XplanaZine

The reality of synchronous communication

OK… here’s why all your synchronous communication facilities, chat rooms, shared whiteboards, MOOs etc. have never really taken off. They just don’t push it.

Eh? Well, think about it:

Why do I use email rather than visit discussion boards daily? Because with email I can push my message where I want to push it (I don’t have to rely on other people ‘visiting’ to collect) and other people can do the same to me… all it takes is one app sitting on my desktop.

Why am I soooo well informed since I discovered rss aggregation? Because before I would’ve had to visit all these sites, checking if they’d been updated… nevergonnahappen! But with my aggregator they can push out to me, to me, all that content into one app sitting on my desktop. And hey, when I publish I know I’m pushing away to all those people who subscribe to my site (not just hoping they check up on me)

So, why do I have msn messenger running on my desktop and not hook up synchronously in live chat rooms? Well, why do you think!

We’re asking learners and teachers to hop into [often] authenticated spaces, devoid of themselves, stay there and, well, like it.

It’s the same as when we try to form communities using discussion boards… you have no profile, no personality, no personal space and you can’t push (well, you can in terms of *whispering* or wotnot but you’re still in a space that has ‘pulled’ you in). That’s why discussion boards and listservs haven’t cut it with online communities… and why personal publishing absolutely has and does.

For some reason though, learning management systems and the like just don’t seem to get it… app after expensive app of synchronous ‘virtual classes’ with whiteboards, quiz tools, grouping facilities, streaming and all of that just come fearlessly to the front. Naturally people get excited too, I mean, who wouldn’t at all the above… but the problem is that a. people won’t use it and b. they WONT use it.

Messenger, ICQ and the like are so wildly popular because they push, they push out and they push in. It’s your tool on your desktop in your place and, pretty much, conveying who you are. Now, combine IM with personal publishing and then you’re away… and you’ll never have to sit there typing ‘Hello, anyone there???’ ever ever ever again :o)