Waves and wikis: Collaboration shifting away from email

Part of the holidays was spent with friends near the beaches of North Devon where surfers disregarded the winter weather to enjoy the waves.
One evening, we had a discussion about email: How useful it is (it is still the way business gets done), the impact of Blackberry email users (who expect near instant responses), how viable alternative options are emerging (instant messaging, persistent chat, wikis etc). We agreed on a prediction that email volumes will increase in 2006, but that the growth in useful email would slow. The year will also see more businesses becoming aware of better suited alternatives for collaboration.
Interestingly, the planning of our trip was conducted almost exclusively through the use of Writely, a web-based word processor that allows concurrent editing. Everybody contributed to produce a document with directions for travel, activities, shopping lists and even dinner suggestions for most evenings. Very few emails were exchanged and the outcome was a lot more useful than a bunch of email threads: A single document with all the details, ready to print before departure.