Some of those features are outlined below. All chapters in this report eventually serve to lay the foundation for the proposal in the final chapters. The CWIS that is painted there is meant to be used inside a faculty of arts, so it is a good idea to look at the types of people working there and at their information needs. General aspects Most of the communication consists of written text. In this aspect it is like the traditional communication based on letters, but it is much faster.
Direct communication is often also possible, with delays of a few seconds or less.
For serious discussions however, this type of communication is generally regarded less suitable. Since the correspondents are often from different countries, most communication is in English. Especially when several people take part in a discussion, the language must be relatively simple and unambiguous. A few conventions have been invented over the years to express emphasis, irony, quotations, and such, but most of the meaning of a message must be conveyed by text alone. Sometimes this can be difficult, but the limitations may also help people to express themselves clearly.