The lesson here should be taken to heart by designers of educational environments as well as corporate intranets: while people continually stress that they need better communication systems, what they get, time after time, is a document management service (I hope people here at NRC are reading this post). We don't need a virtual pile of paper to go with the one on our desks, stacked with official memos in PDF. We need ways to keep ourselves informed in a timely manner through informal channels, "a system that allows them to dialogue and converse effortlessly and seamlessly, brainstorm on ideas and projects, in a manner that is as 'face-to-face' as possible." Our intranet has a shared document space, a discussion board and a wiki, all heavily password protected, of course - but the last time a good discussion was started, on a list server, it was cut off by computer services. We have an advanced web conferencing system, but behind a locked door - my pleas to put a big screen and camera in the lobbies our our offices here and in Ottawa go unheeded. Folks, when thinking online communication, forget structure and formalism: that will kill it every time.
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