This tutorial is designed to provide you with specific guidelines you should follow when you use electronic technologies to communicate in an academic setting.
As you work through this tutorial, please notice that you have buttons and controls at the bottom of your screen that will allow you pause the tutorial or to move back and forward through the slides at any point in the presentation.
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In this tutorial we will quickly review what Netiquette is and then we will go over seven “rules” of Netiquette. At the end of the tutorial you will be provided with some resources that you can use to learn more about Netiquette.
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"Netiquette" is an abbreviation for "Internet etiquette." “Netiquette” refers to the set of guidelines for behaving properly online. Netiquette includes the conventionally acceptable guidelines that tell us how to be professional, clear, and courteous when we are communicating on the Internet. Netiquette guidelines should be used for all forms of electronic communication including but not limited to e‐mail, online chat, and online discussion forums. You can think of Netiquette as the “do's and don'ts of online communication.”
We will now look at some of the specific guidelines that are included in the list of Netiquette “rules.”
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Using all uppercase characters is considered shouting. Additionally, sentences that are written in all uppercase or all lowercase letters are difficult to read. So put in the extra effort to create sentences using the standard capitalization of an English sentence – that is, the first letter of the sentence is capitalized and all other words are in lowercase unless they require capitalization for a specific reason (e.g. proper nouns, acronyms, etc.).
(NOTE: An occasional word in all capital letters can add emphasis if used sparingly.)
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Use descriptive and specific subject lines. A meaningful and descriptive subject line points out the significance of the message you want to convey. Participants in a discussion forum often use the subject line to decide whether or not they want to read the discussion thread. Additionally, an e‐mail sent without a subject line is easily ignored as part of the e‐mail filtering process, especially if the recipient is unfamiliar with the sender.
Many professors will ask you to include your class and section number (e.g. SOC 200‐W0A) in the subject line of your e‐mail note. Hence it is a good idea to know this information and get in the habit of including it in the subject line of e‐mail notes that you send to your professors or fellow students.
Finally, it is important that you focus on one subject per message. When you reply to an e‐mail or discussion forum posting, you should change the subject line if your response veers off onto another topic.
Along with including a descriptive subject line, you should include a closing salutation with your name in your messages. It is considered courteous and professional to include your full name in this closing salutation.
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You should ALWAYS communicate in a professional and polite manner no matter what form of communication you are using! Written communication should be free of typographical and grammatical errors and should convey the appropriate tone.
Once again, remember that Netiquette outlines socially acceptable guidelines that tell us how to be professional, clear, and courteous when we are communicating on the Internet. It’s critically important that you maintain the same standard of ethics or personal behavior online that you follow in real life!
Remember that the people on the receiving end of your electronic communication are real people with feelings more or less like your own!
So, all that said, here are some general guidelines that fall under Rule #3 that you should follow…
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It is very common to be presented with some form of Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) when you use a computer network and Internet service such as those made available to you by your employer, a school, a public library, or at a cyber café. The AUP is a legal document. It outlines the terms of service for your use of the computer resources being provided to you. These terms of service include information on what is and is not allowed and it documents possible consequences of misuse. You may have to physically sign an AUP or click an “accept” button to indicate your acceptance of the terms. No matter what, you should read the AUP very carefully – more often than not, it will restrict you to using the resources for “business purposes only.”
That said, do not assume you have personal privacy rights regarding your use of computers and communication systems that belong to your school or your employer.
If you are using a work or school e‐mail account to send your message, do not send personal messages. Your employer or the school “owns” your e‐mail messages. Many companies keep backups of the files on their e‐mail servers. So, even though you delete a message, a record of it more than likely will remain on your company’s or school’s server.
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Be concise and clear and be sure to be relevant; select your words carefully so that they convey the meaning you intend.
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Do not use trendy abbreviations or “Netspeak” (e.g. TTFN – ta‐ta for now, PLZ –
please, BTW – by the way, IMHO – in my humble opinion). These abbreviations are cryptic, only serve to confuse the recipient, and are not professional.
That said, some conventions to show emotion are considered acceptable. Emoticons ‐ simple sideways faces also known as smileys – are common have evolved in every day usage. Here are a few examples: :‐)
:)
:‐(
:(
;‐)
happy face
happy face – no nose
sad face sad face – no nose
wink 9
Carefully proofread your message to check it for mistakes; ensure that your messages are professional, free of typographical and grammatical errors, and well‐
written. Use the “spell check” tool within the application you are using to type your message. As one of my very favorite professors once said, “I personally think spell check is technology’s greatest gifts!”
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Do not reply to an e‐mail, discussion post, or any other electronic communication when you are angry or frustrated. Heated messages are called flames, and they often come back to burn you (pun definitely intended).
If you are angry or stressed, wait to compose your message or, at a minimum, write it offline and walk away from it. Re‐read it later when you have calmed down a bit. This will be a better point in time to decide whether or not you want to send your reply.
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Do not say things in an electronic message that you would not say in a face‐to‐face situation. If you are talking about someone in your message, assume that the message can be forwarded to the person you’re talking about. Messages are often read by people other than the intended receiver.
Ask yourself the following question: Would you say what you’ve written or are about to write to the person's face? If the answer is no, rewrite, rethink, and reread your message.
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Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Remember that at the other end of every electronic message is another human being. When you communicate electronically though, all you and your intended audience see is a computer screen. You and your intended audience do not have the opportunity to use facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice to communicate your meaning.
Without face to face communication, your joke may be viewed as criticism. 13
Now on to Rule #4…
Reply only to the initial sender of an e‐mail; reply‐to‐all with purpose and consideration. In many cases, a reply to all receivers of an e‐mail is not necessary or appropriate.
The same guideline applies to discussion forums – reply with purpose and consideration. Read what has previously been posted by others and avoid repeating comments. 14
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) defines SPAM as “the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.”
SPAM includes chain e‐mails, urban legends, charity requests, e‐mails about lost children, advertising, etc. In order to ensure the messages you send or post do not fall into the category of SPAM, you should check their validity at Web sites like http://www.snopes.com/, http://www.truthorfiction.com/, or http://www.breakthechain.org/.
Besides being considered an unprofessional use of resources, dissemination of SPAM wastes bandwidth and time.
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Some people still use slower modems, dial‐up connections, and/or older computers. Large files create large downloads and/or place a heavy load on e‐mail and course management systems. If you do include file attachments, tell your audience what type of file(s) you are sending and warn them if they are large.
Knowing what type of file(s) they will be opening will provide them an opportunity to see if they have the necessary application or plug‐in to open and view the file. Knowing that the attachment is large will help them determine if they should plan for a long download time and/or think about using another computer.
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In the academic setting, you will be judged by the quality of your writing. Spelling and grammar do count!
Correspondence to your professors is a more formal correspondence than a message to your friends.
Do not be afraid to share what you know but be sure you know what you're talking about. If you find yourself opening a sentence with "it's my understanding that" or "I believe it's the case," ask yourself whether you really want to post your message or send your note before checking your facts.
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This concludes part 2 of our 3 part Netiquette tutorial.
The works referred to in preparing this tutorial are listed here for your reference.
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