Article here: http://web.wellesley.edu/SocialComputing/Netiquette/netiquetteprofessor.html
Summary: This Wellesley College article on “netiquette” explains what is expected and what is appropriate when emailing your professors, particularly ones who you’re less familiar with. I was a little shocked that so many points were raised- points that I thought were implied as far as communicating with anyone since we are able to write. But I suppose many people are not informed or well practiced (at least, not at Wellesley College… ). One bit in particular was what I thought was the most important, conceptually: “E-mail has often been seen as a democratizing system of communication that flattens hierarchies and that allows people of all sorts to communicate comfortably and freely with each other. We value the ease of communication that e-mail offers us – but we who work a Wellesley have also learned, over time, that we don’t quite want our e-mail with students to feel like an instant-message exchange.”
Response: I feel that for student-professor interactions that are either infrequent or very temporary, the suggestions in this article are very important to keep in mind. “Flattening hierarchies” was my favorite key point because I have experienced that for myself and thought it was interesting that a faculty member/professor of a college brought that up in the article because they would technically be higher on said “hierarchy” in real life. However- and I am aware that this is more of a side topic than a direct response to the article- I feel that articles like this and keeping so many rules in mind can impede on the more casual communication that naturally comes with bettering your relationship with your professors. I think this article and others like it are slightly condescending to individuals like myself who are perfectly capable of conducting conversation casually and cordially.
gazzi holloway: 