An I.B.M.'er Learns the Joys of Forgetting Email

Luis Suarez is a "social computing evangelist" for I.B.M. that in the New York Times about cutting back on email. Instead? He largely used social networks, the telephone, and even occasional trips to someone else's desk. Sorry, but it sounds as though he largely substituted other forms of electronic communication, each with its own strengths and limitations. But I guess you have to consider the atmosphere in which he works and lives:

I started this experiment by announcing my intention on a couple of blogs, like my personal one and blogs inside I.B.M.’s firewall. The postings in response were overwhelmingly positive — but I also encountered some skepticism. Many people wondered how I would manage to communicate and collaborate with my peers without using e-mail.

Good gravy, Gretel, how ever do you think he's know what we're saying if he doesn't click Reply? Pardon my cynicism, but to me this is a pretty lightweight piece. Either try completely foregoing email or not, but this is the "email lite" program, and not terribly interesting.

Serialized Books by Email

I was doing a bit of research, updating the materials for a course about online research that I've offered to journalists when I stumbled across DailyLit.com. The site has over 250 public domain books. You choose something you'd like to read and the service sends you the book in chunks, each of which can be read in about five minutes, on a regular basis. You can even specify what days and times you'll receive updates. You can search for books by title, author, or category, and if you finish one of the installments and want more, you can get it delivered immediately. Imagine: Dante's Inferno in 38 easy reading installments.