Discussion session 1 Breaking down the barriers to communication

Message Identify an owner Use appropriate subject lines – use words like ‘important’ sparingly Use templates to save time Keep messages short and structured, one topic per message Use links for more information Keep handbooks short – some people found moving from a handbook to single sheet with links effective Make sure language is clear and understandable to audience  

Sender Target the message – find out who will be interested Identify the appropriate channel(s) Create new channels if necessary to target appropriate people Make the message interesting so people will want to read it, but.. .. don’t assume people have read the message – check! (eg check read receipts on email, see if calls coming to service desk change after message has been released)  

Sender Use appropriate language – this may require plain English or other training Manage expectations – eg “we’ll update you in 2 hrs” Get the timing right – eg Tuesday afternoons best time for email newsletters Have a procedure for sending allstaff emails, with only certain people authorised – cut down on ‘spam’  

Recipient Remember different users have different skill levels and work in different ways (eg not everybody reads email everyday) Use appropriate language for the audience Set up systems people can subscribe to (or opt out of)

Channel Look for existing channels you can use – eg back of wage slips, faculty comms channels – and piggy back on existing projects (eg registration) Have a single authoritative source of information, and make sure everybody knows what this is, but… …provide multiple additional channels to allow for different preferences. Produce once, distribute to multiple channels Consider how messages are cascaded Put events in people’s calendars

Channel Information should be available when it is required (eg popups) Messages may go out on different channels at different times (eg 2 weeks before on website, one day before on Twitter) Use external channels (eg Facebook, Twitter) – useful when internal network fails, but… …Be careful about using students’ social spaces We need to make better use of mobile technology

Channel What worked What didn’t work Face to face contact Students providing peer support Stall at freshers’ fair - but students may suffer from information overload Induction seminars Compulsory distance learning workshop at start - timing of session may conflict with other activities - not successful for everybody Talk at end of Library tour / joint publications with other services Use local contacts to cascade messages Messages may not always be cascaded in all areas

Channel What worked What didn’t work Twitter / Facebook / RSS feeds / SMS – use throughout year Self-help information on web Podcasts on websites Printed materials in unusual formats Updating printed literature – often left until week before term starts Develop a communication strategy, including stakeholder analysis

See also the discussion session at the UCISA 2010 User Support Conference - The paper chase − is technology a barrier to communication?