Dimensions of Communication Jerry Michalski posts some basic dimensions of communication to his Wiki:
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All the communication technologies we use -- telephones, newspapers, radio, IM, e-mail, mailing lists, TV, books -- are mired in historical cruft that keeps us from seeing clearly what to build next. It is useful to go to first principles, then reexamine whatever communication task you have at hand. So let me suggest the following basic dimensions of communication:
- Timing: instantaneous (IM, phone, TV), delayed (e-mail, TV) or slow (books, movies)
- Audience: one person (phone call), two (conference call, chat), a dozen, two hundred (mailing list) or everyone in the world (Website, Weblog)?
- Mode: text, voice, video, audio, 3D -- some mix of the above?
- Length: short (IM) or long (movie, book)?
- Persistence: evanescent (IM), temporary but retrievable (e-mail), published (Website, book) or pretty permanent (stone stele)?
- Production Level: casual (ASCII e-mail), formal (proposal) or polished (movie, book)?
- Identity: how much of your identity do you want to reveal? which identity (work, private)?
- Permission: who can see or use the material?
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If the purpose of this theoretical framework is to help differentiate existing modes of communication and identify what to build next, other dimensions would help understand when to shift modes:
9. Centralization: Decentralized (IP-based modes)/Centralized (broadcast & publishing)
10. Whole Costs: cost of the service and user time costs. Borne by the sender (broadcast & publishing; weblogs), the reciever (email) or both (IM, POTS)
11. Signal to Noise: the level of advertising or spam saturation in a medium. Broadcast and publishing models reach a natural equilibrium. Others, particularly when costs are borne by the reciever, are saturated with spam.
9:02:51 AM 
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