Human Communication Patterns

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Human Communication Patterns

This article attempts to outline different ways human beings interact.

This does include electronic systems performing communications (seemingly autonomously), but is still (mostly?) on another human being's behalf.

Face-to-Face

Face-to-face communication can span any sort of subject -- business and pleasure if you will -- without the specific pattern changing too much.

This communication pattern is difficult to improve. The bandwidth available, the gestures, the stance, the tone.

Mail (Snail)

This is the bank letting you know they made an error in your favor.

Mail (Electronic)

One-to-One Electronic Mail

Think: Yo, how you doin'?

One-to-Many Electronic Mail

Think: I need to let $x people know about (...)

Many-to-Many Electronic Mail

Think mailing list.

Chat

This is separated from Instant Messaging because not only has it been around for longer, a chat protocol like IRC establish a completely different communication pattern than say, Snapchat or WhatsApp.

In many ways, it is more like XMPP/Jabber, but without the presence information. (???)

Voice

From land-line to SIP, one-to-one or conference.

Video

peer-to-peer, in groups/conference.

Instant Messaging

Different from chat in that instant messaging describes exactly what the expectation is of the user.

Blog

You letting the world read an article you wrote.

GitHub Pull Request

A user has engaged with a software development project, forked off in order to enable one-self to scratch itch, scratched, and now proposes no other consumer of the software development project's product will ever have to feel the same itch in the same way again.

A use-case may need to be articulated, a scenario described, and as such amounts to a piece of text almost qualifying as an article.

Notification via email or in the browser when navigating to GitHub.

Deserves a response, negative or positive.

Build and test results may be interjected.

A conversation may need to have been had before the final response is issued.

Notifications

In the space of electronic mail, includes a lot of various types of notifications, but usually "something happened, go here to (...)"

In the space of web sites, includes iconography to draw attention, go some place and view lists of things having happened.