Thing 7 - Let's Communicate!

Email :

I remember first hearing about email when I was working as a library assistant in Boston circa 1993. My boss was recovering some reference information from a colleague in London and I thought, "whoa! that is cool!" Well, we've come a long way, baby. I don't know anyone (and I mean that in the most literal sense) that doesn't have an email account. [tangential aside here : just switched from dial-up to DSL at home, yes you can laugh, which means ... had to give up my lovely, lovely visi.com account! sniff... r.i.p. My email will now have an "msn" tag like half the country ... ] In any case, email seems to be as standard as the U.S. Postal Service these days. And, if you can handle the junk mail and spam, free email is easy to find. In a nutshell, I can't imagine communicating without email (both personal and professional), but I'm sure that will change within my lifetime.

I.M. :

Until lately, I was not familiar with the ins and outs of IM. However, it was recently introduced to me at work (for work purposes only, shucky-dern) and OMG, soooo addictive, what a great tool! Use it all the time, love it, wish more people had it, I can see this is even more effective use of electronic communication than email. But it's a dangerous tool in that conversations can run much longer than necessary, should one choose to go that route ... In terms of library use, this is a brilliant tool, and for those of us that would die and fail on the job without multi-tasking, it is a godsend. All hail I.M.!

Text Messaging (...on the other hand) :

Don't get it. Don't use it, although I have tried it. I'm not a "small screen" person, so using my cell phone for anything other than talking is extremely taxing on the eyes (however, one might add, I don't have an I-Phone ... hmmm ... maybe that's the issue. Anyone got a few extra grand lying around that I can have? :-) Nonetheless, the video clip from U of Buffalo was intriguing, even if it was a bit cheesy and pat (I had to say that). Still, I prefer I.M. for "instant" communication. Too bad you need a computer for that!

Web Conferencing, Podcasts &etc. :

After attending PLA this past weekend, I thought : "next time there's a major conference, why don't I just try a "virtual" attendance?" All joking aside, I can see that web conferencing would be an effective way to stay on top of issues in the professional field, should travel not permit a physical presence (just look at the cost of airline tickets these days ... sheesh). Podcasts are wonderful as well, although not completely accessible by the public at large ... yet.