Ben’s Blog

Playing around with Microsoft Visio for class. Here’s a question I answered as well as a quick diagram.

The transmission of communicative data through any number of mediums can be described as either synchronous or asynchronous. The difference between the two is clear, and is important to recognize when evaluating if requirements are being met by using one product over another.

Synchronous data can best be described as a constant flow of information. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a good example of this as when a user enters the chat stream it continues to flow with comments by other users already in the room. The only discernible beginning or end to the stream is left up to the individual, but the stream itself can only end when all users have left the room.

Asynchronous data is similar, but the flow of data can start and stop at different intervals. The message itself is still the same, but the speed is undoubtedly slower because of the interruptions between reception and response. An example of these would be an online message board. Users would login to the board and post a message, but the message would not by default broadcast to all other users. Instead, the message is retrieved at the convenience of other users and then responded to.

No more new social networks, ok? The idea of having to continually register for the next big thing with a better service just doesn’t seem like an attractive idea to me anymore. Being on the edge was fun for a time, but in the long term is just a major pain in managing my online identity.

Instead, I’m hoping that we reach a day when the agreed upon social network is a standard one and universal. To a large degree I think it already exists today as Google. I’m of the frame of mind that you should come to me to find out what I’m up to because when I have to update ten services to make that happen it becomes impractical. Through syndication and a good search engine this isn’t asking too much and certainly doesn’t mean that one would have to come directly to my site — ever.

I happily killed my MySpace account last year, and I’m hanging on the button with Facebook right now.

[tags]social network, social media, online identity[/tags]