Comments on: Vacation eMail Page

By: Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:36:44 +0000

Hiya Howard! How is it going, my friend? Hope you had a good Easter break! This is just too funny! That article you referenced from Techcrunch was already on my drafts for this week’s progress report on my fight against work related e-mail. So far I have found it a really fascinating read, not so much for the overall content of the article, but because of the extensive commentary it has already. It is interesting to see how the vast majority of folks try to justify something that is just *so* broken.

I mean, the conversations that are open, public should be out there, in the open, ready for everyone to chime accordingly and not have to have them hidden in some obscure e-mail system that we all know no-one is going to look into.

E-mail still has got its value, don’t take me wrong, but it needs to be re-purposed and used for what it was originally intended for: a communication tool between two individuals with a need to share sensitive or private information. The rest should go out in the open so that everyone benefits from it.

That’s why, for the last seven weeks I have been doing this experiment, I have seen how much of a tremendous impact it is having in those around me and myself on how we get together to collaborate with one another. And your example is a living one of how those interactions can be improved by sharing them out in the open, like you have just done with the Techcrunch article.

So thanks for that, too! Have a good one!

By: Howard K Smith

Howard K Smith — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:51:44 +0000

Chris – I can vouch for it affecting the way I think about connecting / sharing with Luis. I saw this article

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/23/a-crisis-in-communication/

while on holiday and made a mental note to share with Luis – remembering that I ”couldn’t / shouldn’t” email it because he wouldn’t see and certainly not in proper context. Viola – I’m able to share it with him and add to your awareness of impact(s) of experiment.

Luis – More fodder for your fire, my friend.

By: Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:01:26 +0000

Hi Chris! Thanks a lot for the feedback comments and for dropping by! Appreciated the feedback on the follow up from this experiment. Yes, indeed, I am changing MY behaviour in how I process and work with e-mail, and as a result that one from THEM is also changing.

The good and very encouraging thing is that people who I am interacting with, or getting through to me, are starting to make use of those social software tools. I am continuing to make much heavier use, week by week, of blogs, Beehive, Sametime, BlueTwit, Cattail, wikis, Quickr, Dogear, etc. etc. Basically, getting more involved with folks for interactions that used to happen on e-mail, but now on social software tools.

So the e-mail count is getting lower, but an exponential growth in the social computing space is getting more and more noticeable. For sure. Yes, I changing MY behaviour, and also THEIRS to some extent. And so far so good.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

By: Chris Reckling

Chris Reckling — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:24:03 +0000

Hi – I am following this little experiment of yours closely. It is very interesting because not only are you changing YOUR behavior, but you are also asking people who want to contact you to change THEIRS, too. Are you still getting the same amount of other “contact” via ST, Beehive, or whatever? or do people just go elsewhere, using their old email patterns (in which case, I guess it wasn’t that important for you to respond anyway!)?

Chris