Week 5 Lecture Notes PDF

Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 1 Lecture 25  More Challenges Handling difficult callers Dealing with angry callers Essential Telephone Skills Manage yo...

Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 1 Lecture 25  More Challenges Handling difficult callers Dealing with angry callers Essential Telephone Skills Manage your voice Highlights Be an active listener of the Be cheerful Know your caller Last Lecture Replace fear with confidence Be Polite Avoid Jargons Anticipate Problems Consider calls as opportunities You should be the person any body wants to talk to!  fusion between biology and technology  “All media are extensions of some human faculty... The wheel is an extension of the foot, the book is an extension of the eye... clothing, an extension of the skin... electric circuitry, an extension of the nervous system.” ~ Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message In Techno/Cyberculture Scenario… the extensions are the real All the extensions have gained so much autonomy that they have become the real They define and give identity to the source/subject of extension Amazing transformation cyberspace/cyberculture You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, What’s app, iPod... The web, the internet, the mobile New devices, new applications, new technologies, new practices This affects the Mind and the Body; the thought patterns, thinking capabilities; ways of expression/communication; change in language The “human” today is rarely divorced from technology. Technology is within medical technologies, beside telephones, and outside satellites. Man inhabits technology when he functions in a climate-controlled office space or technology inhabits man when it functions in him as a pacemaker. When man uses, for instance, a pair of eye-glasses as a prosthetic device, technology seems to be an appendage. Nevertheless, as man works in assembly line, he appears to serve as an appendage. S. Aronowitz, et al., Technoscience and Cyberculture  Who controls technology? Who benefits from it? Do we have a choice? Or who is choosing it for us? Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 2 Lecture 26  Impact and Influence of Technology in Communication Donna Haraway’s “Cyborgs”: Cybernetic Organisms Blurred interface between biotic and mechanical We became cyborgs by treating all media extensions of human faculty as real. Technological components define as well as give human Highlights identity. of the Machine is given human treatment and human is Last Lecture treated like a machine. Story: The father’s new car. The cyborgian shift is affecting the mind and the body. KEY WORDS: Control, Benefit and Choice Who controls technology? Who benefits from it? Do we have a choice? Or who is choosing it for us?  The purpose is to give mobility against fixity The main intention is to save time To help in emergency To connect people instantaneously To keep human contact intact.  Listen to songs or soothing music or watch movie before sleeping? Mobile alarm wakes you up? Do you have some mobile free hours like while walking, praying, playing some sports? Do you use only mobile phone to check time?  You prefer to listen to music only through your mobile. You prefer checking news through various mobile apps. You use only mobile phone calculator to make any calculations You use only mobile to store address and phone numbers In fact, you don’t bother to memorise them at all!  Forever, for 10 years, for 1 year, for some months, for 1 month, for 15 days, for 10 days, for 3 days, for 1 day, for some hours, for some minutes... CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT A MINUTE! (Nomophobia!)  Do you get nightmares about losing your phone? Are you afraid that your battery will run down soon? Do you keep an additional mobile as a spare? Do you get eye strain and neck problems due to texting and excessive use? Have you met with a car accident due to mobile use? Do you talk on phone while driving your bike? Do you miss important activities owing to your preoccupation with mobile? ( Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 3 Lecture 27  Influence of mobile on human personality How mobile has deviated from its main intention: saving time, help in emergency, distance connection, keep human relations intact Humans have become “Moborgs”: sleeping, playing games, watching movies, using it for checking time, calculation, address, etc Highlights Mobile addiction/Nomophobia Obsessive compulsive disorder of the Get angry, tensed, depressed without mobile Last Lecture Suggestions for become human: mobile free time, keeping it away, treating it as a slave, not using it as a substitute for watch, calculator, map, etc. Mobile Etiquette: Avoid when face-to-face communication is possible; be empathetic about other’s time; use apt caller/ring tone; use silent mode/switch off; use e-mail “The greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be a far greater threat on a global scale than warming, or the increase of chemical elements in the environment.” – Dr. Robert Becker, two-time Nobel prize nominee “Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous communication ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized.” – Marilyn vos Savant Before you learn how to send E-mails, it is important to unlearn your wrong learning by knowing first— How not to send E-mails! Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 4 Lecture 28  5Ps/Cardinal Principles of Soft Skills and Personality Development: Planning Preparedness Persuasiveness Highlights Presentability of the Perseverance Last Lecture We looked at some E-mail examples which violate the above principles! Before you learn how to send E-mails, it is important to unlearn your wrong learning by knowing first— How not to send E-mails! How not to send E-Mails! “Hello Madam: I wanna go to my house. So, I gonna Bad E-mail bunk your classes for the next two days. Give me Examples! two days leve, as I have to go out of stetion. Cheers! Shakshi.” “HISIR: URGENT MATTER. VERY IMPORTANT. SUFFERING FROM SEVERE STOMACH PAIN. CANNOT COME TO WRITE THE EXAM. GIVE ME REEXAM. GIVE ME AN EASY QUESTION PAPER AS HEADACHE IS ALLOWING ME NOT TO FOCUS ON STUDY. LOTS OF LUV, ARJUN.” How not to send E-Mails! “Hello Madam: I wanna go to my house. So, I gonna Bad E-mail bunk your classes for the next two days. Give me Examples! two days leve, as I have to go out of stetion. Cheers! Shakshi.” “HISIR: URGENT MATTER. VERY IMPORTANT. SUFFERING FROM SEVERE STOMACH PAIN. CANNOT COME TO WRITE THE EXAM. GIVE ME REEXAM. GIVE ME AN EASY QUESTION PAPER AS HEADACHE IS ALLOWING ME NOT TO FOCUS ON STUDY. LOTS OF LUV, ARJUN.” How not to send E-Mails! How not to send E-Mails! How not to send E-Mails! To: ;;;; ; ;;;;;;;; ;;; CC: ; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject:Re:Re: Regardin Simmer Training in yr Institution........................................ref:: dr. Satya Pal Singh, IITK, (assistant professor ,Physics).....Now in MMM Gorakhpur Main body (in text) of the e-mail: SIR/ MADAM, Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, IITK, e-mail-- [email protected] (assistant professor , Physics).... Now in MMM Gorakhpur I ,AJAY KUMAR, PERSUING B.TECH IN THIRD YEAR WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE BRANCH IN M. I. T. ,MODINGAR , AFFILIATED TO GBTU ,LUCKNOW FORMERLY KNOWN AS UPTU.I WANT TO DO SUMMER TRAINING / INTERNSHIP IN IIT KANPUR WITH AN ENDEVOUR.SO I AM SENDING MY RESUME WITH THIS MAIL IN ATTACHMENT.CONSIDER THAT AS PER REQUIREMENT. PLEASE CONSIDER MY RESUME. I WILL SEEING YOUR RESPONSE SOON U MUST MESSAGE ME AT 9451145553 Luv to C U ON AJAYKUMAR.FACEBOOK.COM Bad E-mail Examples! How not to send E-Mails! To: ;;;; ; ;;;;;;;; ;;; CC: ; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject:Re:Re: Regardin Simmer Training in yr Institution........................................ref:: dr. Satya Pal Singh, IITK, (assistant professor ,Physics).....Now in MMM Gorakhpur Main body (in text) of the e-mail: SIR/ MADAM, Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, IITK, e-mail-- [email protected] (assistant professor , Physics).... Now in MMM Gorakhpur I ,AJAY KUMAR, PERSUING B.TECH IN THIRD YEAR WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE BRANCH IN M. I. T. ,MODINGAR , AFFILIATED TO GBTU ,LUCKNOW FORMERLY KNOWN AS UPTU.I WANT TO DO SUMMER TRAINING / INTERNSHIP IN IIT KANPUR WITH AN ENDEVOUR.SO I AM SENDING MY RESUME WITH THIS MAIL IN ATTACHMENT.CONSIDER THAT AS PER REQUIREMENT. PLEASE CONSIDER MY RESUME. I WILL SEEING YOUR RESPONSE SOON U MUST MESSAGE ME AT 9451145553 Luv to C U ON AJAYKUMAR.FACEBOOK.COM Bad E-mail Examples! Conveying E-Mail sent to Students Group by a Student Leader: bad news! Hi Guys & Gals: It’s so funny that our friend Shekar finally decided to propose to our college beauty queen Shilpa. Shilpa as usual rejected his proposal too! Poor fellow! Took it to heart! Drank a lot alone! Felt pain at night. Roommate took him to hospital. They refused. He was sent to a specialised hospital. Know what? Guys, he died on the way! Really felt sorry for this fellow yaar! Stupid guy! Don’t drink tonight. Come for his funeral tomorrow! C U tom... BEST STUDENT’S UNIVERSITY Vice-Chancellor’s Office August 10, 2016 Conveying COMMUNIQUE bad news With profound grief and regret, the University informs the sudden demise of Mr. Shekar Kumar Gupta (28417089) today afternoon. properly! Mr. Gupta was an M. A. student in the Literature Department. He reported to our dispensary at about 1.45 hrs with neck and chest pain for which requisite treatment and investigation was administered. However ECG revealed severe cardiac problem at an advanced stage and he was immediately referred to the specialized Cardiology Institute in the city. Unfortunately he expired before the doctors in that hospital could attend to him. The sad news of his demise has been communicated to his family who are expected to arrive in the campus later tonight. The University deeply mourns this untimely and most unfortunate death of one of its beloved students. We sincerely sympathize with the bereaved family and pray to the Almighty for eternal peace of the departed soul. Vinod Mallik Vice-Chancellor Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 5 Lecture 29  How not to send (bad) e-mails? ✓ Use of formal salutation Highlights ✓ Avoiding excessive use of capital letters of the ✓ Avoiding slang and colloquial language Last Lecture ✓ Avoiding mixing up of two languages ✓ Avoiding text language in formal communication ✓ Showing regard for punctuation, spelling and grammar ✓ Mailing only to the concerned person  “The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.” ~ Sydney J. Harris  What is Netiquette? ▪A portmanteau word combined from “Internet”/“network” and “etiquette.” Etiquette is an umbrella term for rules governing socially & culturally acceptable behavior. ▪Netiquette thus refers to the correct, proper, polite, acceptable social, official, professional norms, behavioral patterns, and expected decorum for using the Internet or the cyberspace for communication purposes. ▪Netiquette is about your code of conduct on the internet. Facebook, mailing lists, blogs, forums and chats  However, no body receives any formal training for sending e-mails! Do Not Forget that the Receiver is a Human Being!  