Other Forms of Communication

COMP1260 > Other Forms of Communication

Introduction There are multiple ways of communicating over the internet. Email has been around since the introduction of the internet and has provided a way for communicating quickly over large distances. Today there are many more ways to connect with people around the world. As technology advances, the way we communicate continues to evolve, becoming increasingly convenient and varied.

...by students These days people are constantly in touch with their friends, relatives and coworkers thanks to new forms of communications. Each of these new communication technologies have their own particular place and are most effective when used together. Personally, I use email to communicate with coworkers, IM clients to chat with friends and share files, and VOIP for having group conversations.

Types of Communication

A computer user communicating with internet technologies.

There are numerous mean of communication that are available to internet users. The most common and well known form of internet communication is e-mail but recently there has been countless new technologies emerging. These new technologies include Blogs, Instant Messaging, Voice over IP, Podcasts, and Wiki pages such as this one.

Blogs

Blogs are a form of communication that started to become increasingly popular in the late 1990's. The word 'blog' is derived from the more meaningful term 'web log'. There are several types of blogs which can be categorized by purpose and media type.

Personal Blog

The personal blog is best described as an individual's public journal where they are able to share personal experiences and express opinions about current events. Personal blogs were the first use of this type of communication and are still the most common. "Microblogging" is a sub type of the personal blog which is characterized by shorter more concise posts. Twitter is a direct implementation which provides a convenient facility for people to share their thoughts without needing to develop them into a complete post.

Organizational

Blogs can be made private so that only specific individuals are able to view the content. This is useful for organizations that want to keep their members up to date with the organization's activities.

Topic Specific

Some blogs are dedicated entirely to the discussion of a specific topic. These blogs are usually a mix of external links, news updates, and the authors own opinions.

IM

Instant messaging or IM is a form of text based communication that allows individuals to send text messages back and forth in real time. Modern IM clients have support for many additional features such as sending messages between multiple parties. Other features that have found their way into IM clients are VOIP, video chat, and file transfer. The term IM usually refers to messages sent across the internet but can also include text messages sent across telephone networks from mobile devices. IM clients can be installed on wide range of platforms with internet access. The computer is the most common platform for instant messaging. Since mobile phones such as smartphones provide the option to install IM clients they too are becoming a very common platform for instant messaging.

Podcasts

Podcasts are prerecorded radio shows that can be downloaded by programs referred to as Podcatchers. The term podcast is a combination of ipod (the popular poratble media player from Apple) and broadcast. In many ways podcasts are a natural extension of blogs. They allow individuals or organizations to share thoughts and news with anyone who cares to listen. The distinction between audio blogs and podcasts is that new podcasts are automatically downloaded without the need for the listener to check for updates on a blog.

Twitter

Twitter is a form of micro-blogging that allows users to make posts of up to 140 characters. The intended purpose of Twitter is to quickly share information with a large group of people. To facilitate this, posts are easily created and viewed from mobile devices.

VOIP

Voice over IP is a protocol that allows users to make voice calls over the internet to other VOIP users or even to regular phone numbers. Skype is a popular IM application with robust VOIP functionality that allows users to make 'calls' to eachother for free.

VOIP as a replacement for your phone

VOIP providers that allow you to connect to regular telephone networks will have some kind of fee associated with them but are cheaper than traditional telephone service. Another advantage of this technology is that you are able to use your 'phone' from any internet connection.There are however some disadvantages with using VOIP. When using VOIP you will likely not have access to services such as 911 emergency or local listings. You will also be unable to make calls during a power outage.

Other forms of VOIP

There are other forms of VOIP communication that do not focus on trying to emulate the functionality of a telephone. Ventrilo and TeamSpeak are VOIP applications that allows users to connect to different privately operated servers and chat with a large number of individuals at once. This technology is useful for organizing and coordinating teams.

Wikis

Wikis are user editable web pages such as this one. Rather than having a web site managed and updated by a few individuals, pages are created and edited by the community. This allows wikis to grow rapidly as members of the community make contributions on topics which they are knowledgeable. There are however problems with this method of sharing information. The information posted is not always cited properly and as a result it is often unreliable. When researching a particular topic wikis are often a good place to start but the details should not be taken as fact unless you can find a more reliable source to back them up.

Further Readings

• Start a Blog Learn how to start your own blog.
• "How IP-Telephony works" Learn how VOIP works.

References

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