The telephone destroyed the telegraph
By Dan Alexandru. Friday, 6. February 2009, 09:46:11
Seth Godin:
If only mobile phones offered inexpensive way to communicate asynchronously.
Pictured to the right: eco-neighbuzz, an apartment buzzer & intercom system with additional features.
Here's why people liked the telegraph: It was universal, inexpensive, asynchronous and it left a paper trail.
The telephone offered not one of these four attributes.
If only mobile phones offered inexpensive way to communicate asynchronously. Pictured to the right: eco-neighbuzz, an apartment buzzer & intercom system with additional features.
WIDGETIZE
Schneemann # 7. February 2009, 11:55
The flaw of short messages (the same with chat or email) is that they are very private. They are directed at one single person, and will remain hidden in your pocket most of the time.
Compared with a (physical) public message board, or a kitchen calendar, they are
- not visible for other people in the same room.
- not in your line of sight most of the time.
- not constrained to a local context.
Internet forums or communities can be more public, but still they are mostly out of your way, sleeping somewhere on the web. On the other hand, they have the wrong way of being public: Visible to a lot of people world-wide, but not even noticed by most of your neighbours.
The eco-neighbuzz seems to have some of the advantages of a kitchen calendar or message board.
With traditional pinboards you have to go downstairs to read or participate in the communication. My estimate is that a person will typically pay attention to the message board between once a week and twice a day. Even worse, when you are reading it, you often don't have your other information resources available (pen and paper, or your computer).
The electronic neighbuzz can mirror the message board into your flat, so it is much easier to participate even in pyjamas. (if I understood the way it works).
I like the approach, and I think it has potential.
WillYum # 16. March 2009, 09:00
If they could make it relatively cheap and simple, I could see great potential. Though, like public message boards... Who moderates?
It just has the feel of a novelty. Nevertheless, apartment intercoms aren't going anywhere anytime soon (at least in here in LA) and if it was extremely simple and reliable (speech-to-text hasn't convinced me yet).
And... to be honest... some neighbors, I don't want to know.
Yum
Anonymous # 20. March 2009, 02:29
I like the approach, and I think it has potential.