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E-mail Essentials in Training Media ReviewEmail Essentials: Legal and Appropriate Use of Email, video, Quality Media Resources (800-800-5129, fax 206-462-7087, info@qmr.com, www.qmr.com), 28 min. (management version). Other materials: facilitator guide, user guide. Available in network-ready multimedia version as well.Let's first dispose of a slight irony. A video about email? Is this the revenge of the old medium on the new? No, video is a good choice to raise some issues about communication in a new channel. (But if I were the producer, I'd think seriously about making a CD version of this program. It's well suited for self-study.) This highly polished production typical of QMR explores the misuses and abuses of email in the workplace. It presents the most important legal pitfalls posed by email communciation such as using email as an instrument of harassment. It also presents uses inappropriate to the workplace such as commercial or political solicitation. The public sector version of the video adds a couple of categories appropriate to government communication. The management version of both the public and private sector tapes adds concerns specific to supervisors and above. The program structure consists of brief and almost stark vignettes presenting potential abuses of email. The vignettes are well acted by the "Seattle ensemble" of actors used by that city's robust community of training producers, Quality Media Resources, Media Partners, and Ross Shafer Productions. Some of the vignettes drag a little because it isn't a scintillating video experience watching someone type a long message. The subject is given a serious treatment, but the prevailing tone is wry. And that's an accomplishment considering the number of lawyers who get airtime. I wince at any training program that features a host of lawyers and their dour warnings of litigation. But, in this program, I must admit, their advice and cautions are important and the director has tamed them. They give low-key, matter-of-fact presentations. Their key theme: email is neither private nor confidential. Messages can easily be misdirected, intercepted, or retrieved from computer archives. Users should be aware that all the norms and limits of communication that apply to public speech in the workplace apply to email. Would employees go office to office at their company soliciting customers for a weight loss regime? For a political cause? Most would not, but they might be tempted to do it by email. Would a supervisor write a memo filled with bluntly discriminatory statements about an older employee? The privacy of email might seem to protect the statements-until the employee's lawyer wants access to the company's email archive and a data retrieval specialist shows up with a court order. Recommendation This video is an effective vehicle for raising consciousness about email communication issues. It's a good candidate for individual study and the producer has recognized that by offering a self-study track in the user guide. And there's one more positive: the package is moderately priced. Email Essentials Holds viewer interest **1/2 Acting/Presenting **1/2 Women & minorities **** Production quality ***1/2 Value of content **1/2 Instructional value *** Value for the money **1/2 Overall rating *** Bill Ellet (wellet@tmreview.com) is editor of Training Media Review. This review is reprinted from Training Media Review, an online and print publication offering peer evaluations of media-based training and tips and tools on training. Visit our website at www.tmreview.com. Copyright © TMR Publications. Reprinted by permission. |
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