It's sociology not technology

Wonderful talk this week from Richard Harper a sociologist from Microsoft Research Labs. As he said he would,  he "explored the use of new and old communications media – Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging, phone calls and traditional letters – and suggested that one should not view the proliferation of such media as creating communication overload... a better approach is to think of our rich communication media as being the means through which a texture to human relationships and individual identity is created".

Who would have guessed that a text message could be so intimate, that some would hate voice mails - too indelible, that so much personality could be crammed into a Tweet, that an email could be so loud and aggressive, that an instant message could be so chummy?  Fascinating to see people relating through these different media in such different ways.  And the Kindle has made us rethink the meaning of print. Do I need to point out that the three people sharing a Sunday newspaper around the kitchen table in my house this morning were not really reading. They were reminding each other that all is OK with the world (apart from Syria and the euro crisis and......)