Re: Research

[Wendy Putman <wputman -at- CASTLETON -dot- COM>]

        >Currently I am doing research
        >on the significance e-mail may have on gender discourse.

        I'm posting my reply to the list, as my comments don't fall
neatly along gender lines, but also along professional and hierarchical
lines, and it would interesting to know if other tech writers notice the
same communication patterns. Having come from a highly political
organization, I'm hyper-aware of misunderstandings that arise through
email, and I craft my email to colleagues as carefully as I do my
technical documents.

        I've been accused of "bluntness" (I'm still struggling with the
concept of this as a character defect), so couch any directives or
action requests inside "softening" statements. I find I do this more
with female colleagues. The higher up the ladder I'm sending the email
(my director and up), the less I do so (for either gender). When
emailing my peers or subordinates, I add more softener. Even then (here
my bias shows), staff in the male-dominated departments such as IT get a
little less softener than do those in graphic design.

        Some of this communication pattern is in response to what I
notice coming from them. If engineers tend to send one-liners, I don't
bother softening my email to their department. On the other hand, I've
practically been lynched by the graphic designers for using the same
"tone" with them.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Wendy Putman, Technical Writer
Castleton Network Systems, Burnaby, BC
Tel: (604) 293-0039 / Internal: 722-5432
email: wputman -at- castleton -dot- com


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