Google’s Search capabilities, the ability to link to a Wave (making data available – part of the “Data is the Next Intel Inside” design pattern) and the ingenuity and contribution of community developers. The openness of Google Wave means it can be reused and modified under Open Sources licenses, enabling remixing (another part of the Innovation in Assembly design pattern). Core Wave functionality is empowered by Google using it’s own API hooks to their services (such as search and Maps) and allowing users to create Gadgets and Bots which introduce new data and functionality.
Google Wave changes the way I collected and recorded blog content. What will it do for you?