IM, Not IP (Information Pollution): A steady dose of realtime interruptions is toxic to anyone’s health.

Abstract

Respected technology commentators say that they now prefer instant messaging (IM) over e-mail as their medium of choice for computer-mediated communication. The main reasons are that e-mail has become an overloaded channel for readers and that you can’t be sure to get a timely response from the recipients of your e-mail.

References

1. 1. Gillmor, D. Spamming sleazebags ruining e-mail. San Jose Mercury News (August 31, 2003); see http: //www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/ columnists/dan_gillmor/6661839.htm.
2. 2. Stover, A., and Nielsen, J. E-mail newsletter usability: 79 design guidelines for subscription, newsletter content and account maintenance based on usability studies. Nielsen Norman Group, Fremont, CA. 2002; see http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/.

Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Collaborative and social computing

    • Collaborative and social computing systems and tools

      • Synchronous editors

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • Interaction paradigms

      • Web-based interaction

• Information systems

  • Information systems applications

    • Collaborative and social computing systems and tools

      • Synchronous editors

• Software and its engineering

  • Software organization and properties

    • Contextual software domains

      • Operating systems

        • Communications management

          • Message passing