Notes from 54th International STC Conference
Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 13-16, 2007

E-Mail and Digital Literacies:
What We Know from the Field of Internet Studies

Laura Gurak

Gurak is a professor and chair of the Department of Writing Studies, within the Scientific and Technical Communication programs at the University of Minnesota.

Session Description: This session explored how e-mail, the "killer app" of the internet, had a profound impact on all other forms of writing. It presented a short case of e-mail communication using simple linguistic and rhetorical analysis to illustrate "the trouble with tribbles": messages duplicate, spawn new messages, travel widely, and in the end lead to more confusion than understanding, in part because the genre conventions of e-mail seem to drive the conversation, rather than the other way around.

• The overarching problem with e-mail is that we are trying to use it for too many things.
• Why being an internet researcher is like going fishing
   
• Must have good aim
• Must have patience but know when to move on
• Most productive times are early a.m. and at dusk
• You never know when something may bite
• The technology may change but the fish don't


• Cyberliteracy – the new key terms for reading and writing
   
• Speed
   
• Orality
• Casualness
• Redundancy/repetition
• Reach
   
• Multiplicity
• Globalness
• Lack of gatekeeping
• Visual reach
• Community
• Anonymity
   
• Identity/gender
• Authorship/ownership
• Flaming
• Interactivity
   
• Being on the inside
• Talking back
• Online presence
• E-commerce


• E-Mail: The Killer App. Per Internet America's Online Pursuits report (2003): "Internet users overwhelmingly rely on e-mail as their communication tool of choice; more than nine in ten online Americans have sent or read e-mail."
• But is e-mail killing us?
   
• Immediacy
• Reach (CC and Reply All create a vast amount of cybernoise and more than an occasional personnel issue)
• Flaming, lack of social cues
• "Flat" medium
• Spam and junk mail
• Attachments vs file servers and version control
• "Stream-of-consciousness" e-mail
• Workplace communication problems


• The Trouble with Tribbles. "... a space trader, Cyrano Jones, gives Uhura a purring ball of fluff known as a tribble. Charmed by the creature, Uhura takes it back to the Enterprise. However, as McCoy soon learns, tribbles are born pregnant and the more they eat. .. and they eat constantly... the more they reproduce .. and the starship was soon overrun with the fuzzy creatures."



• The trouble...
   
• Speed, reach
• Redundant, inefficient
• Viral nature of e-mail
• Multi-model (Kress 2003) – professional to confessional
• Legal implications (workplace)
• Academics and e-mail (long polemics in e-mail)
• E-mail and today's written literacies (the "bleed over" factor)
• E-mail has "a tail"... it can be used at your trial!


• Media richness
   
• Richest: face-to-face
• Next: telephone
• Next: Written (addressed documents)
• Lowest: Unaddressed documents (junk mail)


• Very commonly, e-mail results in people sending their first draft (stream-of-consciousness, unstructured, rife with mechanical errors, etc.)
• Rules of the Road
   
• E-mail is written, not spoken
• Use professional tone and style
• Remember that digital texts persist
• Do not send work e-mail in the evenings
• If it's longer than one screen, wait to send
• If it involves complex or personal concerns, try a meeting or phone call first
• Do not send huge attachments (use common e-repositories like servers)
• Do not blanket every list you can think of
• Develop an ethic of thoughtfulness and care with e-mail communication (do not be taken in by the dark side!)


• A hybrid of e-mail and telecoms is an effective communication solution for distributed work groups. Precede meetings with e-mails establishing the agenda and follow meetings with e-mails summarizing actions taken/needed. Take advantage of the speed of verbal communication to handle the detail... and also leverage the greater richness of the telephone. Ditto for videocon, with the added richness of visual communication.
• One way to handle constant e-mail traffic is to quickly parse it into folders like "Later Today," "Friday," and "Optional." Don't respond immediately to e-mail unless you really have to. Some of it will be overtaken by events (OBE); some of it will be redundant, allowing consolidation of effort in replying.
• Auto Reply can be used to communicate the fact that you have limited access to e-mail during a specific period of time.
• Within an organization, one can set up a formula for levels of priority and key the subject lines accordingly.
• What's Your Experience?
   
• Why does everyone keep using e-mail for everything?
• What other applications are most useful for virtual teamwork?
• What about blogs and wikis?