IT to Facilitate Communication
- E-mail – a way of transmitting messages over communication networks.
- a.First uses of the Internet. Composed primarily of text but can include other mediums (video, audio, etc.). Mailing list server
- Intranet – Looks and acts like the Internet
- Comprised of information used exclusively within a company
- Unavailable to the Internet community as a whole.
- Instant Messaging (IM) – an IP-based instant communication application.
- a.Provides convenient communication between people using computers, cell phones.
- Can be used to check on telecommuting employees by managers.
- Voice over IP (VoIP) – Method enabling telecommunications (phone calls) to be transmitted over an IP based network.
- Skype is a type of VoIP system that permits users to make free phone calls over the Internet.
- Very useful for communicating with remote workers.
- Video Teleconferencing – set of interactive telecommunication technologies allowing two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously.
- Unified communications (UC) – an “evolving communications technology architecture which automates and unifies all forms of human and device communications in context, and with a common experience
- RSS – refers to a structured file format for porting data from one platform or information system to another. Commonly used to keep up to date data at hand.
- VPN (Virtual Private Network) – private data network that leverages the public telecommunication infrastructure.
It maintains privacy through the use of a tunneling protocol and security procedures. Very useful for telecommuters.
- File Transfer – consists simply of transferring a copy of a file from one computer to another on the Internet. File transfer protocol (FTP), the most common type. Permits transfer of files, of almost any size, to be sent across a company or the globe. Thomas Friedman argues that collaboration is the way that small companies can “act big” and flourish in today’s flat world.
- Social networking – a web-based service that allows its members to create a public profile with their interests and expertise, post text and pictures and all manner of data, list other users with whom they share a connection, and view and communicate openly or privately with their list of connections and those made by others within the system (MySpace, Face Book, etc.).
- Virtual worlds – computer-based simulated environments intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars (like Second Life).
- Web logs (Blogs)– 0nline journals that link together into a very large network of information sharing. Companies use for a variety of communication purposes.
- Wikis– software that allows users to work collaboratively to create, edit and link webpages easily.
- Groupware– software that enables group members to work together on a project, from anywhere, by allowing them to simultaneously access the same files.