Re: Safeworld as an alternative to this list

[Rick Penticoff <rpenticoff>]

On 12:59 PM 1/12/2003 -0600, Mary Bernard wrote:

> I don't think I'm just being Luddite about the chat format. The value of 
> the list, it seems to me, is that the format gives time for considered 
> responses, which are surely what people want?
Dear Notabenieri,

I'd like to second Mary's concerns and add a few of my own.

In my experience chat is most powerful as a communications tool when either 
A) you are online and available many consecutive hours at a time and don't 
mind being interrupted by messages; or B) "meeting" at a scheduled 
time.  Because of my particular work and home situations I'm not really 
available for chatting very many hours of the day.  And when I might be 
available (right now, 10:00 PM Pacific Time, is fairly typical for me), 
it's usually the end of a pretty long day when I don't have a lot of energy 
left.  I have no idea if my situation is typical or a-typical of list 
members, but I suspect time constraints will be a barrier for those of us 
who might want to participate.

Even if I had more available online hours I'm not sure I'd be a happy 
chatter.  Our agency's internal email system (FirstClass) has a chat 
module, and my typical response when I'm "invited" to chat is 
annoyance.  When I'm in the middle of something or on deadline, I hate 
being interrupted -- even by my favorite colleagues.  For some reason, the 
chat "Ding" seems more intrusive than a ringing phone or a colleague 
stopping by the door.  I haven't figured out why yet.  Maybe I AM a Luddite.

Over the years I've done a fair amount of "scheduled" chatting, and it can 
be an invigorating and enlightening experience (and as often as not, it can 
be meandering and uninformative too).  I don't have any experience using it 
for direct instruction, which is what the scheduled XPL session sounds 
like, so I'll be interested to see how that works out.

My most serious concern, though, is the potential of SafeWorld to fracture 
the online Nota Bene community.  I use this word deliberately because 
that's what my experience with this group has felt like for almost 12 years 
now.  I know there's probably a lot of back-channel and private 
communication that goes on among members off-list.  In this respect, 
chatting on SafeWorld would be little different from what's already going 
on among list members.  But I also know that the list has been the place 
for people to gather and share with others their knowledge and love of Nota 
Bene, and, not so often but the more valued for its rarity, the view out a 
window at the grey skies of Devon or the words spoken at a loved one's 
bedside.  Maybe I don't have as many hours as I'd like to devote to 
discussions on this list, but I know that they're here and that if I can't 
get to something right away it will still be available a day or two 
later.  I'd sure miss the knowledge, the energy, the camaraderie, and yes, 
the community of this list if it went off into a more privatized world.

I end with the realization that I'd never be able to write a "considered 
response" like this in chat format.  But, heck, maybe that's a good thing.

Rick