Black says chat rooms bring two new forms of communication to the technician. This system typically takes 12 to 24 hours to generate the feedback needed for the tech unless they search the e-mail archives which give instant access to thousands of past questions and answers. The second form of communication is our web forums. These are interactive group discussions that take place over several hours, days and even weeks. There are discussion areas for everything from shop management, to technical theory, and even industry issues.
Members enter the chat room from our web site and interact in real time with other members.
Many of our members are connected to the conference rooms throughout their workday to brainstorm with other techs over difficult repair issues. There is a real sense of community in the conference areas due to the real-time interaction. Many of the active users in the iATN conference area have become very good friends and travel across the country and the world to attend our annual conventions. As for his answer to the rumored demise of the Internet, Black says, not likely. The Internet companies that are left will need to earn their keep just like any other reputable business.