Keeping the connection open would be almost the same thing as a
phone call. Looking at PTT from a social perspective, is supposed to
be quick messages being sent rather than an entire conversation. In a
full conversation, you may greet the person, ask how they're doing,
what they're doing, etc. For PTT, if you have a simple question to ask
or a message to give, you just give it, without the formalities of a
phone call.
This is close to true, but there are many years of research on
lightweight audio communication suggesting that open connections can
actually lead to behaviors very like push-to-talk (short bursts of
talk) - at least, if you are connecting people who want to be
connected. After a while, the open connection is no longer considered
as much of a "social contract" to pay attention (compared to the
phone), and the formalities still go away.
It'll be interesting to see how well some of the non-iDEN providers do
with this. Having to wait several seconds for the receiving phone to
wake up and poll the network for incoming connections seems sort of
crippling for PTT.
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This is close to true, but there are many years of research on lightweight audio communication suggesting that open connections can actually lead to behaviors very like push-to-talk (short bursts of talk) - at least, if you are connecting people who want to be connected. After a while, the open connection is no longer considered as much of a "social contract" to pay attention (compared to the phone), and the formalities still go away.
For some recent social research on young adult use of Nextels, see http://www.parc.com/audiospaces/ptt.htm.
It'll be interesting to see how well some of the non-iDEN providers do with this. Having to wait several seconds for the receiving phone to wake up and poll the network for incoming connections seems sort of crippling for PTT.