Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The eternal conference call

An interesting perspective on e-mail and real-time communication channels (also see the recent WSJ article “Why Email No Longer Rules…”).  imho asynchronous communication channels such as email will remain valuable, at least for people who seek to optimize their time and attention.

The flaw of synchronous communication has been repackaged as the boon of realtime communication. Asynchrony, once our friend, is now our enemy. The transaction costs of interpersonal communication have fallen below zero: It costs more to leave the stream than to stay in it. The approaching Wave promises us the best of both worlds: the realtime immediacy of the phone call with the easy broadcasting capacity of email. Which is also, as we'll no doubt come to discover, the worst of both worlds. Welcome to the conference call that never ends. Welcome to Wave hell.

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The eternal conference call

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