{"id":1303,"date":"2012-07-05T11:05:29","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T11:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/?p=1303"},"modified":"2012-07-05T12:57:12","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T12:57:12","slug":"the-future-is-not-quite-real-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/2012\/07\/05\/the-future-is-not-quite-real-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The future is not quite real-time"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a discussion with Lawrie Phipps (@Lawrie<\/a>) I was reminded of something I was thinking about last year around the advantages of not quite real-time (NQRT). It\u2019s one of the few genuinely unique affordances of the web. Asynchronous communication has been with us since cave painting and synchronous since two people first clapped eyes on each other. What is relatively new is the cultural acceptability of having anywhere between 10 seconds and 10 hours between contributions to a discussion or conversation (although between 10 seconds and around 5 minutes is the more interesting time-frame).<\/p>\n

\"Egg<\/a>

Photo by Ian Barbour: http:\/\/goo.gl\/Kojve<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m thinking here about \u2018Instant\u2019 messaging, a Twitter stream, a Facebook wall and even \u2018rapid\u2019 emailing or forum posting. For example, I can receive a text message in Skype, check the web for information or speak to a colleague in the room and then respond. It\u2019s powerful because it doesn\u2019t demand the immediate attention of a f2f encounter or a ringing phone and it also gives me time to gather my thoughts\/cross check information.<\/p>\n

Not quite real-time is the main reason why most people are wittier, cleverer and all together more attractive online than they are f2f (note, I say \u2018are\u2019 not \u2018appear to be\u2019 \u2013 the web is real and so are the things that happen there\u2026). It\u2019s also a key reason why more people are comfortable to be perfomative on Facebook walls and in Twitter streams i.e. visible social interaction. This is a communication mode in which we feel a sense of interpersonal connection but also have some level of control over pace\/timing. It\u2019s a powerful because it\u2019s social but doesn\u2019t aggressively demand attention. This is why text will always be the dominant visible form of communication online and why many of us chose to not put our cameras on when Skyping.<\/p>\n

The downside of NQRT is when it\u2019s used as part of a focused event or discussion with more than two participants. In these cases the pace tends to increase rapidly until NQRT becomes achingly close to f2f speeds (4 seconds is about the maximum time between responses in a f2f conversion ) and the thinking-time gaps are crushed. When this happens the quickest thinkers and fastest typists win-out (or those who have pre-prepared text which they paste in\u2026). This is why text-chats are often feel so exclusive, especially in an educational context \u2013 the usual suspects take the floor. It could be one of the many modes of engagement which erode when shifted from a personal to an institutional context?<\/p>\n

It would be fascinating to study the nature of NQRT communications because it appears to be unique to the web and a relatively new cultural phenomenon. What is effect of NQRT on maintaining relationships and\/or supporting communities? Is it a more inclusive form because it levels out the playing field and those who like to muse before expressing themselves can be part of the flow or is it fated to always speed-up and lose its advantages as soon as a discussion becomes interesting? It\u2019s certainly something that warrants research, assuming a practical methodology could be developed\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asynchronous communication has been with us since cave painting and synchronous since two people first clapped eyes on each other. What is relatively new is the cultural acceptability of having anywhere between 10 seconds and 10 hours between contributions to a discussion or conversation (although between 10 seconds and around 5 minutes is the more interesting time-frame). Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,56,28,38,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-digital-literacy","category-research","category-society-online","category-teaching-and-learning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1303"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1309,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1303\/revisions\/1309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}