Social Sciences
Netiquette
The basic rule: treat other users as you would like to be treated yourself _ Netiquette
A very important part of communication is the context in which it takes place. In face-to-face classes, we can all read each other's body language and facial expressions, as well as being able to hear the tone and quality of the voices we hear. All these help us to understand and interpret the meanings we should take from the words that are being said. In cyberspace we do not have many of these cues as to how to interpret communications from other people - and indeed, cues as to how our own words might be read by others.
The Web has now been around for a little more than ten years and in that time the people who use it have developed sets of guidelines to enable communication to take place in ways appropriate to different environments. In that sense, it represents an archetype of a self-governing community.
For example, a person using a completely open, unmoderated, chat room might well feel able to shout abusive language at someone with whom they disagree, and no one in the chat room will be at all offended. However, if the same language were to be used on a professional discussion list, the person concerned might well be suspended or even excluded from the list.
So that we all understand what the Netiquette expectations are on these Humanities teaching/learning Websites (and much of this applies to email too), the following guidelines have been established:
1. Using all upper case letters LIKE THIS is not only difficult to read - it is considered on the Web to be shouting. If you feel the need to emphasis your words, use _this construction_, or perhaps bold or italics;
2. Many users are downloading the sites and emails at home, and are having to pay for the actual amount they download. Particularly when using email, try not to include whole messages that you are replying to. Edit them down and if your email program doesn't automatically indicate the edited portions by using angle brackets <, insert the angle brackets yourself. (Especially don't forward endless address lines).
3. Remember that no one can see your body language or facial expressions or hear your tone of voice. You might need to be rephrase what you would say in real life in order for it to have the same impact. Some people use emoticons such as :)(to indicate a smile) or a shorthand developed in informal chat rooms such as LOL (lots of laughs) or IMHO (in my humble opinion). We suggest that you do not use these in this context, but rather that as part of the academic exercise you persevere with making your own meaning/s as clear as possible.
4. Robust discussion about ideas and issues is encouraged. What will not be permitted are:
a) personal attacks ( playing the wo/man not the ball ); or
b) attacks on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, political positions.
This does not mean that we cannot discuss contentious issues. We can, and should, do so. We must however be careful to separate the personal from the idea or the issue.
2. Even if it is technically possible, no user has the right to delete another user's work from the site. If you object to something said by another user, or to an image uploaded by another user, you should email your unit coordinator as quickly as possible with precise details of what you object to, why, and where it is located on the site. Remember that if you delete material put on the site by another person, the log files can be checked by the Systems Administrator, and traced to you.
Caveat: your unit coordinator will decide whether or not the material you object to can remain on the site. It may well be that s/he will decide that it can remain. If you are unhappy with that decision, you should contact your Head of School.
There are many discussions of netiquette online. One you might find helpful is: Virginia Shea, The core rules of netiquette, Netiquette (1994-1999)[accessed May 2001] netiquette
