Dear All,
I hope that you will not mind if I try at the very start to set out some rules ('ground rules') on behaviour when responding to each other during our discussions. My years of experience from moderating online discussions of various types has taught me that such 'ground rules' are very helpful whenever a new group forms.
JISCMail already has some guidance.
On Acceptable use: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/acceptableuse.html
On Etiquette: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/etiquette.html
In addition, over the years, the learners on the MSc course I tutor on developed the following rules:
1) What works well?
- Keep to the point.
- Any criticisms should be supportive,timely and specific. Positive feedback should be included.
- Keep your message brief (one screen) if possible. Use attachments (only if necessary) and summarise its contents clearly.
- Use 'declarative titles' - i.e. when starting a new discussion email, make sure the title of the posting gives people a good idea of what the message is about.
- Follow the threading structure of JISCMail (i.e don't change email titles nor start a new email on the same topic).
- Keep abbreviations to a minimum. Any used should be explained.
- All genuine contributions are welcome.
- Be considerate and respectful.
2) What doesn't work well?
- Do not be selfish
- Do not show off
- Do not 'talk' for the sake of it - and avoid overlong contributions
3) Other points
- Interesting but not directly related contributions should go into a new email message
- If you want to recommend a website or reference, you should explain why people might find it useful so that others don't waste time following links of marginal relevance to them
Of course these rules are only a starting point and so feel free to discuss or add to them as you see fit.
Thanks for reading
Geoff
