Medium or Content?

I do agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message and that format or logic of a medium is as important as its contents. Here is simple example. Question for those who have kids, how long do you children spend in front of TV every day? Other question, what do scientists say in regard of children and time they should spend in front of TV? As a parent I’ve experienced that as much my kids spend in front of TV as harder for them to study. Scientists say that time in front of screen kills imagination. So if everything up to this moment was correct, then what is better for kids, to watch TV or to read books? I prefer the second option. Another example, if you are going to LISTEN to movie with a lot of nature scenes and or where view is meaningful. Will you be able to catch all ideas? I don’t think so. Or if you are going to watch radio show, those more talking things, will you be pleased with what you will see? I really doubt. That’s why medium is as important as its content.

I agree that television is cool medium because it fills us with details. Nowadays people's life is highly influenced by TV. People talk, dress, and behave like their favorite personage.  In other words, our society is formed by television. The key in this process plays fact that TV brings more details. People get more involved with TV as if they would receive the same message by radio or so. For example, there was a horrible crime that took place in Rancho Cordova in Slavic community. Husband’s brother killed a young mom and two kids. I heard it when I was out of the town, someone told me. I was shocked by what I had heard. However, when I got back and checked the Internet (in this case I refer to the Internet as equivalent of TV, because most News channels can be watched through the Internet too), I was shocked even more, because I saw faces of small innocent kids and young mom on pictures, I also saw faces of husband… It is incomparable to watch something or just listen about it. 

Virtual OR Real Friends?

I have not formed any cyber relationships. Why? I’m more face-to-face person. For me relationship is interaction, that first of all takes place in real world with real people. I do have couple reason for that. First of all, that is who I am. I can’t keep up naturally with cyber relationships. I believe that you people should experience something more than sharing some thoughts, ideas, pictures or videos. You can huge your close friend, or you can shake a hand, or gather for a BBQ or so on. There is nothing like this in cyber world. I’ve noticed that within time those relationships I have in cyber world get weaker, and I lose connection with those people. The other reason is I spend a lot of time in front of screens, talking to people, who I won’t probably meet in future. I’m get tired of computers. That’s why I want to see happy face of my friends.

Honestly speaking, I would not want my kids to live and have relationships just in cyber world. I believe that person cannot grow and develop in any kind of virtual space. I order to be social person we must have real relationships, real feeling with real people. It’s not like that you can turn off someone or break a connection with someone. 

Up/Down-ward communication

One of the concepts that I found interesting was concept of Downward and Upward communication (p.206-207). 

I completely agree that there are some problems with downward communication, as within communication process itself. Nevertheless, author shows that there are couple ways to improve accuracy during serial transmission. There are two key things that help to be more accurate: redundancy and clarification. I’m familiar with a situation that took place in one trucking company, when lack of initiative and unwillingness to clarify information cost a lot to driver. It happened on Friday. Driver gave a call to his dispatcher and asked till what time receiver point worked. So dispatch replied “by 6Pm”. There was about 1000 miles between shipper and receiver points. Next day dispatch got call from the driver, who was very stressed up. After some clarification dispatch found, that driver interpreted “by 6Pm” as if he would need to be at receiver point next day by 6Pm. Finally they both understood what was wrong in this situation. Driver didn’t clarified information and dispatch wasn’t redundant on informational level. When I heard this story I caught myself thinking that I could’ve done the same. That is why one of the main task for my life is constant improving in communication

Etiquette

Nowadays cell phones have become inevitable part of our life, but there are times when cell phone calls are the last things you want to anticipate. I completely agree that it is impolite and disrespectful to intrude on anyone’s privacy by talking on a cell phone in a restaurant, etc. Once I observed a man talking on a phone while church service. I completely understand that there might be emergency situation, but at the same time there are a lot of ways to respect my privacy during devotion time, and take that call outside.

“Call the would-be recipient’s office first and ask if it’s all right to transmit material during a certain period”?  REALLY? I really doubt that anyone does it in our days. In most cases we just send fax and then might confirm that recipient get it. But definitely NOTHING PERSONAL in fax!

Timing communication is very important as for me, especially during busy day, when you have 101 tasks to complete and 2 lines on hold, so on top of those you get some senseless phone call that keeps you out of your tasks. I even caught myself being tiring. I know how it feels when you are busy to spent time on phone without any sense. That is why I try to be as laconic as possible.

Screen names and ringtones? Very true, completely agree…

Answering machine etiquette is a strait forward thing. I deal with answering machine everyday and appreciate those who respect my time and don’t waste a second for silly messages.

I have never experienced conference calls on job level. However, I do use conference call when I drive long hauls. (Sometime I drive semi truck). Conference calls between drivers are way different from those rules that author are discussed in the chapter. For example, no one ever introduced himself before starting to talk. At the beginning it sound like mess to me, but after some time I got used to. If just to imagine that business conference calls would be like those among truck drivers, outcomes would be awful.

At my work I always do, I just have to put people on hold and take other calls. Today’s business world is so intense that it is just impossible to avoid putting people on hold. However, there should be some limits for length being on hold. I think nobody likes to call to customer service and spent 10 min just to get some live voice speak to you… It is not rude to put people on hold, it is rude when you put someone on hold and remember after 30 min that there should be someone waiting for you. I have noticed that people even do not expect you to hold for longer than 3-5 minutes. Few times after being on hold for 10 minutes or more people on the other end sound surprised still having me waiting… 

Organizations and environment

Author mentions that “… like other living systems, organizations are linked to their environments”. First of all, if organization is considered as living system it should and it does interact with its environment thus being linked to environment. There are a lot of ways how organization can be linked to surroundings. One of the ways is using resources, like energy, human resources, etc. One of my friend lives in Erie, PA. There is a huge GE transportation plant in the city. Some time ago it was announced that plant should be relocated to a different state. This news had significant impact on city itself and people who lived there. Real estate’s prices dropped, because people clearly understood that there was big chance to lose their jobs.

Sierra College is highly tied to Rocklin. First of all, it provides jobs for community, gives opportunity to people get educated, trained and prepared for different kind of jobs. College’s territories are used for number of city’s activities. For example, school’s parking lots are used for automobile bazaar, which gives a chance for people from Rocklin area to sell their used cars, RVs, etc.

I think colleges and universities are ethically obligated to keep community safe, clean, and educated. When we are talking about being ethical it means to have high moral standards. Dictionary.com defines “ethical” as follow “being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice”. Last part of this definition expands area of application to all levels of social life. School prepares people for future life by training and education.  Also by educating people school provides stability for families. For example, if husband lost his job, he can get new skills, which allows his family to feel safer, because a head of family can provide all necessities.        

Better communicator

One of the concepts, that drew my attention, was part about becoming a more responsible communicator (p. 160), especially four-way test. I think it is very important for each of us to be responsible in communication. As history shows us, communication is a crucial thing. Because of one word being interpreted wrongly war can be started. So many friends broke because people were not diligent in communication. One word can destroy relationships between two people who love each other. I remember my sister had a very close friend. For some reason they broke for couple months just because my sister wasn’t accurate in communication. With one word we can hurt those whom we love, but damage can be even more hurtful than a wound. How often do I ask my self if every me word build goodwill and better friendship?