208 Part II • Applying Information Technology
models feature “People+Content” as well as “People on
Content.” People+Content is a data-sharing capability
which permit users to share content from laptops or PCs
(e.g., a spreadsheet or a PowerPoint presentation) that have
an IP network connection (they do not have to be connect-
ed to the HDX system). With the two-video screen
arrangement, people are shown on one screen with content
on the second screen; with the dual monitor emulation, the
screen is split between people and content. People on
Content is particularly useful for remote speaker presenta-
tions. The speaker stands in front of a blue or green
background, and then the content—the spreadsheet or
PowerPoint slides—is electronically placed behind the
speaker, so that the remote audience sees the speaker
standing in front of a screen displaying the presentation
materials (Polycom, Inc., 2010).
At the desktop level, Polycom offers Polycom PVX
software, which is designed to work with your PC and
your own high-quality USB camera attached to the PC.
The price from a third-party retailer varies from $120 to
$190. Polycom PVX includes the data-sharing capability
described earlier. For a desktop system with even more
capabilities, Polycom offers the low-end HDX 4000 series
with high-definition video and audio (Polycom, Inc.,
2010). Of course, one-on-one desktop videoconferencing—
but no data sharing—can also be carried out using Skype,
an Internet telephony company based in Luxembourg. The
Skype software can be downloaded from the Internet at
no cost, and then audio calls or video plus audio calls to
another Skype user are free. There is a charge for audio
calls to a cell phone or a landline. One of the authors has
used Skype this past year to have video calls with his
grandson, who is studying in Germany.
Electronic Mail
Electronic mail (e-mail)systems permit rapid, asynchro-
nous communication between workstations on a network,
eliminating telephone tag. Most systems incorporate such
features as sending a note to a distribution list, forwarding
a note to someone else with an appended message,
replying to a note without reentering the address, and filing
notes in electronic file folders for later recall. All the
authors of this book use electronic mail on a regular basis,
and we feel we could not do without it.
Of course, there are potential drawbacks to e-mail
communication. Because it is so easy to use, the volume of
e-mail can become overwhelming, particularly standard
messages sent to a distribution list. Spam—unsolicited
e-mail that most of us regard as junk—is the bane of e-mail
users. E-mail is also less personal because it is dependent
on text signals alone (but some users spice it up a bit by
using e-mail smileys such as :-) or :-( ). Some people use
offensive words and phrases that they would never use in
face-to-face conversation, called “flaming.” Privacy issues
arise because of the opportunity for electronic monitoring
by supervisors. For most organizations and most users,
however, these drawbacks are totally overshadowed by the
advantages of rapid, asynchronous communication.
Variants of e-mail include electronic bulletin boards,
listservs, computer conferencing, chat rooms, instant
messaging (IM), blogs, and, most recently, Twitter. An
electronic bulletin board is a repository (a disk on a
computer) on which anyone with access to the bulletin
board can post messages and read other messages. Bulletin
boards can be operated within an organization (employing
the usual communication links) or over the Internet. A
listserv is a computerized mailing list that accepts a
message sent to the listserv address and forwards it to
everyone on the particular mailing list.
Computer conferencing is similar to a bulletin board,
but it is set up around a particular topic. For example, a
professional society can set up a computer conference to
consider changes in its annual meeting program. The
announcement of the topic and the Web address at which
the conference will be held are published in the society’s
newsletter, which can be distributed electronically via a
listserv. Users participate in the conference by logging into
the conference, entering an opinion, and reading other
participants’ opinions. Chat rooms are real-time versions
of computer conferencing (synchronous communication)
conducted on the Internet, with an incredibly wide array of
topics. Group chat has emerged as an important real-time
collaboration tool for businesses, providing communica-
tion support for far-flung project teams and reducing the
need for in-person meetings, voice conferencing, and
videoconferencing.
IM is a synchronous communication system that
enables the user to establish a private chat room with
another individual to carry out text-based communication
in real time over the Internet. IM is a hit in business, with
research firms estimating that 20 percent or more of
employees use IM. A blog is a user-generated Web site
where entries are made in journal style, typically displayed
in reverse chronological order. Blogs can deal with any
subject—sometimes they serve as personal online diaries,
and sometimes they provide commentary on a particular
subject such as the environment, politics, or local news.
Twitter, a social networking and microblogging applica-
tion that enables its users to send and read short messages
known as tweets, is sort of a broadcast version of IM.
The first popular e-mail systems were mainframe- or
minicomputer-based, which makes sense because e-mail
predated client/server systems. They were also designed to