THE BUSINESS CULTURE OF COMPUTER-BASED COMMUNICATIONS
by Harry Stevens


Will electronic mail and other forms of computer-based
communications change the way that we do business? In
substance, yes; in form, even more so--for reasons I'll discuss
in this article.

Some businesses are already experiencing substantive change.
Online organizations are being formed, co-ventures launched,
contracts made, projects coordinated, sales managed, customers
served, problems solved, employees trained, papers co-authored,
etc. Online collaboration sometimes emerges in the complete
absence of any face-to-face or voice-to-voice communications.
These "meetings of minds" occur in the form of exchanges of
textual "notes" (brief, informal, interactive communications)
between two individuals or among many--or even among thousands.

Online textual exchanges often resemble "talking" more than what
we are accustomed to thinking of as "writing." In fact, those
who are becoming most addicted to this medium are developing new
habits--like sprinkling their text with signals such as
""--in order to compensate for the lack of eye contact and
voice inflection, both of which are important in helping to
convey meanings in face-to-face communications.


TYPES OF COMPUTER-BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
=============================================

The following list of some of the types of systems that are
available, and the key features that are associated with them,
is arranged in order of increasing capability.

TYPE OF SYSTEM FEATURE
============== =======

Chat System Distance independence

Electronic Mail Time independence

Bulletin Board Topic orientation

Computer Conferencing Joining to get note
markers in topics

Many-to-Many Communications Topic branching to form
groups most easily

Electronic Organization Various access controls
in topic structures

Participation System Decision-making aids
for groups and
individuals

(I believe that you can readily overcome most resistance to this
medium by identifying where the resister's understanding of the
above currently stands--and to where it needs to go. For
example, even if management already understands electronic mail,
they will still want to understand electronic organization
before risking its impact on their organization. However, it
may not be easy to lead them from an understanding of electronic
mail to an understanding of electronic organization, because the
three levels in between must be understood first.)

A chat system, which involves the simultaneous online presence
of participants, comes the closest to talking. As the word
"chat" implies, the content may hardly be more than an exchange
of pleasantries.

Computer conferencing, a form that allows for more meaningful
dialogue, does not require participants to be online
simultaneously. The content of a computer conference may
actually be more thoughtful and complete than the contents of
traditional forms of offline print media such as letters, memos,
magazines, and even books. Why? Simply because the non-
simultaneous interaction among participants leads to the
development of "collective wisdom."


COLLECTIVE WISDOM AND BRANCHING
===============================

As electronic communication enthusiasts point out, collective
wisdom is more substantial than the individual knowledge of any
single participant. (If you've ever attended a Quaker meeting,
you may conclude, as I have, that the thread of comments made by
participants--with the benefit of silent meditation in between--
can yield greater wisdom than is typically found in a sermon by
an individual preacher.)

Online collective wisdom cannot be readily found in electronic
mail, which uses only two basic computer capabilities: storing
and forwarding information. Branching, the other basic computer
capability, is what makes unprecedented many-to-many
communications feasible.

Branching overcomes the chief weakness of electronic mail
systems by screening out electronic junk mail. Only when you
"join" a topic do you automatically receive future notes on that
topic. By selectively joining and leaving topics, you avoid
"information overload" and screen out what would seem like
electronic junk if you found it in your inbox.

The branching of topics into subtopics, then into sub-subtopics,
etc., creates dynamic knowledge bases. Through topic branching
and selective joining, many more people can efficiently form
specialized groups than ever before. This new support for
"people networking" is a most promising new way to do business.
Advocates of these systems claim that improvements in
productivity, innovation, and personal satisfaction are already
For example, in computer conferencing systems, you don't need to
embed comments in lengthy, formal, context-setting phrases such
as, "In reference to [so-and-so's] letter of [some date] about
[some subject] suggesting [such-and-such]..." More efficiently,
you might just say, "Yes, let's [do some variation of such-and-
such]." Because of computer storage capacities and software
flexibilities, the context will be obvious from easily
retrieved, automatically time-stamped, and author-identified
comments on that topic.

Brevity is not the only type of informality that occurs online.
Since interacting (rather than expounding) becomes the norm,
questions are as common as declarative statements. The best
answers for these questions often come from surprising sources,
especially in many-to-many communications systems. An unknown
peer who has recently solved a problem similar to yours can
often provide better help than a more-easily-identified, famous
expert.

If you think that you might like informality ,
interactivity, collective wisdom, and people networking--come
join us in many-to-many communications!