Email Etiquette

1. Email Etiquette notes on e-communication Fleur Eshghi — September 2010

2. Notes Read books: • email Communication: “Bliss or “Diss” Communication” Cherie Kerr • Death by PowerPoint: How to avoid killing your presentation Michael Flocker

3. Notes • Some stuff got obsolete by the time I finished the book • Met many Google philosophers – online! • Read several Universities email etiquettes, including Fordham’s • Learned new concepts and phrases, such as Cyber Frisbee, Cyber Boomerang, etc.

4. New Concepts • Technological anarchy: say anything anyway anytime on Internet • Email: Frisbee toss of Cyberspace • Email value system • Flaming phenomenon • Email Remorse Technology is the tyranny of classrooms. Reverend Robert Grimes, S.J.

5. Conventional Etiquettes • Email etiquette = DMV pamphlet • Edit, spell check , reread, etc. • Clear subject – specific point • Reply within 24 hours – unless spam, leaving people out there with no reply is rude

6. Etiquettes to Think About • The case of “Reply to All” • The case of “Reply with History” • The case of attachments • The case for file names

7. Etiquettes to Think About • The case of BCC • The case of long email’s discussion back and forth • The case of too short email Lost In Translation

8. Challenges • Missing personal effects • Missing non-verbal communications cues, facial gestures, body language, tone of voice. • %75 of communication is non-verbal • Spontaneity Lost In Translation

9. Challenges “Medium is the Message” Marshall McLuhan • Every medium has its distinct language • The languages are not alwaysdirectly translatable • Languages are ways of thinking, they are not just a collection of words Lost In Translation

12. Dont’s • Email: • Bad news, emotional tones, anger, criticism, shouting match disagreement; • Anything you don’t want to be floating on Cyberspace; • Response to an emotional email: • invoking emotion: “Flaming phenomenon” • Avoid impulsive email Pick up the phone or arrange a face to face

13. Why Not Impulsive Email? • People tend to read negative email over and over again • What is heard vanishes from memory quicker than what is read • It sits around in mailboxes, printed out, circulated and acquires a level of importance that was never intended. Avoid “Email Remorse”

14. So What Should We Do? • When in doubt, pick up the phone • “Think before you click” “Don’t send email to someone you can throw stone at.”

15. Projecting An Identity Watch out for: • Sense of humor • Sarcasm

16. Handling Irritating Email • Trash it, ignore it? • Brief and to the point responses; • Respond to opinions with evidence or facts that are relevant; • Resist the temptation to fire of a response; • Pick up the phone – if you can keep cool

17. Reduce Flaming Email • Read the original message again. You might be misinterpreting the message by the sender. • Draft a response and let it cool off for a time before sending it. Reconsider your response again after a walk to the coffee or ice cream shop. • Wait until the email is completed before writing the To: addresses. • Don’t get dragged in to tit for email-tat • Break the cycle of message and response. Pick up the phone.

18. Some Protocols • Don’t Glance at your PDA during meeting • Don’t cut of your dialogue when PDA notifies of the incoming email • The case of multi-tasking

19. Current Challenges with technology An Ugly Toll of Technology: • Impatience and Forgetfulness NY Times: “Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price”, June 7, 2010 • Carelessness and disregard for propriety in general