Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!iuvax!maytag!looking!brad From: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: Looking Backwards Message-ID: <72168@looking.on.ca> Date: 5 Jan 90 07:02:40 GMT References: <9001010220.AA17906@world.std.com> <752@arc.UUCP> Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd. Lines: 50 Class: discussion I am not sure that text mail will stay as it is forever. I think instead that voice mail will become like E-mail. And later, video mail will become like E-mail. And eventually, mutli-media will become like E-mail, although I would guess that text will still be one of the more popular forms. There will certainly be an experiment with E-mail where you type the address and subject, but speak the body of the message. This is easy and quick, both to dictate and to listen to, and it doesn't require much typing skill. And you can compress the voice down nice and small that this will be cheap. There are disadvantages -- clearly you don't use this to send things you might want to print or machine-read, such as figures or phone numbers. It's more for personal notes. Worst of all, a lot of people are uncomfortable just sitting talking into a microphone -- but they are also uncomfortable writing a letter at a keyboard, or even typing. Which will win, I don't know. The advantages however -- it's quick, easy for many, and much more personal and communicative than text -- will make sure this is given a try at least. Next stage we get voice-recognition that eliminates the need for you to type the address and subject. You speak it, but it's turned into text. In most cases, you don't need this, as most mail messages are replies, with automatic generation of To, From and Subject. After that we can go through the same stages, but your message is video. Some people will talk to video cameras when they won't talk to answering machines. One reason is you get to see yourself on-screen as you do it. And it's easier to edit out the bad parts than with sound. Advantages: Even better, more full bandwidth communication form than audio or text. Disadvantages: Some people don't want to be seen, or have to comb their hair to send a memo. As above, you have to talk to send the message, which doesn't work in some places. These will be tried because they bring E-mail -- which is highly useful -- to the non typing public. And to the public that prefers to cues of sound and video to smiley faces. You will still always want machine readable classification info so you can search and select your mail, of course. -- Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473