Since email use has become widespread at SMC,  I have heard numerous accounts of misunderstandings between members of our campus community, most of which would probably not have occurred if email had not been involved.  At the same time, I know that many of us find email to be an extremely efficient and valuable tool, and have integrated it into nearly all aspects of our professional lives.  Whether we like email or not, it has become necessary for most of us to use it regularly.  For this reason, I have developed this brief workshop to help you avoid making mistakes that might cause  hard feelings unnecessarily.

To create this workshop, I have solicited advice on using email effectively from a variety of sources, including our own SMC postmaster, Gerardo San Diego's website on The Art of Writing E-mail, and my own experience as an avid email use. 

When To and When Not to Use Email

The most important thing to learn is when to and when not to use email.  There are three situations in which you should seriously consider using the phone or a face-to-face meeting instead.

• When your emotions are running high!  If you read an email message that makes you angry or elicits another strong emotion, remember this rule!  Go ahead and type your response but don't send it for 24 hours.  Then, after this waiting period, take a moment to reread both the original email and your response before you click "Send".   Imagine how your response will be received by the recipient.  More often than not, you'll decide to edit your response extensively or use another means of communicating instead.
  
• When you have never met the person.  Unless you've been asked to contact someone you don't know via email, I suggest doing it by phone or face-to-face.   You will both learn much more about each other than you would via email, and you can take that opportunity to find out if the other person is comfortable using email for future communication.

• To discuss uncomfortable issues.  It is extremely tempting to use email as a means to avoid an uncomfortable conversation.  For example, to discuss an employee's performance with him or her, or to let your supervisor know that you are unhappy with some aspect of your job situation.  I find it's much better to accept the discomfort and have the discussion in person.  Your facial expressions and tone of voice will be critical for effective communication.
  

Components of an Effective Email Message

1. The To: Line
   
   Select your audience appropriately. Just because you *can* send someone e-mail doesn't mean you *should* do so. Respect the time and attention of others.  Only send e-mail to those who need the information you're providing, or have otherwise indicated their interest in receiving it.  Avoid broadcast messages (sent, for example, to the "faculty_all" or "everyone" mailing lists) unless absolutely necessary.
   

2. The CC: Line

Use care when selecting people to whom you will CC: your message.  This selection can carry a lot of meaning for the recipients of your message.  For example, if you are commending a colleague on a job well-done, you can be sure a CC: to his or her supervisor would be well appreciated.  However, when asking someone to do something for you, a CC: to his or her supervisor may be interpreted as a lack of trust in the individual to get the job done alone.

When replying to messages, take a moment to notice the names in the To: and the CC: fields.  If you use "Reply to all", your message will be sent to all of them.  In many cases, this is inappropriate.  For example, if a broadcast message is sent to everyone announcing an upcoming event, you should not use "Reply to All" to ask a more detailed question about that event.  If, however, a committee decides to debate and issue via email, it is critical that all members of the committee be involved in all related email messages.  

3. The Subject: Line

Your message's subject line is one of the first things that your reader will see. Oftentimes, and especially during sorting, it's the only way you can distinguish one letter from the next. Make it count. We all know that your letter contains "stuff" that you've written, so writing "Stuff" as the subject line is just as useless as writing nothing at all.

When it comes to back-and-forth messages with the same subject matter, it's easier to keep track of things if you alter the subject line to match the current phase of conversation. Here's a series of sample subject lines:

   (Original message)   Subject: Today's Meeting Agenda

          (1st Reply)   Re: Today's Meeting Agenda

          (2nd Reply)  Re: Today's Meeting Agenda

          (3rd Reply)   Re: Today's Meeting Agenda

Notice that since the subject lines don't change with each subsequent reply, you have no idea how the conversation is evolving, or what is being discussed other than the agenda. Now try this:

   (Original message)   Subject: Today's Meeting Agenda

          (1st Reply)   Re: Need to change meeting location

          (2nd Reply)   Re: Must reschedule meeting

          (3rd Reply)   Re: New meeting time and location

Just from reading the Subject Headings, you can now get an idea of what has been communicated.

4. Salutations

When used well, salutations are an effective way to set the atmosphere of the letter. Think of it as a handshake, another way to greet your reader. It allows the reader to get into the right frame of mind to receive your message.

Choose your salutations wisely; starting off a letter with a simple "Hello" is very different from a more casual "Hi there," or a downright comfortable "Howdy." Including the reader's name in the salutation lets your reader know that you've written the message specifically for him or her.

5. Message Content

Beware of sarcasm, humor, and other forms of communication that usually rely upon tone of voice, facial expression, and your recipient knowing your personality well.  In email, only your words are transmitted!  All the other cues used in face-to-face communication are missing, and misunderstanding is a common result.

Try to be both professional and tactful.  Never write what you wouldn't say aloud.  Aspire to be courteous, even in response to rudeness. E-mail may be your best (and last) chance to restore civility to a difficult situation. Calm down and take a moment to consider the appropriateness of your responses.  It's a good idea to wait a full day before sending an emotional response.  You may be very glad you did.

