I.19 E-MAIL PROTOCOL

E-mail is an extremely useful tool for communication of all types of information from a brief request or comment to a formal memo or report. The following guidelines are intended to give some assistance to users of e-mail as a campus communications tool.

1. E-mail is neither private nor confidential. It is extremely easy to forward e-mail messages to large numbers of people and this should be kept in mind when composing your message and considering the appropriate style to use. E-mail correspondence is considered a public or open record on the same basis as other forms of communication. Additionally, many individuals routinely have other staff members scan e-mail for them, just as they do regular correspondence.

2. The College conducts most of its communication (both formal and informal) with chairs and other department staff ONLY through e-mail in order to save time and paper. It has become essential for department staff to be able to use e-mail.

3. Limit each e-mail message to a single topic. Since one e-mail message can generate a series of exchanges, with copies going to other relevant parties, follow-up can be difficult and confusing if one e-mail message contains several unrelated items.

4. It is usually appropriate and acceptable to use e-mail as a vehicle for "official" communication and reports to other offices.

5. Use subject headers or titles that will have meaning for the recipient.

6. Send copies of the message to relevant individuals and indicate in the message who is receiving copies. If the message is a formal request taking the place of a written document, copy the same individuals as would be copied on a letter or paper memo.

7. Do not expect instantaneous turnaround. The speed of e-mail tends to make both the sender and the recipient feel that it has top priority for response but, in reality, many people receive a great many messages each day while also interacting with others in person, on the telephone, through other written communication, etc. Additionally, it may take time for the recipient to gather sources and thoughts together to give a considered response (although the recipient may want to send a short "I'll get back to you" message if possible). While all e-mail users should check their e-mail several times a day, senders cannot expect immediate response. People should not be expected to check e-mail outside of normal business hours.

8. If you are going to be out of town or otherwise unavailable on e-mail, leave a message to that effect or arrange for someone else to check your e-mail. Some e-mail systems allow for an automatic response to be generated to any incoming message. Failing that, you could ask a colleague to check your e-mail for you at intervals.

9. While e-mail messages tend to be both more laconic and less formal than many other forms of communication, it is important that one convey the intended social and emotive content along with more factual matters. "Please" and "thank you" are as important in e-mail as anywhere else. When the tone of your message would normally be conveyed by tone of voice or facial expression, visual clues such as <grin>, (chuckle), [sob], or emotions such as :-) can be of help in avoiding misunderstanding. Such misunderstandings are particularly common when the message is (intended to be) humorous; make sure your reader knows you are joking.

10. Develop a system for dealing with e-mail. Much e-mail will concern departmentally related matters and needs to be archived or saved as any other communication would be. (While some prefer to print out messages, others believe that one of the benefits of e-mail is that less paper is required and that messages should be printed out only when absolutely necessary.) Electronic filing and archive systems increasingly take the place of paper records and may need to be used by others in the future (for example, when the chair rotates) so they should be set up in a consistent and logical manner and a plan or documentation should be available. Likewise, do not save information that does not need to be archived. Deleting unneeded messages conserves computer resources and improves e-mail performance.  

11. For more information about keeping university records, please refer to the UW-Archives and Records Management service fact sheets on:

• "What are University Records?" (http://archives.library.wisc.edu/faq/faq.htm)

Reviewed August 7, 2006 by NWJ/emk