[LINK] Re: Link Digest, Vol 175, Issue 49

[Stewart Fist]

Karl replies to me
> 
>> When people know you have a videophone, then questions arise if you don't
>> use it.
> 
> That's a pretty weak point, Stewart.
> 
> Everybody knows that there are times you wish not to be seen.

Again, that's not the point Karl.

It takes years for protocols to be worked out in a community, and with
videophones the key protocol is "is it to be turned on, or left off?"

And media protocols, as McLuhan pointed out fifty years ago, carry a strong
message.

I would suggest that this is the main source of resistance to video-phones.

I have a similar problem with Skype.  In the days when it cost real money to
ring internationally, I use to get a phone call from one distant relative in
Europe about once a year.  Now he has Skype and his calls are essentially
free, so calls from him are ten times as long and are currently coming in at
a rate of once a week.

I wish I could get a Skype-blocking facility on my phone line.

Instead, I have to resort to the: "Someone is at my front door, I have to
go!" routine, which would be even worse if he could see me lying through my
teeth.

People often want to limit communications -- they don't always want more.



-- 
Stewart Fist, writer, journalist, film-maker
70 Middle Harbour Road, LINDFIELD, 2070, NSW, Australia
Ph +61 (2) 9416 7458