Stephano Baldi, Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union, has been active in using new Web and eMedia since the Web 2.0 wave gained strength over the past 10 years.
Despite the fact that there are thousands of applications available for PCs, diplomats (like most other people) tend to use only a very lilmited number of them (5-6?).
WHY?
In diplomatic life it is often necessary to organize meetings which involve the participation of several individuals.
WHY?
In many occasions it is necessary to create and/or exchange files containing documents that cannot be modified and look exactly like to the original. A kind of digital photocopy.
The PDF format ensure this possibility.
WHY?
The first assumption is that once you have located useful information on the Internet, you will probably want to note the address (URL) of the information for easy future access.
WHY?
In many occasions diplomats need to organize or to be organized. Sometimes this activity refers to practical events (Conference, Meeting, Visit. etc.), sometime it refers to concepts or ideas (Reports, Speeches, Analysis, etc.).
WHY?
Frequent communications are essential in the diplomatic world. International phone calls are the norm in diplomatic network. The 'Voice over IP' (VoIP) services offer interesting opportunities and can allow important savings through low cost calls.
WHY?
The normal tool of ordinary and simple searches has now become, also for diplomats, the Internet. In particular the different search engines available (such as Google).
Video-conferencing was a big hype in the 1990s when it was promoted as a way to replace traditional meetings. As with much hype, it was followed by a "disillusionment" phase.