Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!pyramid!hplabs!hplabsc!taylor
From: taylor@hplabsc.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.comp-soc
Subject: Email mediums
Message-ID: <1375@hplabsc.HP.COM>
Date: Tue, 3-Mar-87 14:28:02 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.1375
Posted: Tue Mar  3 14:28:02 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Mar-87 00:44:54 EST
References: <1364@hplabsc.HP.COM>
Sender: taylor@hplabsc.HP.COM
Distribution: world
Organization: University of California, San Diego
Lines: 26
Approved: taylor@hplabs

Tony Voss writes:

>Suppose USENET could  actually mail voice  or text with  diagrams, and
>that all could choose which medium to use.  Leaving aside transmission
>of  scripts, code etc,  which would you choose?   

I prefer the written medium.  It allows me to stop and think about what I'm
saying without going "ummmmmmm" and I can edit what I want to say in ways
that I could never do with a tape recorder. If someone want to talk to me 
while I'm reading or writing a letter, there's no problem.  I can play the 
stereo really loud while reading or writing.  Also I can absorb a lot more 
information reading than I can listening.  I can print it out for further
reference, skim through it, or skip to a particular section.

The written word has been supplanted by the telephone for person-to-person
communication, and I think that has been a real loss.  Electonic mail makes
it as trouble free to write a letter as it is to pick up the phone and call.
The phone is great for spontaneous chatter, or where it's necessary to have
immediate feedback, but it is inadequate for complex, polished ideas which
need the editing which is only possible with the written word.  

Email also gives you the ability to, in effect, scribble a note and tack it
on somebody's door.  Answering machines aren't the same, and I'm forced to
listen to those boring messages most people have them answer with.

		David L. Smith