An interesting story on a study from MIT. Using datamining techniques, researchers looked at corporate email use and draw some interesting conclusions on productivity — measuring information-worker productivity being an area considered particularly difficult, apparently. The specific conclusions presented in the overview aren’t breathtaking, indeed, they rather confirm the sorts of things about people I like to assume, and their broader conclusions sound slightly breathless, but plausibly move beyond mere speculation.
What is most interesting is the appearance of email as a starring player at a time when most people talking about digital communication seem to have given up on it; of further interest would be application of some ideas behind the research to non-email communication.
First found at bettercourse.org (via infovore) where more interesting comments may be found.