Riding the wave

This week Google announced its new communication tool, Wave.

Due out sometime this year, the application imcorporates the elements of conversation and an electronic documents.

With Wave, people can communicate and collaborate with text, photos, videos, and maps in real-time.
Participants can also reply anywhere in a message feed, edit content and add participants to the process. 

The product idea, which originated from the success of email and instant messaging, has been in the works for more than two years.

From the post:

"It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave and see how it evolved," said Lars Rasmussen, Google's software engineering manager.

Still hope for newspapers

In a recent Forbes.com article, Lauren Rich Fine, director of research at ContentNext Media, urges newspapers employees to expand their boundaries and challenge current media norms with creative alternatives in order to prolong their longevity.
"The world is changing. Newspapers need to change with it," said Fine who also is a practitioner in residence at Ohio’s Kent State University College of Communication & Information.
Fine suggests media companies re-vamp their community relationships by having reporters interact more with residents. Also, newspapers can add value to their content for the communities they serve by embracing new media options for better engagement.