CEDA-L Archives May Hurt You - Caution

[asnider@moose.uvm.edu (Alfred C. Snider)]

Mr. Dumas writes:

> I plan on having a searchable, single message
>retrievable database set up next semester at Gonzaga.

I think that this is a very good idea.

What this means is that a future employer (a school considering you for a
coaching job, a school considering you for a graduate assistantship,
anyone) can put in the name of a person and retrieve all of that person's
messages and look at them.

I fully expect this to become a regular part of hiring practices.

CEDA-L is not just one time public, it lives on. Those who call names and
say incredibly offensive things might want to think about this.

-Hundred and hundreds of people see it now;
-Anyone who wants to see what you are like can see it later...years from now.

I fully expect someone to accuse me of trying to "chill" free speech. That
judgment has to be made by individuals. I am just trying to make people
aware of the realities of our new information environment. I am concerned
about people being hurt in the future because they didn't think of the
implications of their actions.

This has helped me moderate some of my previously more immoderate email
behaviors. I believe that no email is private, so anything I write can be
shown to anyone if you really want to. Asking for "backchannel only" has
shown to be often a useless request. As well, I try to write as if my Dean
or Department Chairm was reading, which they may do at some point.

I don't think that is a bad standard to follow. Humor is fine (as Randi and
Matt have shown), but it needn't be tasteless and offensive to be funny.

As time goes by I am sure I will use the CEDA-L data base to get to know
someone better by reading their posts before I hire them or vote for them
for office or whatever.

Finally, language is symbolic action, and action with real consequences.
Think about them. I know I am trying to do that.


Alfred C. Snider AKA Tuna
Edwin W. Lawrence Professor of Forensics, University of Vermont
Mail: Box 54225, UVM, Burlington, VT 05405-4225
Phone: 802-656-0097, Fax: 802-656-4275
DEBATE CENTRAL:
http://beluga.uvm.edu/debatecentral/dc.html
gopher://beluga.uvm.edu
LAWRENCE DEBATE UNION:
http://beluga.uvm.edu/debatecentral/ldu.html

---

• Prev by Date: Re: NDT eligibility and Bear
• Next by Date: need to talk to someone from cornell
• Prev by thread: Re: NDT eligibility and Bear
• Next by thread: need to talk to someone from cornell
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread
  • Author

---

Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
Return to main CEDA-L Archive Page