Suggestion to Stephen Snow: If one wants to think about improving "email," one would get little help by thinking about how it resembles and is different from "snail mail." Despite the "mail" designation, and the fact that both genres involve messages , at this point in time there is little that one form can learn from the other.
And the desire to create a "hybrid" form--call it "blended mail," combining the strengths email and post office mail--is that really worth trying to accomplish ?. Unless the analogy I am suggesting is misleading--and you may decide that is so--I'm suggesting that one can't improve face-to-face conferences by studying virtual conferences, and vice-versa. And like "blended learning," which purports to combine the benefits of classroom learning with those of online learning, the hybrid may end up canceling the virtues of the two disparate and irreconcilable media. (The classroom component cancels the ability of distance learning to serve students unable to get to the classroomn; and the distance learning component negates the impact of face-to-face communication.) This is NOT to say that one can't print out an email and snail mail it to a relative without a computer. Or that one can't put a camera on face-to-face presentations and make those presentations available online. Hybridizing, however--trying to combine the virtues of two locales, two setting, two environments, two media--may not be the best way to improve each. We may end up combining the weaknesses of two powerful but distinct forms. Steve Eskow [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 10:34 AM Subject: Re: [DDN] Conferencing Discussion > > In a message dated 2/4/05 12:53:49 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > > > I am wondering perhaps if there are better ways to begin thinking about > > designing F2F conferences so they capitalize more on their greater strengths and > > the ways they are differentiated from the virtual ones. Both appeoaches have > > their place, even for the same information!, so I am wondering what people > > think about that, how F2F might be designed differently and how virtual might > > be designed differently, also. > > > > I spend a lot of time in both sets of conferences. There are ways to make FTF > better, there are many constructs for those. I spend lately, time trying to > access online conferences. I do like not having to wrap myself in a silver > plane and spend all kinds of money for hotels, the conference fee, and other > expenses... But people forget that the spontaneity, the interaction in a real > conference do have some value. I have been trying to access the conference in > Baltimore, but sometimes depending on how the on line is constructed it can be > deadly boring , the level of interactivity is bad, and the project is more > designed for the people at the real conference. There are ways of involving outside > audience. > PopTech and other conferences do this.. and one more thing. If you are at a > real ftf people can't invade your space as they can when you are at home. > > The advantage to the online is the lack of expense and, the ease of being > connected . Its just that it is an evolving art and lots of people have not spent > many hours looking at a tiny window and understanding the possibilities that > would make it more interesting and interactive. John Hibbs has some ways of > combining both. > > The disadvantage of ftf is the integrity, and the reality of the conference.. > that is hard to judge sometimes and when you get there, well, you are stuck. > but the networking might still work well... usually. > > Just some thoughts.. my ideas.. > > Bonnie Bracey > bbracey at aol com > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
