Hi Yoram,<br><br>I have a short comment on this, about the ethical aspects.<br><br>Granted that we are all overloaded, and some more than others of course, is it not an ethical requirement to respond to one's peers? At least I attempt to directly answer every query, but if it requires extensive thought, I file it for later, where it may indeed lay fallow for quite a while, part of a 300+ to respond file which grows faster than I can respond to them.
<br><br>But at least, I think it is important to acknowledge reception. A good example is the automatic response by Richard Stallman, which I respect as an attempt to square the circle.<br><br>Other people, who do not respond at all, even if I can understand the reasons, create ill feelings, as it is as if 'you don't exist',
<br><br>Michel<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/28/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Yoram Kalman</b> <<a href="mailto:Yoram.Kalman@gmail.com">Yoram.Kalman@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi,<br><br>In my first posting to this fascinating group, I would like to introduce<br>myself and my research interests, as well as suggest a topic for<br>discussion. I am a PhD student researching "online silence" at the
<br>Center for the Research of the Information Society at The University of<br>Haifa. I am trying to define what online silence is, to understand what<br>causes online silence, and to explore the consequences of online<br>
silence. In case you are wondering what I mean by online silence, the<br>best example is a situation in which you send an email, expect an<br>answer, and then days and days go by, and you do not receive an answer.<br>Ever occurred to you? J
<br><br>One of my findings is that most email responses come very quickly, quite<br>often within a few hours, and that emails that are not answered within a<br>few days, are quite likely never to receive a response. I also found
<br>that quite many of the cases of online silence reported by people, are<br>cases in which people intended to respond but did not do so immediately,<br>and this delay eventually turned into silence.<br><br>In my research I speculate quite a lot about the reasons for this
<br>asymmetric distribution of response times, and a recent paper published<br>in First Monday (link below) made me question the implications of this<br>asymmetry. I would be very interested in getting some perspectives from
<br>this group about these implications. The paper focuses on "Infomania"<br>and describes the ever increasing pressure exerted on knowledge workers<br>who are trying to cope with an ever growing information (over)load, and
<br>with the constant increase in frequency and obtrusiveness of<br>interruptions afforded by always-on, always-next-to-us communication<br>devices. Under these circumstances of an ever present flood of messages,<br>is it any wonder that we either provide an immediate answer, or hardly
<br>respond at all?<br><br>Link to article: <a href="http://snipurl.com/zeldes">http://snipurl.com/zeldes</a><br><br>What I would like to do with the help of this group is to peek into the<br>future, and ask together with you a question about Infomania, and about
<br>our increasing inability to respond to all of the messages we initially<br>intend to respond to. Are these temporary phenomena, or are they here to<br>stay? If online silence is a result of our inability to cope with<br>
information overload and interruptions, what might improve this<br>situation? Will the solution come from culture? From technology? From a<br>change in the way our brains are wired? All of the above? None of the<br>above? Is this the first time humanity is facing such a challenge? Are
<br>there important lessons from the past?<br><br>Obviously, if you have other questions, comments or interesting<br>anecdotes about online silence, please send them too.<br><br>Thanks!<br><br>Yoram<br><br>--<br>Yoram Kalman
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