Some good reading on how tools such as IM and telephony, Skype in particular, bring about a sense of Presence in communication, dialogue and community; whether for personal use or for businesses.

Presence applications poised for takeoff [via Roland's Sunday Smart Trends #24 at Smart Mobs] :
"There is a killer on the loose under the covers of instant messaging, and no, it isn't malicious; it's a killer application that has the potential to revolutionize the way companies collaborate and communicate.
The killer app is presence....."  Source: John Fontana, Network World, September 6, 2004"

Rob's a new Skyper and shares his epiphany - Social Software & Skype: Regaining Human Contact and Wholeness :

"I am convinced that the full range of social software is the class of new technology that has the power to reconnect us again in the full terms of being human. Where we are no longer linked by the winning text but in dialogue. Where we agree not only with a small part of our brain but with our whole selves. Social Software has the power to offer us almost all the the requisite bandwidth and the critical context - community.  This sense has been growing in me for the last three years as I blogged. But my epiphanic moment came yesterday as I talked with Johnnie Moore on Skype. This was my road to Damascus moment. "Then I looked into a glass darkly - now I see myself face to face!"....."

"I think that this type of technology, combined with other aspects of Social Software, are offering us a the potential of a re-awakening of a human society based on the full power of our many aspects of intelligence, our intuition, our experience, our emotions, our common sense, ritual, art, our dreams and our bodies." 

Stuart has been talking about the challenge of the 'presence <-> mobility <-> communication<-> collaboration' conundrum and tools he has been experimenting with around this for some time now - his latest series on Skype only makes the case stronger.

Rajesh Jain sees these as important components of the New and Next Internet :

• Always-on
• Ubiquitous
• High-speed 
• On-demand
• Multi-format 
• Two-way 
• Personalised
• Not Free
• Multimedia

While nothing can replace face-to-face dialogue, i've been using the internet to communicate and collaborate with people all over the world - quickly, cheaply, with good quality and in real-time. 

As we move from email to IM and VOIP, we are building into them presence and mobility.  As Rob says, our social networks and blogs provide the context for community - and tools like Skype and IM and video engage us in dialogues within our community. 

Enhancing the quality of conversations.  Enhancing wonder ! 

I was recently Skyping with a friend in the US and she asked me what the background noise was - and i told her its part of the Ganapati Festival here - where people bring home idols of the God Ganesh amongst much singing and dancing and fanfare.  And she said to me - "oh i had forgotten you live in India until now".  The next day i happened to talk with her again - i switched my internet connection to my CDMA phone which allowed me mobility, switched on my webcam and shared with her live images of the small puja we had at home.

I cannot imagine a world today which denies me of global conversations facilitated by these tools. I can only imagine it getting better - quicker, more real-time, more flexible, more touchy-feely with enhanced quality and multimedia, more immersive and real.

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