Whats next……
A collegue asked me the other day “what is next?” We were discussing email and how this very simple and now relatively old system has changed the face of communications.
The first APRANET email was sent in 1971, and use of email has grown exponentially. In many instances, email has replaced the letter as our means of communication. It isn’t to far from the truth to suggest that infact email is just a letter in digital form. The speed, ease, simplicity and flexibility of emails has led to the current situation. Consider this:
“294 billion messages per day means more than 2.8 million emails are sent every second and some 90 trillion emails are sent per year. Around 90% of these millions and trillions of message are but spam and viruses. ”
Source: http://email.about.com/od/emailtrivia/f/emails_per_day.htm
So what is next? or are emails here to stay? Is the co-operative document/wiki/post going to be the next “letter” and the comment button the reply tool?
Is instant messaging going to develop beyond the current word/charactor limits into a suitable communication tool? We are already seeing the merging of text and IM in apples iOS 5 – imessage system.
Will video become accepted as a form of legal medium, can we sign agreements via VC as we do with letters and email?
With any change like this we will also have to consider the etiquette that accompany these changes. What of txt-speak? will this be acceptable or does it leave too much for room for interpretation. Or in video communications, the subtle application of irony or sarcasm, of humour, anger or aggression, the nuyances of body language can and will completely change the meaning of a message.
So “what is next?“