Give human touch and personal appeal through suitable use of words, smileys and emoticons. Consideration for others is thus, the cardinal netiquette principle one should always bear in mind.  Remember: Written words can be stored permanently  The e-mail sent casually can return with so much malignity that the sender regrets throughout his or her life for having sent that one thoughtless mail!  Ironically, the receiver controls the sent e-mail!  The receiver decides, even if you have requested that the mail should be deleted immediately, whether to delete or store the mail for future use! So be careful about sending a message that would embarrass you if shared with others or exposed to the general public. Be Ethically Correct!  The old saying, “All is fair in love and war,” may be modified to suit the mind- set of many internet users and as: “All is fair in love, war, and cyberspace.” Or, at least, that is what many net work users believe when they post materials which are unethical or communicate by lowering their ethical standards for the internet.  Because of the risk of being caught in unethical practice is very high, and also the fact that, if caught, it can damage reputation gained for years, one should be ethically correct. Developing Week 5 Soft Skills and Personality Module 6 Lecture 30  Highlights of the Last Lecture Make sense, though it is difficult to!  Make sense, though it is difficult to! It is easy to make no-sense in e-mails, especially when people type whatever comes to their mind without bothering to know whether what is expressed clearly reflects their thoughts. Making sense is difficult—as it means curtailing some bad writing habit accumulated over a period of time.  To Make Sense... Plan your e-mail before hand Note down what you want to convey Prepare yourself by writing a rough draft Present it in a readable manner... Be Clear, Concise and Coherent...  Use simple words with short sentence constructions Avoid flowery, poly-syllabic words, long and complicated sentences. Spend an extra-minute to save an hour of the receiver!  Extra time should be spent on editing the text, checking the spelling, inserting emoticons, making use of punctuation marks, dividing lengthy matter into readable paragraphs, remembering to type a descriptive subject line, and finally, by not sending an unsolicited and irrelevant mail! Let us briefly look at each of these aspects in the following sub- headings. Keep it Short  Keep it Short Keep your e-mails focused in content and short in length. People generally do not have time to read long mails. Some by default delete lengthy mails!  Keep it Short If you cannot convey an idea effectively in a short paragraph you can never do the same in a long essay! Rule = 1 idea: 1 paragraph! In case an e-mail has to be significantly and justifiably lengthy owing to the nature of the subject matter, then use subheadings, paragraph divisions, spaces in between paragraphs to make it easy for reading and understanding. E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Pay Attention to Subject lines  Subject Lines Tell me the subject lines that you keep sending, I can tell you who you are! Subject lines, apart from describing the inner content of the matter, have much to tell about you as a person—whether you are sloppy, casual, flippant, uncouth, lazy or sincere, serious, meticulous, dedicated, professional, sophisticated and stylish.  Subject lines: NO SUBJECT! The worst subject line that an e-mail can have is “[ No Subject].” Because the e-mail is either sent in a hurry without subject line, or the subject is just not thought of! Indicates that the sender is unmindful of the precious time the receiver has to spend in opening, reading, and understanding the subject, and quite often realize that it is an irrelevant message that needs to be deleted. Subject Lines ✓ Should clearly express the content ✓ Should give freedom to the receiver to exercise an option of opening the mail or deleting it. × Should not use tempting subject lines like: “Free holiday trip to Goa”; “Open and become Bill Gates!”; “Stay young forever.” × Should not over-emphasize the subject by capitalizing them or by creating a false sense of urgency. Subject Lines... Story: Manager’s standard subject line: “URGENT MATTER: RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.” Employees never responded! When you repeat the same subject matter it loses its sense of urgency and emphasis! Subject Lines... ✓ Use a short, descriptive phrase indicating the core idea of the e-mail. ✓ If it is a meeting, mention the time, date and venue in the subject line [e.g.: Director’s Meeting: 21 June 2016, 10 A. M., Conference Room-CR3]. ✓ If it is an e-mail invitation for a talk, you can mention the name of the speaker and the topic on the subject line [e.g.: Talk on Cybernetics, Kevin Warwick, LH-16, 28 June 16, 4 P. M.] This will help the receiver to have a quick idea about the mail even without opening it!  