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Pondering on media responses
I had a great question (by email) from a colleague yesterday about why one staff group at Athabasca had a very healthy discussion on email, but when she tried to move the discourse to a similar conversation on a discussion board (in this case in a Moodle site set up for that group) the conversation fizzled. We've had similar skirmishes on the AUFA email list but have never managed to transport them to the Landing.
Now, I know that pundits and teenagers say that email is just for old folks, and maybe that is the root of the problem - but I don't think so.
First let me reiterate the distinct advantages discussion boards have over email:
- they are archived, in context,
- these archives are easy to browse,
- posts don't get huge as respondents re-post the message(s) that they are resending too in long lists indented replies
- threads allow responses (in context) to older or newest response thus maintining coherency
- messages are not intercepted by spam filters and
- maybe most importantly for groups, any who join the conversation late are not deprived of older comments in the thread.
Compare this to the advantages of email:
- a familiar context, editor, spell checker etc
- a 'push' to the readers' attention (but note that most discussion boards (Moodle, landing etc.) default to pushing the latest posts to email)
There are likely other advantages to both that I have missed (please add a comment with any you think of below - DO NOT email me!), but it seems the advantages far out way the disadvantages.
So is the attraction of the familiar what keeps us stuck in email? I note that some newer LMS systems allow a response to be posted by email (internal or regular), text chat or Facebook. It is pretty clear from my experience here that 99% would opt for email, but we are old....
Obviously if you are reading this post, you are not in the email cage, - or perhaps you are, but reading it as a forwarding note from the Landing. In any case try to think why you would, or would not reply to this (or another more engaging question) and if the medium (email or discussion board) influences your decision. And maybe if you are brave post your reasons as comments below.
Have a good long weekend all and then Happy New Year!!!
Terry
Terry Anderson
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I agree wholeheartedly. There are SO many instances where threaded discussion is superior to email. The problem for me is that I LIVE in email. It is in front of my face all the time whereas I don't regularly visit all of the discussion boards I am registered to. I think the only reason I am typing this right now is because I saw your email. I would like to train myself to attend to more of the discussion forumns but I find it takes conscious effort. Is it worth it? YES but it is still work.
I know it's an illusion, but email feels smaller and less public than a disucssion forum--more like the water cooler, less like a public meeting.
- Mary Pringle
For me it is mostly habit. I find the more functionality that I use in a tool like the Landing the more likely I am to use it rather than email. These days, I keep an instance open, so it is a matter of clicking rather than logging in. I like the notification system because then I can choose what notifications go to email or what goes to the internal notifications. This way I have a list of things to look at when I have time without flooding my inbox.
As a student, I consider myself more of a part-time user of the Landing. I check in every now and then, search a few key terms (depending on what I'm working on) and check out what's new on the Landing welcome page. I like the features Terry listed above for discussion boards (searchable, archived in context, chronological response organization, no spam filters). I like that I can join a group and I can go to that group with an idea of the types of things that might be discussed. I find that the more "full-time" I am regarding a given topic, the more I would prefer personal emails about trendy discussions/requests for help/general interest items. I enjoy participating in (for me often just means reading) discussions to keep on top of certain subjects. I don't feel I am an expert who needs to give my opinion in an email to professors and department heads. A discussion board, somehow feels less intrusive. I can post and idea/opinion and people can choose whether or not to read. It's easier to scan the items in a forum than it is in an email.
No one has mentioned the huge advantage of The Landing discussion over full AUFA list is that it does not go into the email box of hundreds of people who do not want it.
I love discussion boards, but I think there are a number of reasons people rely on e-mail that you may have missed. This is based upon my belief that we (people who think technology is neat and interesting, and who like to play with new technology) are the outliers. Most people just want technology to work the way they think it should work, and don’t really want to try something new, even if the geeks say it is “better.” Therefore:
This is, of course, changing. My daughter’s social group communicates almost exclusively on Facebook – because that is the first communications program they used. My daughter keeps an e-mail address so her parents, clients and other dinosaurs can contact her (but while Facebook is always open and active, she only checks her e-mail a few times a day).
This would be a good research area, Terry. There must be a doctoral student who would like to get some answers to this question.
Love this conversation - I wonder too why is it that people insist on staying with email, despite the apparent (at least to many techno-interested people) advantages of new communication technologies. I must say Craig's comments ring very true for some of the people I know who simply insist on using email only - and my children who insist on using facebook messages to contact parents (an vice versa). I agree that it seems that the communication technology you start using (or your friends and the people you want to contact start using) perhaps is the technology you continue to use.
Personally, I use email for direct contact to individuals, and discussion boards and facebook when I want to group message people. One thing that drives me nuts about email is a train of messages when working with a group of people - so that is when I invest the time to use a discussion board group. This includes my committment to then have to check that group or deal with the messages that I forward to my email. The reason for my forwarding the group messages is due to the device I use - an iPhone - which is on me at all times and I can reply to emails quickly from everywhere.
In reply to Terry's original question - I am answering this post in the landing, after reading the post via message forwarded to my email, and then seeing Craigs reply when I logged into the Landing today. What caught my eye and resulted in this posting was that I read the original post of Terry's, saw a reply of Craigs, and am interested in the topic of discussion - so I went into the blog and read the postings. The topic is very relevant to my work - and so I was drawn into the discussion. One thing that a friend once told me about email comes to mind - he commented that people will likely only invest the time to learn about a communication technology when they have a personal reason to connect to others using that technology!
Part of your colleague's problem might be Moodle. If I have to navigate to get to a specific site or discussion in Moodle (instead of just clicking a certain link in it), I easily get lost. So many topics and threads on one page. I can't say the same for the Landing, which is super intuitive to navigate, whether via tags or via the Activity tool, which is what I usually keep open during the workday. I check Activity here and email about as often as each other. I find Activity more like the water cooler, in that I can pick what water cooler I stop at (while big listservs seem more broadcast-style and thus conducive to shall we say technologically induced incivility: not seeing who's subscribed, I've no idea how many people's inboxes my message is cluttering, or who I'm vexing by cluttering it).
Landing > Tools > Activity: it's like Facebook for our distributed workplace, only way more secure, and with 1000% less Farmville.
Interesting discussion. I use email, message forums and social networking sites equally, but am not a huge fan of the Landing (maybe that will change). There was one message in this thread (Craig's regarding a doctoral project) that piqued my interest. Had I been using email, I would have saved the message for later reference. Had I been using Facebook or Google+, I would have "liked" or "plus 1'd" it. But in the Landing, I see no such options. I don't think Moodle offered any option for flagging messages either. So all of these methods of communication are interesting, fun, and useful, but not one is just right for me. I'd like something that allows me to interact with others, but allows me to flag or save certain posts or threads for later reference (whether or not I participate in the actual discussion).
And of course, others have their own preferred method of communicating online, for whatever reason(s). Because of that, I use all of the tools available to me and adapt based on the habits and preferences of those I'm communicating with.