Communication and the Internet
Synchronous communication is direct communication where the
communicators are time synchronized. This means that all people involved in the
chat are present at the same time. This includes a telephone conversation (not
texting), a company board meeting, a chat room event and instant messaging.
Asynchronous communication does not require that all parties involved in the
communication to be present at the same time. Some examples are e-mail
messages, discussion boards, blogging, and text messaging over cell phones. In
distance (specifically online) education asynchronous communication is the main
(sometimes the only) method of communication. Usually, we use different
discussion boards in each class with each having its own purpose.
Urgent information is usually sent by synchronous communication, this is done to ensure that the other part of the conversation recieves the info there and than.
Information that can wait a while is usually sent by asynchronous communication, this information is usually not very important or is relevant for a later date etc.
For synchronous communication you usually need a phone or a computer or even a meeting room. Now that i have mentioned the hardware, this is the software usually needed, chat softwares, such as skype which allow you to see one another are the most common used, also softwares such as Msn or Vibe are used.
For unsynchronized communication, a laptop/phone/any technological device, you would also need a texting/bbming software to deliver the information.
