I\u2019ve written two pages of background info to provide Tom with some context. They outline the jobs I was doing in 1981 and 2011 and the type of organisations I was working for; and also the main changes in communications I perceived between the two periods. The latter was an interesting list of the following:<\/p>\n
1981<\/strong><\/td>\n| 2011<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The challenge was to manage paper<\/td>\n | The challenge was to manage email<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Support staff assisted professionals<\/td>\n | No support staff – Professionals support themselves<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | You needed paper and a pen<\/td>\n | You needed a laptop, desktop and\/or a handheld<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Turnaround expectations were several days<\/td>\n | Turnaround expectations were a few hours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | The phone was tied to the desk<\/td>\n | The phone was mobile and multipurpose providing a tighter coupling between voice and written communications.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Overland mail used for most things<\/td>\n | Many types of communications – magazines,\u00a0 newsletters and marketing material \u2013 had moved into web sites or email<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Presentation technologies used were either photographic slides or overhead acetates<\/td>\n | Slides and acetates had disappeared. Presentation technology was presentation software such as Powerpoint<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Conference calls generally unknown. Work got done by face-to-face meetings or by shipping paper around and getting comments back on paper or by phone.<\/td>\n | Conference calls a major plank of business communications<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | To be connected to like-minded individuals, you had to join a group and either attend face-to-face meetings or receive materials through the overland mail.<\/td>\n | To be connected to like-minded individuals, you identified an appropriate group over the net and used web-based support systems.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Inter-continental communication took place by letter or one-to-one phone calls between distinct individuals and groups with their own agendas.<\/td>\n | Business had gone global and was conducted by interlinked teams working together across continents. Conference\/video calls demanded that many participants had to join communications at unsocial hours. Email was the glue bonding the participants together.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | I have also completed the basic numerical analysis and produced the following graphs:<\/p>\n
|