Chatrooms are the future

It’s interesting to see how technology evolves at a seemingly inexorable rate whilst some basics still apply. So there’s all sorts of new tools and services we can dip into, but we usually tend to go back to things we find simple to use. We’re now in the era of the geek (according to the cognoscenti): instead of getting all-a-quiver at the release of a new Stone Roses or Radiohead album (showing my age) we instead get into a lather over Google’s new wave tool. Which, essentially, is a chatroom. Such chatrooms have existed probably since the Internet was born, but are proving surprisingly durable as the years pass. Essentially a blank box for people to fill text into is a simple yet brilliant tool for communication. We use them extensively in our virtual events and you can now see it being used in the slightly more jazzed up live debate platform that is Coveritlive. Building has run a couple of debates on this platform, including one on the OFT fines for contractors. Gordon Brown has also caught the bug, appearing in several live Q&A sessions, including the famous biscuit one on Mumsnet and one run by the Lancashire Evening Post where my colleague Richard Myles shamelessly plugged Building magazine on. And over at the nationals the Times has organised several, from football debates to a discussion on the war in Afghanistan. Of more relevance today is a debate the paper is holding at 2pm today entitled Is it too late to stop climate change? Should make for an interesting discussion.

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