Skype, internet telephony, instant message programs and scientific collaboration

A colleague of mine in Spain (both accomplished neuroscientist and
business person) induced me to try out Skype the other day (www.skype
com). Skype is Internet telephony with instant message capability that
is cost free “in network”. I-chat, Yahoo IM and AOL IM all have similar
capabilities. Skype is somewhat unique in that it has very low cost
“call out” capabilities–meaning that you can call someone at a regular
cell or land line, someone who is off the Internet.
What struck both of us is that these modalities may be of great utility
for enhancing international scientific initiatives. Imagine two
laboratories, on separate continents, engaged in a collaboration, funded
by perhaps an international granting agency. Now imagine being a fly on
the wall in a state-of-the-art electrophyiology laboratory (such as we
have at Krasnow):
A postdoc on one side of the ocean, patch clamping a hippocampal
pyramidal cell (in the early afternoon) might be able to assist another
postdoc (working in the early evening) with a recording of a similar
cell, sharing data in real time, while at the same time perhaps spending
30 minutes at a time communicating nothing at all–concentrating instead
on the bench work at hand.
The point is that it would cost nothing, but it would potentially create
a virtual adjacency that could be very powerful. Skype and it’s cousins
allow for a good deal more than voice/instant message communication.
Files can be transfered. Web links can be rapidly exchanged. And in the
case of I-chat, good video link is available.
These notions of free and ubiquitous communication brings back a
poignant memory from my recent trip to Curacao. In the main square,
overlooking the harbor, seated outside and alone at an Internet cafe
under a palm tree, a young woman with a web cam on her laptop was
clearly instant messaging with her boyfriend (or perhaps a close
relative). I imagine that the young woman was Dutch, since Curacao is
part of the Netherlands Antilles–perhaps the other party was on the
other side of the Atlantic, in Holland. The world has indeed changed.

Jim