Learning possibility with Google Wave in a mixed cultural landscape

Abstract

Google Wave, launched in 2009, can generate a wave, which is a kind of conversation between users and at the same time a document. The conversation can be made of text, pictures, videos, maps, and more.

This poster will show some possibility Google Wave give academic libraries to support research, and to help and engage cooperation between teacher and student. Google Wave have the possibility to enable co-writing in different language, and maybe across cultural boundaries, since the system translate seamless between languages while the user is writing.

Possible scenarios will be presented. The first one is based on the property Google wave have to rewind and play again the discourse of the participants. With this context we will explore the possibility academic libraries have to develop wave modules for courses.

Another scenario will try to introduce the “Wave librarian”, who is a new role academic libraries can fill with help from this new shared service.

The University of Oslo is cooperating with other Universities in developing countries, especially in Tanzania. An interesting scenario for the University Library could be if this new tool can help to overcome problems in the communicative landscape of culture and language and give new learning possibility. Using well known didactical framework (Bjørndal, Lieberg 1978) and discussions of learning in library (Sundin 2005), we will stress the Google Wave services to find out if it can really facilitate learning in a new way.