Communicating efficiently and effectively by using the right protocols

Given various communication mediums, we can break any task down into its smaller components where each bit of data can then be dealt with using a particular protocol.

I think that by putting some thought into the ways we communicate, we can be more efficient in what we do. That is, spending less time wrestling with the tools and focusing more on the messages. If one tries to complete a task and faces unnecessary obstacles which appears to be due to the inefficiency of the tool(s) in use, then it would be beneficial to reconsider the tool(s) to complete that same task.

By briefly defining the following, I hope that some of these communication protocols will shed some light to those that are not entirely familiar with them and hence allow them to communicate more efficiently with others.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Ideal (See: IRC is a social networking platform)

Real-time one-to-many communication (e.g., freenode)

Conversations can be logged and accessed via URL for future use

Ability to use channels on virtually any topic to communicate with others

Instant Messaging (IM)

Real-time one-to-many communication (e.g., XMPP)

Similar to IRC but video and audio conversations are more common through the clients

Web feeds

Allows subscription to any content (See RSS or Atom formats

Various data resources can be pulled (e.g., Wiki updates, Blog posts)

Wikis

Collaborative knowledge dump (e.g., Wikipedia)

Centralised documentation with history (i.e., changes to entries)

Status updates (Microblogging)

Public or private brief notices (e.g., identi.ca)

Updates from users can be made using various protocols (e.g., IM, SMS texting)

Information can be accessed through a URI

Notices can be subscribed using feeds

Pastebins

Quick dump locations for data which can be accessed through a URI

In person

All good when coffee or beer is involved ;)

Lot's of information can be transmitted simultaneously (e.g., pheromones, hands, body posture and facial expression)

Professional group meetings may be redundant and costly, but may also be good for improving the quality of communication between members

Digital video meetings (or conversations)

Similar to in person but with less quality

Can be archived

Email

Unnecessary cognitive load and doesn't scale well. (See Tantek's Email is Efail)

Indexing and searching past messages is an unpleasant experience

Telephone

Effective but can be unnecessarily time consuming

Audio quality varies

Although there is nothing like hearing an old friend's or family member's voice

Radio

One-way transmission (from sender)

Can be recorded, however, indexing and searching information is not simple

Smoke signals

Time consuming (requires natural resources and human power)

May be inaccurate given the complexity of information

Visible from great distances

Perhaps environmentally unfriendly if everyone were to communicate this way today

Message in a bottle

Destination of the message is usually dependent on geography

Receiver may be anyone

Morse code

Not dependant on the medium (information can be sent using various methods)

Requires training and experience to transmit accurately and efficiently.

Photographs

Non-verbal

Able to invoke various emotions

Telepathy

Still known as a paranormal phenomenon

Digital audio meetings (or conversations)

Similar to telephone

Voice-mail

Time consuming from both ends (i.e., sender, receiver)

Can't index, search (unless there is voice recognition)

Paper

Becoming more environmentally unfriendly with ink (e.g., snail-mail)

Too slow

Archiving consumes time, space

Can't index or search easily

Good for authenticated documents (although can be forged)

Fax

Similar to paper, but requires telecommunications