[WEB4LIB] Re: Web-based message boards vs. email discussion g roups

[George Porter]

Roy, Walt, Bill, et al. have touched on, but not named, the BIG behavioral
difference between push and pull technologies.  

Push moves your information in front of people.  It puts the content into
the subscriber's email inbox.  Once you decide to monitor a listserver
discussion, it requires a conscious effort to stop doing so, but no
incremental effort to continue.

Pull technology, the web discussion board, requires specific effort and
action each time you wish to dip into the information stream.  No effort
equates with no flow of information.

My biggest complaint with web access to my office email and with my free
home email account is that the screen doesn't automatically update with new
arrivals.  I much prefer to run email continuously in the background,
bringing it to the fore as needed to deal with fresh material.

George S. Porter
Sherman Fairchild Library of Engineering & Applied Science
Caltech, 1-43
Pasadena, CA  91125-4300
Telephone (626) 395-3409 Fax (626) 431-2681