Use short paragraphs, broken up with blank lines, and stick to the point.  

Avoid using all capital letters, as this is the Internet equivalent of shouting.

If you need to convey emotion, try an emoticon or acronym.  You may wish to use smiley faces or emoticons, to help convey what you're feeling, or how you'd like your reader to feel.  They're most appropriately used in casual e-mail, and most effective when used sparingly. I myself use them when I want to let the reader know that everything's okay, don't worry about it. Just as it's hard not to smile back when someone is smiling at you, the same goes for smiley faces. 

  :-)  

See what I mean?

By convention, many e-mail authors use commonly-accepted acronyms as shorthand. The following list is not exhaustive by any means but reflects some of the acronyms more frequently used in e-mail messages today:

BFN bye for now
BTW by the way
FAQ frequently asked question
FYI for your information
IMHO in my humble opinion
IMO in my opinion
IOW in other words
LOL laughing out loud -or- lots of luck
NRN no reply necessary
OIC oh, I see!
OTOH on the other hand
ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing
RTFM read the [fine] manual/message
SNAFU situation normal, all [fouled] up
TTYL talk to you later
TYVM thank you very much
WYSIWYG what you see is what you get

If you don't want a record of something you say, don't say it in an email message!  Since messages can be repeatedly forwarded or printed, pretend that your sending a copy of each message you compose for publication to the _Corsair_ or other local newspaper.   As a safety net to be sure no important information is lost, all our servers are backed up nightly.  Thus, even though you may delete a message, a copy of it resides on a tape drive somewhere and could come back to haunt you.  Remember Oliver North...

E-mail on campus should be used primarily for work-related functions, though personal use is accepted if it is minimal and is not a distraction from work. Don't immediately forward jokes or other non-work messages; chances are your recipients have seen it already, or else they may find it distracting (or embarrassing) to have such a message pop up on their workstation. 

6. Signatures

Finally, use a signature at the end of each message, so recipient will know how to reply to you by means other than e-mail. Don't always expect a reply. See http://www.miskatonic.org/e-mail.html ("Why haven't I replied to your e-mail?") for some insight on this subject. Silence does not mean someone agrees with you, disagrees with you, or is ignoring you -- silence is silence. If you expect a reply, make sure you end your message inviting that response or letting your recipient know that you will take no further action until you've received an answer. This is not bullying, but it's a courteous way of informing your recipient of what you expect and what you plan to do next.

The Outlook software in use at SMC makes it easy to add a signature to your email messages.  The signature gives your name, title, and contact information.  You can write and save several different signatures and select the one you want at the end of each message.  While in Outlook, look under the Tools menu, select Options, select the Mail Format tab, and click on Signature Picker.  To create a signature, click on New.  You can store several signatures if you like:  formal, informal, personal, etc.

7. Attachments

Use file attachments only when you have prearranged the transmission; never open a file attachment that comes from an unknown source or in a suspicious manner. Check with the Postmaster before issuing virus alerts -- many are hoaxes or have already been inoculated against.

To minimize download time, it's a good idea to compress any file that's over 100k in size, using programs like WinZip and PKZip. If you have to send multiple files and directories, compress all of them into one attached file. Also, make sure that you name your compressed file specifically, not some arbitrary name like:

file.zip

If you need to send a really large file, you may want to e-mail your recipient ahead of time, letting him know what time you'll be sending it over. If possible, send large files during off-peak hours, or during lunch, when computers aren't being used.

Replying to Messages

Some folks get dozens and dozens of e-mail a day, and chances are you're not the only one they're having a discussion with. To prevent misunderstanding, you should include all or at least part of the original message along with your reply, or at least reiterate the topic somewhere in your reply letter.

Imagine trying to figure out this e-mail:

     Hey Carl, sounds good.

Reiterating the original topic will help your reader know what you're talking about:

     Hey Carl, the barbecue this Saturday

     at 2pm sounds good. See you then.

If the original message is rather long, include it after your reply, using dashes or underlines to visually separate your reply from the original message. To help you out, most e-mail programs, including Outlook, automatically include arrows or other markers to distinguish your reply from the original message.

When you're going to be offline

Most email users expect replies within fairly short time periods, usually ranging from a few minutes to a few hours.  When you are away from your computer for more than a day or so, it is courteous to setup and automated reply letting people know when you'll be receiving email again.  Our email system, Outlook, provides this service with an easy-to-use feature called "Out of Office Assistant".  Simply enter Outlook, click on the Tools menu, and select "Out of Office Assistant".  You can enter your own message to provide as much information as you like. 

References

http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/emailrel.html ("Psychology of Cyberspace")

http://www.pbs.org/uti/guide/netiquette.html ("Beginner's Guide")

http://www.net-market.com/email.htm ("Art of Writing E-mail")

http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_286.html (List of Emoticons)