(2002-04-04) c

John Robb on the advantages of WebLog and Instant Outlining over EMail and Instant Messaging. E-mail and IM demand my attention and my time (a dwindling resource) when I am least able to provide it... In contrast, Weblogs and I/O leverage my time. They put me in control...

Weblogs and I/O allow me to construct and publish complex thinking. Further, it archives that thinking so it isn't lost. The conversational nature of e-mail and IM make sharing complex thoughts difficult and more time consuming. It's hard, if not impossible to build a body of work that conveys a complex idea or plan. Additionally, I can't easily leverage previous thinking or the thinking of others to create a more complex work. That sounds like an argument for Wiki.

Jim Roepcke has (Apr14) a reply. Conversant's threaded mailing lists / NNTP newsgroups / web discussion boards, fine grained weblogs, along with pervasive search technology solves nearly of the issues that John has brought up. Then again, so do best of breed e-mail clients and IM clients. I believe greatly in the value of weblogs when they're done properly. Outlining is also something I believe in but it's application in collaboration requires some serious infrastructure which currently is not in place in Radio. Hopefully it will be some day. Until then, I see Instant Outlines as unorganized weblogs authored in an outliner.