| Email, Instant Messaging, Blogs, RSS, Forums and | | | | they require constant updating. |
| Listservs: What's Next? | | | | Blog Connections - |
| | | | RSS |
| How do we keep Internet communication simple? | | | | RSS is the latest messaging medium and shows |
| Let's start by taking a look at the different methods | | | | genuine promise as a means to communicate. RSS |
| used to communicate on the web. It is important to | | | | files are produced as XML files and are designed to |
| understand the nuances and benefits of the different | | | | provide content summaries of news or information. |
| forms. | | | | The biggest benefit to RSS is that it does not have |
| Email | | | | the spam issues inherent to email; users opt-in to the |
| This is the most popular communication method. | | | | RSS feeds that interest them. |
| Users typically use desktop software to receive, | | | | RSS Specifications - |
| read and respond to messages. Some users use | | | | Forums / Newsgroups |
| web-based mail and manage messages in a web | | | | A forum is an online discussion group. Forums can be |
| browser like Internet Explorer. The downfall to email | | | | newsgroups, or they can be web-based discussion |
| communication is that anyone can send email | | | | groups. Forums have proven themselves as valuable |
| messages to anyone else if they have (or guess) the | | | | business resources - often creating communities of |
| correct email address. This system's Achilles heel is its | | | | customers helping customers. Without moderation |
| simplicity and universal popularity. | | | | and oversight they can potentially create an |
| Email accounts are often burdened by spam or | | | | unfriendly environment. |
| unsolicited email. Despite software developers having | | | | Message Board Software - |
| created complex spam filters and legislators having | | | | Listservs |
| introduced new anti-spam legislation, the problem | | | | Liststervs are mailing list programs for communicating |
| persists and spam continues to burden email as a | | | | with other people who have subscribed to the same |
| messaging medium. | | | | list. Using e-mail, you can participate in listservs |
| Email Clients - | | | | pertaining to your topics of interest. When you |
| Spam Software - | | | | submit a message to the server, your message is |
| Instant Messaging | | | | relayed to all on the listserv. You receive messages |
| Instant messaging allows users to "chat" in real time. | | | | from other participants via e-mail. |
| Users can send text messages to anyone online and | | | | Yahoo Groups - |
| receive instant replies if the user is also online. The | | | | What's Next? |
| "instant" fad gave way to parental fears as children | | | | Internet communication is intrinsically tied to the |
| made "friends" online. With no way to confirm if | | | | hardware options available. Wireless technology has |
| "friends" are who they represent themselves to be, | | | | accelerated the development of messaging software, |
| and multiple security holes, instant messaging has | | | | opening the market to a dizzying array of devices |
| taken a back seat in internet communication. | | | | for web access. Where we were once tied to a |
| Instant Messaging - | | | | keyboard and mouse, we will soon be navigating the |
| Blogs | | | | web with our voices from a moving automobile, or |
| Online journals and daily diaries have taken hold. Some | | | | browsing via screens in our eyewear, with tiny |
| blogs are interactive, allowing users to respond and | | | | cameras reading our eye movements to move the |
| comment on posts. Locating topic-specific blogs that | | | | cursor and make selections. Our interactive |
| provide relevant and interesting content on a daily | | | | conversations will include more and more participants |
| basis can be a challenge. The nature of a blog is to | | | | at once. Evaluating the many options and choosing |
| contain fresh public content. As our lives become | | | | what works best for you is the first step to |
| more complicated blogs are often abandoned, as | | | | effectively communicating on the web. |