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September 03, 2008
Is e-dialogue an oxymoron?
As I'm sure is the case for many of us now, I belong to a number of groups and committees and periodically we engage in a "discussion" via email. I put "discussion" in inverted commas because I'm musing on my own experience of engaging in these exchanges, or not, as the case may be.
What I find is that as different members of a group present their opinion or thoughts about a particular issue, I read and consider it, I might agree or disagree with it, and then I move on to the next email or task. I then return to the email discussion, re-read the messages and I notice that I experience a variety of thoughts and feelings that get in the way of me participating and responding.
So what stops me from participating either by adding my acknowledgement or agreement or alternative thought/idea?
> Sometimes people have said all that needs to be said and a reply to that effect seems superfluous, even though I say it to myself.
> Sometimes I disagree but can't or don't find the words to present my view in a way that acknowledges the contribution from others.
> If I'm irritated by an opinion or tone from a contributor it feels safer to say nothing – my passive aggression rising to the fore.
> Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the eloquence of the contributor and am silenced by this. A little voice mutters that I can't express myself so well or my view isn't as "good" as the one expressed.
> Sometimes there's what I describe as the "apathy response" when I don't do anything. For me this is partly fuelled by the actual process of exchanging messages electronically when there seems to be little human interaction and I can't hear participants' voices – I'm highly auditory and kinaesthetic. Another element of this is that if others don't respond to me, I can't see the point, especially when I experience a feeling of "I'm not being heard".
So, on reflection, I imagine that my experience may be representative.
I applaud the capability of email at times and wonder what we did without it. However, I'm going to continue to explore the nature of "e-dialogue" and experiment with different ways of engaging in the process to see whether I can find some ways to improve my experience of it so I get more from the groups that I'm a member of and hopefully contribute more fruitfully for others.
Posted by Alison at September 3, 2008 09:40 AM
