Compatibility and consideration

Thanks for your letter.

Yours, Communications Elf.

PS Only kidding, but I thought I should be keeping it brief!

I think it is important that people act with consideration.  There is a theory that the ‘keyboard divide’ can help create a barrier which ideas can get across but which impedes good manners.  I think there may be some truth in that, and the ability to communicate almost immediately can mean that there is not always the pause for reflection and thought we may like.  Mind you, I think the same is often true with other forms of communication – people knocking on doors or perpetually ringing your phone can be more disturbing than emails cluttering up your inbox.

I really like your suggestions of joined-up-e-resources.  I think one of the problems Santa may have in delivering this quickly comes down to the compatibility issues you mention.    In some cases it should be possible to work around these with ‘middleware’ (a bit like waxing sleigh skids, the idea is this makes things run more smoothly) – in other cases, we may have to wait until the university changes to new systems.

Yours,

Communication Elf.