The good news is that the aps are getting so much better and more robust. Remember when we had to choose between iChat, eShare, and WebCrossing as our only vendors????

Based upon our technology reviews for clients, I’ll go out on a limb and project that we’re about 2-3 years from a web based ap that can do about 90% of what you’ve listed. Good luck and thanks for providing such clear ideas to our community. You’ve done a good job of explaining the details and the frustrations that many of us feel…

The good news is that the aps are getting so much better and more robust. Remember when we had to choose between iChat, eShare, and WebCrossing as our only vendors????

Based upon our technology reviews for clients, I’ll go out on a limb and project that we’re about 2-3 years from a web based ap that can do about 90% of what you’ve listed. Good luck and thanks for providing such clear ideas to our community. You’ve done a good job of explaining the details and the frustrations that many of us feel…

Please publish your findings!

To the list of multiple access points, I’d add an interactive desktop alert widget similar to Southwest Airlines’ DING application. Users could customize if they want to know when an admin posts something, one of their favorite users posts something, a new document is posted, etc. When the alert is activated, users could have the option to interact through the widget, or jump off to the community web site, or post a reply by email.

Please publish your findings!

To the list of multiple access points, I’d add an interactive desktop alert widget similar to Southwest Airlines’ DING application. Users could customize if they want to know when an admin posts something, one of their favorite users posts something, a new document is posted, etc. When the alert is activated, users could have the option to interact through the widget, or jump off to the community web site, or post a reply by email.

The thing is though, that I have to ask, ‘perfect for what/who?’ – the needs are still slightly different in each situation, so it also really needs to be customizable to the very specific usage of the human beings who are needing to connect with each other.

Everything is Situational…

What would be really interesting is to create a matrix of community characteristics and see how they match to existing solutions… could be a great research project.

The thing is though, that I have to ask, ‘perfect for what/who?’ – the needs are still slightly different in each situation, so it also really needs to be customizable to the very specific usage of the human beings who are needing to connect with each other.

Everything is Situational…

What would be really interesting is to create a matrix of community characteristics and see how they match to existing solutions… could be a great research project.