E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Respect reply! {Avoid: Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:R e:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re: Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:}  Respect Reply! ✓ Use a subject line while replying a mail instead of leaving the automated “Re:” for reply. ✓ Example: An e-mail request for urgent loan, the employer’s reply with the subject line “Re: Amount Sanctioned” can be a great relief to the employee even before opening the mail! ꭖ Do not use an old mail for the sake of address without changing the subject matter, which will be worse than sending the mail without any subject!  Respect Reply! As the Convener of the Department Postgraduate Committee, I received a mail from a colleague of mine with the subject matter: “Re: Vending Machine” but the mail requested me to forward a new PG course developed by the sender! Obviously, my colleague has used an earlier mail in which we had shared some suggestions on the Vending Machine, but to have that as a subject line for a course forwarding request is too inappropriate!  E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Avoid Typing in FULL CAPITALS!  Avoid typing in FULL CAPITALS Unnecessary use of capitals is considered SHOUTING or YELLING. MOREOVER, LONG SENTENCES WITH FULL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE DIFFICULT TO COMPREHEND AND EYES TAKE MORE TIME TO CAPTURE THE MESSAGE. You could see the difference just by reading the previous sentence itself!  E-MAIL ETIQUETTE No random CCing/ Do not Reply All  No random CCing/Do not Reply All ꭖ Do Not Copy to many or reply all when the message seeks the attention of a single receiver. ꭖ It is considered rude, bad-mannered, discourteous, and even uncouth because the sender is taking for granted the time of unsolicited receivers. Even just the time it takes to identify that the mail is unwarranted and then to delete it is unworthy. Hence, habitual or inadvertent copying to many or replying all should be avoided at all cost! E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Use Abbreviations Discretely  Use of Abbreviations ✓ Use abbreviations or acronyms, which are commonly known and universally recognizable. ✓ AKA (also known as), ASAP (as soon as possible), BTW (by the way), CUL8R (see you later), FYI (for your information), KIT (keep in touch), LOL (laughing out loud), SYS (see you again), TYVM (thank you very much), WRT (with respect to). × Using abbreviations according to one’s whims and fancy, and that too with inconsistent spellings would cause confusion to the receiver. × The message can be distorted or misrepresented and result in evoking a negative response.  E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Avoid Spelling, Grammar Mistakes & Typographical Errors  Spelling Mistakes/Typographical Errors ✓ Check your e-mail for spelling, grammar mistakes and typographical errors. ✓ Use in-built spell checker that underlines errors while typing itself. ✓ Pay attention to those underlined words, you will not only save plenty of the receiver’s time but also ensure that your message is communicated effectively! Bad spelling and frequent typographical errors reflect illiteracy and lack of professionalism!  E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Take Note of Punctuation Marks!  Punctuation Marks Many wrongly think that punctuation marks are not necessary while sending e-mails. But punctuation marks, capitalization, and spaces after punctuation marks are very necessary for clear communication. Have a look at the following mail that I received from a research scholar. You can note how the sender’s scant regard for punctuation, capitalization, and rampant use of personal abbreviations have immensely affected the readability and effectiveness of the mail:  Punctuation Marks?! thanks for d suggestion sir if u can give me some more suggestions so it l be very kind from ur side actually I m P.G wd 67% in IInd year n wd 62% as al over i was doing ph.d under mrs. b. r. Agarwal, the principal of sarawati devi college bt coz of d entrance announcement in kanpur university i could nt get my thesis registered n it was also coz of the busy schedule of my guide so as per my per n ds situation wt should i do kindly send ur suggestions I wil be obliged so sorry for ani eror E-MAIL ETIQUETTE Check Your Computer Clock  Check your computer clock Set your system clock correctly (A.M. or P. M.) You will profusely confuse your reader during the fixing of an appointment for future while your mail would indicate a time lapsed in the past! Conclusion Netiquette norms, if followed, could generate a high level of professionalism and likeability and result in getting favorable responses in internet based communication. Use this lecture as a quick check list for Netiquette and build up a reputation for sending good, engaging, thoughtful, time-saving, useful, effective and interesting E-Mails!  TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION! And the moral... Thanks to technology, we can now waste time with an efficiency until now unimaginable, all in the name of saving time!