Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Except under extraordinary circumstances, there is no reason to either answer a cell phone during a meeting or, worse, take the call and have a conversation while the meeting is still going on. So says Chuck Martin, writing in the Portsmouth Herald. 

A while ago I set up a Google Alert for new stories on the topics of Cell Phone Interruptions, and Cell Phone Etiquette.  There are two or three stories per day like the one I quoted above. 

jalapeno, originally uploaded by Alec Saunders.

We’ve been harvesting hot peppers in the garden again. Here’s a selection of jalapenos. The red ones have ripened, and are sweet and hot.

Martin has been blue-skying about directories.  He’d like to see:

• Opt-in, and editable.  Got a new photo, updated address information, or a new phone number? Just go edit it.
• Opaque telephony. Anonymous out-bound calls, if that’s what you want, on-demand. Isn’t this otherwise known as caller-id block?
• A telemarketer line.  Want to call me?  It will cost you £2.00 / minute.  Make sure what you’re offering is of interest.

To which I would add:

• Hide and seek.  Make sure the call reaching me is actually relevant to what I am doing. Find me if it is.
• Presence.  The directory server should also be a presence server.
• All the usual stuff about interests, roles, blogs etc that you find in modern IM profiles. 

And all of the above should be applicable to any form of real time communications.  Telemarketers don’t reach me on IM, yet, but there are plenty of occasions when I want finer grained control over presence than is currently offered.

The communications world is evolving from a network-centric world to a me-centric world. In the me-centric world:

• You reach me, not my device(s).  Phone numbers (10 digit network addresses) are an anachronism.  Just as you wouldn’t try to reach this blog by typing in its IP address, no longer will you try to reach me by knowing which of the E-164 addresses I can be found at.  The network will know.
• I am in control.  Sophisticated tools well beyond what is envisioned by today’s primitive presence technologies enable me to project whatever persona I wish to whomever is trying to reach me.  Software bots help me filter, rank, and prioritize communications.  Nuisance callers are a thing of the past.

It’s not so far fetched as it seems.  We’re nearly there today, and within five years this technology will be mainstream.

Ever since Rick Segal pointed out Gaping Void, I’ve been reading Hugh MacLeod’s funny, and often pointed cartoons, daily.  Drawn on the back of a business card, they have a kind of punk ethos about them, which appeals to me.  Imagine his latest —  "Have a Nice Death Dinosaur" — as a tune by the Sex Pistols with snarling guitars and Johnny Rotten shouting out the words.