Week 3 - Tutorial Task

* BBS - Bulletin Board Systems. 

“A BBS is a home computer connected to a phone line, via a modem, which other people with computers and modems could call and leave messages” (BBS The Documentary 2004). BBS are now considered an old communication technology as they were not able to offer the immediacy that people are used to these days due to their delayed time response. Popular in its day, BBS and old-world technology just could not offer the synchronous communication and meet the needs of the people of today. However, it was the forerunner for creating connectivity and interactivity.

Invented in 1978, it was a popular way of relaying messages over the internet between the early 1980’s and 1990’s (Layton & Zydyk 2000). Users would leave messages and seek out information that was of interest to them. It was popular for people to use BBS for anything from gaming, playing cards or finding like-minded people who shared similar interests. (Penton Publishing 1995, p. 44)

BBS operate with a delayed time. People want instant responses. One of the reasons Facebook implemented the like button was to give people a tool that gives them the ability to make faster contributions. BBS could not give people that kind of immediacy and therefore couldn’t keep up with current and more popular advancements in technology.

 References

Layton, A, Scott, J & Zydyk, M 2000, Bulletin Board System (BBS), SearchCIO-Midmarket.com 2011, viewed 20 August 2011, from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213807,00.html.

Could your company benefit from a BBS? 1995, Managing Office Technology, vol. 40, iss. 3, p.44. http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/233509782?accountid=14543