YWAM Information Technology

This is a blog that I wrote recently at: http://donovanpalmer.com/2008/05/15/skype-netiquette/ The text only version is below.

In the early days of the internet, users were indoctrinated with social rules of decency. This etiquette was coined “netiquette” and for a giggle you can read it here. It included things like conserving international bandwidth by finding a file locally and how long to have your signature for messages in usenet news. In some ways, those days were innocent and it seemed much more civil. Now there is phishing, porn by the truckload and rogue schemes to damage you in some way. The super information highway has certainly become a rugged dark backstreet, rather than a community of computer users being good neighbours.

Technology has moved on. Many of those old rules don’t apply, even if we wanted to use them. 99% of the users on the net wouldn’t have a clue what UUCP is, so things move on! At least for my YWAM blog readers, many are Skype users. I thought I might be so bold as to suggest some netiquette. The reason I do this, is that this is a very cheap and easy way to facilitate at distance collaboration. Yet, I have seen a growing trend of leaders not using it because of the intrusion that it can be sometimes into their work patterns. Some of this is ethos, but some of it is that we probably need some common understandings to make this work the best for all of us. So here’s a few suggestions:

1. Knock before you call. Instead of ringing someone just because their status is green, send them an instant message asking if you can speak for a few minutes. This is not only polite and allows the user to not feel pressure to pull away from their current task, but sometimes the person you are ringing is in a large public meeting. If they have forgotten to turn down their volume, it is embarrassing and disruptive. (Now I have to confess that we have from time to time done this on purpose to each other as a joke when we are in the same meeting, but that is another matter which has to be discussed among friends!)

2. Use the Skype Status Indicator. Consider the Skype status indicator like you would your office door, particularly the “Do Not Disturb” feature. This feature is extremely underused. This lets people know you are online today, but you are currently not available. Except for rare occasions I also might suggest that it is bad netiquette to run your Skype Status in “invisible mode”. Going back to the office door analogy, it is similar to hiding in your office with the lights darkened so that people think you are not in, but if someone appears in their office you jump out and initiate a conversation with them. Besides if many used the “invisible mode” it would begin to defeat the purpose of this technology.

3. Book a time for substantial topics. If the topic you want to Skype about is substantial and complicated consider booking a planned appointment time. It’s a bit hard to Skype someone and ask them on the spot if you can have a lengthy discussion on solving world hunger. It puts them on the spot and unless their day was particularly free, it would be disruptive. Without doubt there will always be a bit of spontaneity and unplanned relational components to collaboration, but having this courtesy in place will go a long way towards win wins much in the way you would work in a physical office next door to each other.

4. Eliminate feedback and background noise. The feedback that we are talking about is sound feedback. Unless you have really good hardware, in many cases your microphone will pick up the sound in your speakers if you aren’t using a headset. Ask frequently if the user on the other end can hear feedback and if they can, work to resolve the problem until it is sorted. If you can’t fix it, the best course of action is to use a headset. This has the benefit of being a bit more private. Also be aware that if you are in a public place, the TV is running in the background, etc., it can make it very hard for the person on the other end to hear you clearly.

5. Think about lighting! If you are doing video, lighting is important to think about. Avoid bright backgrounds, particularly if you are sitting in a darkened room. Also avoid harsh lights shining in your face. You can google on tips to get the most out of your hardware. Going out and buying a cheap lamp and positioning it correctly in your workspace can make a huge difference.

6. Get good hardware. You go out and spend that chunk of money for an awesome laptop and then you pop down to the pound or dollar shop to get a webcam and headphones. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for in almost all cases. If your microphone is cheap, the sound quality for the other person listening to you will be really poor. Same goes for the camera. If it all possible, include in your purchase budget of your computer a camera like the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. The QuickCam Pro 9000 is not only an excellent camera in its own right, but used with a modern computer and good bandwidth, it will kick into a “High Quality Mode” which is almost TV quality like. You can pick it up for less than the retail price if you watch and you will use it for years.

So there’s a few ideas of good netiquette of how to use Skype better together. If you have any more suggestions, leave a comment on this blog.

With the rising costs of fuel, these technologies are going to be more important than ever. We’ve got access to cheap bandwidth, so we might as well use it!