[iDC] iDC digest option & online silence and "infomania"

[Kimberly De Vries]

On 9/2/07, Yoram Kalman <Yoram.Kalman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Something interesting happened around this discussion: after a flurry of
> interesting responses (on-list and off-list), Trebor compiled the digest
> (see below). That lead to an abrupt cessation of the group postings
> (though some excellent conversations continued off-list). So, we had
> information overload, as well as online silence in this discussion
> thread, all in one day...


I'm not sure how much of the silence was caused by anything happening in the
list as much as by the calendar.  I am, and perhaps many members are,
closing in on the start of a new term at school, so my time and focus have
to shift from my own research to classes, department meetings, advising,
etc.

But this is often the issue when interpreting email silence; knowing to what
extent the silence is related to the exchange at all, or whether it has been
caused by external factors.

-Some of you mentioned the challenge of getting an online collaboration
> going when members do not respond to messages. This is a serious issue
> (in the workplace, the online classroom, and other places) which I cover
> in my work, including some suggestions on how to deal with them. If you
> are interested, ask me, and if you have your own tips, I think many of
> us would be curious to read them?


I am struggling with this problem right now on two different projects! One
of them is international with a significant time zone difference, so email
(or something asynchronous) is usually the best option.  --Of course we
haven't tried skype because there's been no response to my requests for
contact info...

So yes, any suggestions would be very welcome!

-A topic which came up off-list is footers that deal with the
> recipient's responsiveness. For example, footers such as
> http://five.sentenc.es/ or a footer like that used by Rebecca:
>
> ___
>
> Hello!  This is a computer-generated auto-response. It aims to help me
> with e-mail overload. I will try to get back to you as soon as I can.
> If I fail to respond within 2-3 days please re-send your message. If
> you need a response in less than 6 hours please call me or send a text
> to my mobile phone.
> ___
> I am curious if you have more examples, or opinions about such footers?
> Have you had positive or negative experiences with them?


I have  never seen  this kind of footer before .  It seems like a good idea;
has anyone else tried them who can comment on how well they work?

Lastly, I was intrigued by Dave Cormier's suggestion to use *silence* as
> the most appropriate response to Keen's posting into this group. My
> guess is that the initial reaction of some was to want respond with an
> angry post, and that this was followed by a realization that such a post
> would create the exact buzz that Keen wanted to create? Was this an
> online example of a "spiral of silence"?


Possibly, but because there are so many things to which I might respond,
posts like Keen's generally just earn a "feh....delete." I'm fed up with
Keen and so I'm afraid I didn't get as far as critical reflection... others
clearly manage a more thoughtful response though.

And thanks for the links, they look quite interesting.

Kim


-- 
http://else-if-then.blogspot.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/attachments/20070902/aaaa9a74/attachment.htm