Welcome! IEEE Region 2 Meeting April 9-10, 2005 Sheraton Four-Points, Baltimore MD

Electronic Communications Presentation to IEEE Region 2 Leadership April 9, 2005 Valorie J. King, SM IEEE Region 2 Electronic Communications Coordinator

Have Your People Call My People … US Mail / Postal Service US Mail / Postal Service Telephone Conferencing Telephone Conferencing Internet Chat (text) Internet Chat (text) Web-based Collaboration and/or Portals Web-based Collaboration and/or Portals –Integrated whiteboard / slides –Voice (VoIP or PSTN) –Chat Rooms / Private Channels –Documents / Web Pages –Asynchronous Chat (threaded discussions)

So What Are We Missing? Or rather, “why isn’t this working?”

Access Issues “It never works for me.” “Give me paper – I hate reading ‘stuff’ on screen.”

Access & Participation Common Tools Common Tools –Access –Training Connectivity Requirements Connectivity Requirements – Address –56 K vs. Broadband –Phone Numbers Member Acceptance / Disenfranchisement Member Acceptance / Disenfranchisement –Some members insist upon paper publications and US Mail ONLY

Access & Participation Equal Access for Disabled Equal Access for Disabled –Americans with Disabilities Act –Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act –Ethical Issues Controlling Access Controlling Access –Encryption –User / Password Management –“By Invitation”

The “Ugly” Side … of E-Comms

Personal Privacy “Why should I give you my phone number and address?”

Privacy vs. “Need to Share” Disclosure Disclosure –Do I have a right to this information? –Do I have a right to share this info? –Intellectual Property Rights –Increased network-based attacks (Eavesdropping or electronic monitoring) Need “rules of the road” Need “rules of the road” –Members / Participants –Moderators / Hosts / Officers / Lead Volunteers

Communications Glitches “I never said that.” “You found WHAT?”

Text Voice Misunderstandings are rampant Misunderstandings are rampant –Body language –Auditory cues (pitch, tone, rhythm) “He said / She said” (Repudiation) “He said / She said” (Repudiation) –“I didn’t say that” (voice) –“I didn’t say that” (text) Expectations of Privacy vs. Reality Expectations of Privacy vs. Reality –Teleconferencing –Text Chat

Inadvertent Disclosures Hidden / Non-obvious Text Hidden / Non-obvious Text –File Properties –Change History Commentary Commentary Previous Versions Previous Versions –“Notes” (Power Point) Ready-Fire-Aim Ready-Fire-Aim –Wrong person / group / forum –High Emotion Communications

Legal Issues Do you have professional liability insurance? Does it cover volunteer activities?

Ways To Get In Trouble Intellectual Property Rights Intellectual Property Rights Proprietary Information Proprietary Information Copyright Infringement Copyright Infringement –“fair use” vs. Internet sharing Licensing Licensing –“private” or “home use” may not apply Perceived “Discrimination” Perceived “Discrimination” Ethics and the “Washington Post Test” Ethics and the “Washington Post Test”

Moving On …

Quality Counts “There’s never anything worth reading.” “What’s out there is old and out of date.”

Make “it” worth the Bandwidth SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM –Should that be sent? Forwarded? –What about chat? Web extensions & plug-ins Web extensions & plug-ins –Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Accuracy and Quality Accuracy and Quality Look & Feel Look & Feel –Principles of Publication Design

Accuracy & Quality Life-cycle Management Life-cycle Management –Regular Updates –Continuity / Handoff Stewardship / Content Management Stewardship / Content Management Archiving Archiving User / Community Feedback User / Community Feedback Meta data + Visible Info = Searchable Meta data + Visible Info = Searchable

Look & Feel Perception Management Perception Management –Low Quality Ugly, Boring, Hard to Use Ugly, Boring, Hard to Use –High Quality Easy to Use, Easy to Find Easy to Use, Easy to Find Visually Interesting Visually Interesting “Drive through” Navigation “Drive through” Navigation Marketing & “Brand” Management Marketing & “Brand” Management

Make it worth the $$$ What am I getting for my dues? What website?

Are Your E-Comms Effective? Choose The Right Channel Choose The Right Channel Measures of Effectiveness Measures of Effectiveness –How do you know? Revisit Rates Revisit Rates New Contributions New Contributions Other Metrics? Other Metrics? Content Development & Management Content Development & Management –Volunteers vs. Contracted-Out –Cost / Benefit

Shared Responsibility We’re not all “plugged in and turned on.” “Late adopters may need to be dragged ‘kicking and screaming’ into the information age.”

Bottom Line: Members want value for their time and money. They don’t want hassles. They don’t want roadblocks.

Questions?

Day 2: Best Practices for Electronic Communications Presentation to IEEE Region 2 Leadership April 10, 2005 Valorie J. King, SM IEEE Region 2 Electronic Communications Coordinator

IEEE Virtual Communities Web-based portal Web-based portal –Documents / Files –Threaded Discussions –Surveys / Polls Region / Section Forums Region / Section Forums Society Forums Society Forums Special Interest Forums Special Interest Forums

The Good … Untethered Information Exchange Untethered Information Exchange –Web access from anywhere. –Persistent Storage Access / share documents Access / share documents –Group Collaboration Text chat / chat rooms Text chat / chat rooms –Individuals –Groups

The Ugly … Low participation Low participation Stale content Stale content is perceived as: is perceived as: –Easier –More private –More easily controlled –Universally available Firewalls May Block Chat Firewalls May Block Chat

Using The R2 Leadership Forum Why Why What What Who Who How Often How Often

Using The R2 Leadership Forum What SHOULD NOT be on the VC? What SHOULD NOT be on the VC? What are the limitations? What are the limitations? –File storage –Others?

Other Issues?