Communicating efficiently and effectively by using the right protocols

Given various communication mediums, we can break any task down into its smaller components where each bit of data can then be dealt with using a particular protocol. I think that by putting some thought into the ways we communicate, we can be more efficient in what we do. That is, spending less time wrestling with the tools and focusing more on the messages. If one tries to complete a task and faces unnecessary obstacles which appears to be due to the inefficiency of the tool(s) in use, then it would be beneficial to reconsider the tool(s) to complete that same task. By briefly defining the following, I hope that some of these communication protocols will shed some light to those that are not entirely familiar with them and hence allow them to communicate more efficiently with others. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Ideal (See: IRC is a social networking platform) Real-time one-to-many communication (e.g., freenode) Conversations can be logged and accessed via URL for future use Ability to use channels on virtually any topic to communicate with others Instant Messaging (IM) Real-time one-to-many communication (e.g., XMPP) Similar to IRC but video and audio conversations are more common through the clients Web feeds Allows subscription to any content (See RSS or Atom formats Various data resources can be pulled (e.g., Wiki updates, Blog posts) Wikis Collaborative knowledge dump (e.g., Wikipedia) Centralised documentation with history (i.e., changes to entries) Status updates (Microblogging) Public or private brief notices (e.g., identi.ca) Updates from users can be made using various protocols (e.g., IM, SMS texting) Information can be accessed through a URI Notices can be subscribed using feeds Pastebins Quick dump locations for data which can be accessed through a URI In person All good when coffee or beer is involved ;) Lot's of information can be transmitted simultaneously (e.g., pheromones, hands, body posture and facial expression) Professional group meetings may be redundant and costly, but may also be good for improving the quality of communication between members Digital video meetings (or conversations) Similar to in person but with less quality Can be archived Email Unnecessary cognitive load and doesn't scale well. (See Tantek's Email is Efail) Indexing and searching past messages is an unpleasant experience Telephone Effective but can be unnecessarily time consuming Audio quality varies Although there is nothing like hearing an old friend's or family member's voice Radio One-way transmission (from sender) Can be recorded, however, indexing and searching information is not simple Smoke signals Time consuming (requires natural resources and human power) May be inaccurate given the complexity of information Visible from great distances Perhaps environmentally unfriendly if everyone were to communicate this way today Message in a bottle Destination of the message is usually dependent on geography Receiver may be anyone Morse code Not dependant on the medium (information can be sent using various methods) Requires training and experience to transmit accurately and efficiently. Photographs Non-verbal Able to invoke various emotions Telepathy Still known as a paranormal phenomenon Digital audio meetings (or conversations) Similar to telephone Voice-mail Time consuming from both ends (i.e., sender, receiver) Can't index, search (unless there is voice recognition) Paper Becoming more environmentally unfriendly with ink (e.g., snail-mail) Too slow Archiving consumes time, space Can't index or search easily Good for authenticated documents (although can be forged) Fax Similar to paper, but requires telecommunications Notes This document is inspired by Tantek's Communication Protocols and my ongoing frustration (lack of good experience) with inefficient ways of communicating digitally.

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