Sun, Students, & Cool Stuff Along The Way Laura Davenport's Blog

Recently I found myself without a cell phone for 2 days and I couldn't help but wonder - what did we do before tweets, blips and pokes popped into our lives?

I can remember:

• Typing term papers on a typewriter and using white-out to make corrections (can you believe that stuff still exists?!)
  
• Saving important documents on floppy disks (the big napkin size ones!)
• Recording my favorite song (over and over until I got it just right) as background music for the answering machine greeting
• Calling the local radio station to find out the name/title of the song I just heard and then buying the 45" single at my local Licorice Pizza music store (yes, I still have all my records and my cassettes!)
  
• Sending numerous 20+ page faxes (are people even faxing anymore?!) to my then boss Jean-Michel Cousteau while he explored the far corners of the world
  

You get the picture.  The way we communicate with family, friends and colleagues, the way we are entertained, the way we work is changing by the day. (pardon the cliche)  

And, with all of this comes new vocabulary too. 

• Google this. Download that. 
• Shazam that song - I can't remember who sings it.
  
• I'm IMing with my husband while I'm on sitting on the couch next to him.  (sad, but true)
  
• I tweeted about the poke you sent me after blipping my new favorite song.  (ok - I never really said that - but it could happen!)
  
• Can you please double-click on your last point?  (we seriously say that a lot at Sun!)
  

For me, this is an exiting time to be a professional communicator.  To keep current on all the new ways to communicate is one thing - but navigating how and when to use which tool in the most effective way is another.    I for one welcome the challenge!