[CW-Grad] Email, Facebook, and other electronic booby-traps

[Robin Russin]

Hi all--

This is my annual missive to students about email and other instant  
written communication, along the lines of my prior advice about  
backing up your work (by the way, have you done that today? No? Go, do  
it, now!).

This note is designed to perhaps save you from potential problems --  
and no, it's not spurred by anything any of you has written (yet!), so  
don't worry about that. But it is based on years of observing how  
electronic miscommunications have caused people unintended and  
unnecessary grief.

As writers, you may all feel in control of your use of the written  
word. But email and its social networking progeny are deceptive in  
that, unlike hand-written or even hard copy, typed communication, they  
are singularly tone-deaf. You may write something in an email or  
facebook message that you think is simply informational, and it may  
come across as abrupt or even offensive. You may think something you  
wrote is clearly a joke, but it may read like an insult.

This is why emoticons were invented, as childish as they may seem-- 
they emerged because something more was needed to inform the reader as  
to the writer's tone and intention.

There is also the fact that there is no built-in time-delay to force  
you to think about what you've written before you hit "send," and once  
it's sent, it's out there. Forever.

So, to sum up, approach your emails, especially important ones, as you  
would any other important piece of writing, only more so. Take some  
time. Read them over and rewrite them to be sure you're getting across  
what you want to. Put in a smiley face, even.

:)

Robin Russin

Associate Professor & Graduate Advisor
Department of Theatre
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
(951) 827-2707
(213) 949-1061 cel
robin.russin at ucr.edu

"I try all things; I achieve what I can." - Ishmael in "Moby Dick,"  
written by Herman Melville

"Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." - William Munny in  
"Unforgiven," written by David Webb Peoples

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