IM - Instant Massage better than phone

Why IM is a great solution for interactive communication?

What's the problem with phones

Phone calls sometimes are clear and sometime not, always challenge the HOH to deal with missing links and no visual clues.

The quality of the phone conversation depends on the:

• clarity of the sound
• quality of the line
• quality of the phone
• humidity in the air
• the speed of the speech,
• knowing the context
  

There is always an unknown element and the HOH person does not know if he/she will understand all meaningful words and concepts. Therefore, phone calls can be a mistake or cause challenges when you call a person who does not know you.

Phone calls are a state where a HOH person needs to cope with many missing links, they demand more energy and concentration. Sometime HOH people will get tired of it. In this case they will tent to talk more rather than to listen. They will try to make the call as short as they can. It may cause the other person to be frustrated.

Be aware that HOH people always wish to have more rather than less communication and feel bad when they request you to repeat what you have said. Most of my friends developed the sensitivity and the intuition to make the phone calls successful. My sister Nili is one of the best communicators - we talk over the phone daily and for a long time. It is very rare that I ask to repeat.

What she does is:
1. Talk from a good phone line. (There are differences in clarity between different lines and phones)
2. Makes sure there are no background noises or interference ( TV, talks, etc.)
3. Speaks clearly and a normal way
4. Is sensitive and confirm I get names or address correctly
5. Welcomes my request to repeat and will repeat what she says using different words
6 Will never say "never mind it is not important" when I ask her to repeat

Education for better communication
People who are sensitive and good communicators can be 30-40% more effective than others while calling HOH. I am sure that this people are effective with everyone they talk with.

Why relay isn't the best solution?
The relay services, are relatively slow. People who talk with the HOH doesn't know what is happening in cases where it takes time to the caption to appear on the screen. It is frustrating. Also they are not used to a slow speed of the conversation. Practice in maintaining communication based on keywords and techniques for speed reading may be helpful.

"If captions will appears on every single phone for hard of hearing and non hard of hearing people - it will give the normal hearing person a better understanding what is happening. It may be simple to add the caption option to each phone call once the speech to text technology will be used for captions" Such an option will be useful also to store, search, repeat and manipulate phone info.

For some people the idea that there is another person listening to the converstation (and typing the relay) effect the feeling of intimacy in the conversation - Automatic conversion to text will solve this problem.
Most of my friends hate relay and would encourage me to use it only for emergency or in request for info I can't find in another way.

Yesterday I got the latest technology - Captell. It works in a better speed based on VCO technology. It means that I can choose that the person with whom I talk may not know that I am using a relay. It is better but still it is slower than a normal conversation.

IM - The best alternative to phone and more...

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION !!!!

Instant messaging boosts communication and allows easy collaboration and is becoming more and more important in corporate environments. IM facilitating quick, safe, and persistent exchange of information such as URLs or document, options we do not over the phone

IM for HOH and for everyone

Using IM Instant message, the HOH person is equal to the person he communicate with. It allows the HOH to understand 100 of the information. You are relaxed and have fun, you can be spontaneous and share jokes. Usually the content of the chat is much more meaningful than the content of the phone. Kids and young people love it - so do I.
Questions I have:

- What will encourage the use IM ?
- How can we promote businesses and government agencies to adapt IM as they did for phones and e-mail?

Currently most IM
1. Need special download and setting process. What seems easy to tech people can frustrate others.
Why wouldn't IM become a part of the e-mail software with same password and login name?
2. The different IM programs are not talking to one another.
Why can't MSN messenger users talk with AOL IM or Skype users? why can't we do with IM what we do with e-mails and phones?
3. Why most of the companies did not adapt IM as a part of their website?

Good Role models
Fidelity gives an option to chat with customer service representatives
NYC public library set the option of chat in their web site.
Google - You use same login information for e-mail and for chat and both options are user friendly