1. Ah, email, the ultimate love-hate relationship! So time-consuming, such fun! And how did we manage before when group communication was accomplished by routed memos and meetings? Email should be making our working lives easier, shouldn't it?
There was a link in one of the readings to a New York Times article by Katie Hafner about the fractured attention at work caused by today's technologies. It seems to me, as useful as the web 2.0 tools are, for some of us the temptations for distraction multiply the more we learn. The article alludes to what I refer to as a "zone," or, for me specifically, a "cataloging zone," a state of long-term concentration in which I'm able to be highly productive. It seems I rarely find my zone during the working day.
I agree that it makes sense to try to reach our patrons where they're comfortable communicating. In our library we have both email and IM reference service.
2. Instant messaging. Talk about potential for fractured attention! Being logged into IM at work sounds dangerous. I've played with Google Chat a bit with a friend, but it's fun more as a novelty than anything. I thought using Chat was IMing, but now I see there's also Google Talk. Chat? Talk? Huh? I guess one can do more on Google Talk than on Chat. Well, I downloaded Google Talk ; I'll try it and report back.
Our library has been using Meebo for reference for awhile. This seems to make a lot of sense, but for me, a cataloger, I'm not so sure. I can see limited uses for IM for conferencing with my fellow catalogers because I'm in a separate building from them. But at work I think I would want to have IM turned off most of the time.
Thing #7 sure is long! I'll complete the other steps another time.
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