19 October 2009 | Author: James Zigrino Head of R&D

A new Wave of flame wars?

Much of the conversation around Google's new collaboration platform, Wave, focuses on the technology, application and connectivity.

However, so far very little has been said about the psychology of its user, how the technology will imprint on them and - more importantly - how the existing mores and conventions of online conversations will shape, and possibly stifle, the new platform.

A good example of the latter is Twitter. Most users still don't "get it" as their mental model of online communication is based around email in a work environment which in turn is based, more fundamentally, on formal letters. This constraint stops them making the mental leap required to embrace the technology.

And as the technology moves further and further away from that simple model of communication, the harder and harder that leap becomes.

Wave seems to encourage a very informal conversational style, which often better addresses our human "theory of mind" according to Leon Watts of the University of Bath. In a nutshell, we can better tell peoples underlying intent - such as that they are joking, or are being sympathetic. Online communications are traditionally very poor at this because they mask all of the subtle non verbal cues that communicate intent for us. The problem is exacerbated because sometimes people hide behind that mask to communicate is ways that the social norms of face to face communication usually prevent.

The Achilles heel of Wave though is that it is - like a real conversation - 100% live, with no time to review or consider what you are saying and how it might be interpreted. If it doesn't allow intent to be sufficiently communicated , but really ups the ante on the real-time element, there is a good chance that wave open up a whole new world of faux pas.

What this may mean is that ironically for a collaboration tool, Wave actually makes collaboration harder because it increases the risk of flaming, often unintentional, or deliberately invoked by those of an iconoclastic nature. In its worst case scenario, users are actually discouraged to participate because the risk of flaming is so high. Anyone who has tried to have constructive conversations in online forums will know exactly what this is like!

Although the argument from the designers is that controls are in place to reduce this, in the end existing conventions will override the technology. As Watts says, "It's people and organisations that will ultimately determine how Wave is used."

However, Google and Yahoo! have shown how to channel the sometimes negative, competitive elements of our human nature to good use with their Image Labeller and Thumbs Up! projects respectively (and to a lesser extent, the Yahoo! Answers project). If Google can find a way to combine this kind of thinking into Wave, they might truly be on to a winner...

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