Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!bellcore!geppetto!duncan
From: duncan@geppetto.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Walkman computers
Message-ID: <13612@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 23 Jan 89 16:05:58 GMT
References: <1283.23DA039E@isishq.FIDONET.ORG>
Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com
Reply-To: duncan@ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan)
Organization: Computer Technology Transfer, Bellcore
Lines: 35

In article <1283.23DA039E@isishq.FIDONET.ORG> doug@isishq.FIDONET.ORG (Doug Thompson) writes:
>
>Point is, that full concentration is required for a communication, 
>even if it is a *spoken* communication. When you are having a serious 
>conversation with someone, you aren't doing much of anything else. 
>Either your mind is on the conversation, and you are paying a lot of 
>attention to what you're saying and what you're hearing or you aren't 
>having a serious conversation. 
	[...]
>And I won't be reading e-mail while walking down the street no matter 
>what technology is made available. I won't do it at the dinner table, 
>and I wouldn't do it driving in city traffic. 

I think this is an important point.  One of the issues with person-to-person
communication is that the words are only part of the message AND the informa-
tion they convey may only be part of the information with which we are con-
cerned.  An interesting sociological phenomenon of electronic mail is that
it seems immediate and 'personal,' but it can be quite impersonal with the
focus always on the words and ideas and not often on the person -- ad hominem
attacks are, in my view, attacks at anonymous people in one sense which is why
I believe flaming is so acceptable:  there's a sense of gamesmanship to it!

>Generally I can type just about as fast as I can think or speak.  

Yes, but I can scan a page of text on paper or on a screen faster than I can
listen to a person say the same things!  The issue of voice input/output is
often discussed but I have NEVER seen a serious discussion of the impact on
comprehension of the material conveyed in this way.  Is everyone assuming it
will be used for low-bandwidth informational needs -- speaking from a cognitive
rather than electronic perspective?

Speaking only for myself, of course, I am...
Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan)
                (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane  RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ  08854)
                (201-699-3910 (w)   201-463-3683 (h))