Hard to imagine, considering invitations are sent by email, responded to by text message, and directions can be accessed by phone. Miscommunication about a date seems, well, a little out-of-date.

But, that’s exactly what happened to French peasants in the 16th century, and today we have April Fool’s Day to commemorate their foolishness.  While it’s hard to pinpoint the very first April Fool’s Day, experts look to 1582 as the origin.  That’s the year Pope Gregory XIII replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar.  Since the Pope’s authority did not extend beyond the Papal States and the Catholic Church, it was up to individual countries to adopt this reformed calendar on their own time.

Charles IX of France was one of the first to introduce the Gregorian calendar, in which the New Year was moved to January 1st.  Under the Julian calendar, the New Year was celebrated for eight days beginning March 25th, culminating on April 1st.  But in the days before wifi, iPhones, Blackberrys, and viral videos changes to the calendar had to be communicated by word-of-mouth – a much slower means of communicating.

For many people – especially peasants in the countryside – word of the date change did not arrive for several years. And even then, some refused to accept the reformed calendar and continued celebrating the New Year on April 1st.

The more sophisticated among French society laughed at these “fools” who continued to show up to the party on the wrong day.  And a tradition of ridicule and practical jokes sprung up around the uninformed.

In today’s world of rapidly changing telecommunications, even a fool can get the date right.  But rapid-fire technology doesn’t make it easier to get the message right.

As the Financial Times reports, the site’s stable of voluntary editors has not grown apace with its increasing volume of articles.  The result, says the FT, is that entries “will be harder to monitor quality — and vested interests will find it easier to make alterations that reflect their own views.”

Not that the site lacks for accuracy challenges now.  The FT notes that “even optimists… agree with the more skeptical observers on this: that in terms of reliability and service, Wikipedia still has along way to go.”  Yet attempts to “subject changes by newcomers [i.e., new contributors] to approval by more experienced editors and flagging any revisions” have run into intense resistance in the hyper-egalitarian Wiki-corps.

The communications problem here is a familiar one:  The world has changed.  The organization needs to adjust. But both members of the organization (those most involved with Wikipedia are volunteers, not employees) and many of those it serves see the adjustments as violating the values and standards that got the organization where it is today and that they believe in.  Part of leadership in a time of change is to communicate how fundamental values are being preserved, not thrown over, by recognizing that circumstances have changed.

As the WHWG unveils its new website, we want to acknowledge the Internet’s recent birthday and four decades of online communication.  It’s a tribute to how thoroughly this technology has transformed our lives that most of us don’t think twice about instant communication with dozens, thousands, even millions of people across the globe.

But, in the beginning, Defense Department research manager Bob Taylor didn’t see a budding revolution in his attempt to make electronic correspondence less frustrating.  As he said in an interview recently, “To get in touch with someone in Santa Monica through the computer, I’d sit in front of one terminal, but to do the same thing with someone in Massachusetts, I would have to get up and move over to another terminal.”

He realized he needed a network to connect all of his contacts – and from this a revolution was born. Taylor and countless others after him built the communications world we have today by addressing new needs with the best solution available.

Keeping up with the rapidly changing landscape of telecommunications can be challenging and at times daunting – even for communications professionals. Yet sometimes, in the midst of all the technological flash, it’s necessary to step back. Take stock. Determine what is needed and find the product or strategy that makes life less frustrating and success more likely.

The Internet began as a relatively minor solution to one man’s problems. The transformative part of the story was a decades-long process.  That’s why we are in a constant search for the best solutions to a client’s needs, not the latest mirage of instant revolution.