Developing Week 5

Soft Skills and Personality Module 1

Lecture 25
 More Challenges
Handling difficult callers
Dealing with angry callers
Essential Telephone Skills
Manage your voice
Highlights Be an active listener
of the Be cheerful
Know your caller
Last Lecture Replace fear with confidence
Be Polite
Avoid Jargons
Anticipate Problems
Consider calls as opportunities
You should be the person any body wants to talk to!
 fusion between biology
and technology
 “All media are extensions of
some human faculty . . .
The wheel is an extension of the foot,
the book is an extension of the eye . . .
clothing, an extension of the skin . . .
electric circuitry,
an extension of the nervous system.”
~ Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message
In Techno/Cyberculture Scenario…
the extensions are the real
All the extensions have gained
so much autonomy
that they have become the real
They define and give identity to the
source/subject of extension
Amazing transformation cyberspace/cyberculture
You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, What’s app, iPod . . .
The web, the internet, the mobile
New devices, new applications, new technologies, new practices
This affects the Mind and the Body; the thought patterns, thinking
capabilities; ways of expression/communication; change in language
The “human” today is rarely divorced from technology.
Technology is within medical technologies, beside
telephones, and outside satellites. Man inhabits
technology when he functions in a climate-controlled
office space or technology inhabits man when it
functions in him as a pacemaker. When man uses, for
instance, a pair of eye-glasses as a prosthetic device,
technology seems to be an appendage. Nevertheless, as
man works in assembly line, he appears to serve as an
appendage.
S. Aronowitz, et al., Technoscience and Cyberculture
• Who controls technology?
• Who benefits from it?
• Do we have a choice? Or who is choosing it for us?
Developing Week 5
Soft Skills and Personality Module 2
Lecture 26
 Impact and Influence of Technology in Communication
Donna Haraway’s “Cyborgs”: Cybernetic Organisms
Blurred interface between biotic and mechanical
We became cyborgs by treating all media extensions of
human faculty as real.
Technological components define as well as give human
Highlights identity.
of the Machine is given human treatment and human is
Last Lecture treated like a machine. Story: The father’s new car.
The cyborgian shift is affecting the mind and the body.
KEY WORDS: Control, Benefit and Choice
Who controls technology?
Who benefits from it?
Do we have a choice? Or who is choosing it for us?
• The purpose is to give mobility against fixity
• The main intention is to save time
• To help in emergency
• To connect people instantaneously
• To keep human contact intact.
• Listen to songs or soothing music or watch movie before sleeping?
• Mobile alarm wakes you up?

• Do you have some mobile free hours like while walking, praying,
playing some sports?

• Do you use only mobile phone to check time?

• You prefer to listen to music only through your mobile.

• You prefer checking news through various mobile apps.

• You use only mobile phone calculator to make any calculations

• You use only mobile to store address and phone numbers

• In fact, you don’t bother to memorise them at all!

 Forever, for 10 years, for 1 year, for some months, for 1 month, for
15 days, for 10 days, for 3 days, for 1 day, for some hours, for some
minutes .. . CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT A MINUTE! (Nomophobia!)
• Do you get nightmares about losing your phone?
• Are you afraid that your battery will run down soon?
• Do you keep an additional mobile as a spare?
• Do you get eye strain and neck problems due to texting and excessive
use?
• Have you met with a car accident due to mobile use?
• Do you talk on phone while driving your bike?
• Do you miss important activities owing to your preoccupation with
mobile? (
Developing Week 5
Soft Skills and Personality Module 3
Lecture 27
 Influence of mobile on human personality
How mobile has deviated from its main intention:
saving time, help in emergency, distance connection,
keep human relations intact
Humans have become “Moborgs”: sleeping, playing
games, watching movies, using it for checking time,
calculation, address, etc
Highlights Mobile addiction/Nomophobia
Obsessive compulsive disorder
of the Get angry, tensed, depressed without mobile
Last Lecture Suggestions for become human: mobile free time,
keeping it away, treating it as a slave, not using it as a
substitute for watch, calculator, map, etc.
Mobile Etiquette: Avoid when face-to-face communication
is possible; be empathetic about other’s time; use apt
caller/ring tone; use silent mode/switch off; use e-mail
“The greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of
electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be a far greater threat on a global scale
than warming, or the increase of chemical elements in the environment.”
– Dr. Robert Becker, two-time Nobel prize nominee

“Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous

communication ability, but because we live and work in our
own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized.”
– Marilyn vos Savant
Before you learn how to send E-mails,
it is important to unlearn your wrong
learning by knowing first—

How not to send E-mails!

Developing Week 5
Soft Skills and Personality Module 4
Lecture 28
 5Ps/Cardinal Principles of Soft Skills
and Personality Development:

Planning
Preparedness
Persuasiveness
Highlights Presentability
of the Perseverance
Last Lecture
We looked at some E-mail examples which violate the
above principles!
Before you learn how to send E-mails,
it is important to unlearn your wrong
learning by knowing first—

How not to send E-mails!

How not to send E-Mails!

“Hello Madam: I wanna go to my house. So, I gonna Bad E-mail

bunk your classes for the next two days. Give me Examples!

two days leve, as I have to go out of stetion.

Cheers! Shakshi.”

“HISIR: URGENT MATTER. VERY IMPORTANT. SUFFERING FROM

SEVERE STOMACH PAIN. CANNOT COME TO WRITE THE EXAM.
GIVE ME REEXAM. GIVE ME AN EASY QUESTION PAPER AS
HEADACHE IS ALLOWING ME NOT TO FOCUS ON STUDY.
LOTS OF LUV, ARJUN.”
How not to send E-Mails!

“Hello Madam: I wanna go to my house. So, I gonna Bad E-mail

bunk your classes for the next two days. Give me Examples!

two days leve, as I have to go out of stetion.

Cheers! Shakshi.”

“HISIR: URGENT MATTER. VERY IMPORTANT. SUFFERING FROM

SEVERE STOMACH PAIN. CANNOT COME TO WRITE THE EXAM.
GIVE ME REEXAM. GIVE ME AN EASY QUESTION PAPER AS
HEADACHE IS ALLOWING ME NOT TO FOCUS ON STUDY.
LOTS OF LUV, ARJUN.”
How not to send E-Mails!
How not to send E-Mails!
How not to send E-Mails!

To: <vinay9mit@[Link]>;<spsinghaps@[Link]>;<vchrgate@[Link]>;<aracad@[Link]>; <dosa@[Link]>;

<ardosa@[Link]>;<dofa@[Link]>;<ardofa@[Link]>;<dr@[Link]>;<sachan@[Link]>;<sandhya@[Link]>;<infocell@[Link]>;<kga@[Link]>;
<kamleshmishra1989@[Link]>;<chrgate@[Link]>;<chrjee@[Link]>;
CC: <vchrjee@[Link]>; doaa@[Link]; dir@[Link]; dd@[Link]; faculty@[Link]; all@[Link]

Subject:Re:Re: Regardin Simmer Training in yr Institution ........................................ref:: dr. Satya Pal Singh, IITK, (assistant professor ,Physics) .....Now in MMM
Gorakhpur

Main body (in text) of the e-mail:

SIR/ MADAM, Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, IITK,

e-mail-- vpsinghaps@[Link] (assistant professor , Physics) .... Now in MMM Gorakhpur

I ,AJAY KUMAR, PERSUING [Link] IN THIRD YEAR WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE BRANCH IN M. I. T . ,MODINGAR , AFFILIATED TO GBTU ,LUCKNOW
FORMERLY KNOWN AS UPTU .I WANT TO DO SUMMER TRAINING / INTERNSHIP IN IIT KANPUR WITH AN ENDEVOUR .SO I AM SENDING MY RESUME
WITH THIS MAIL IN ATTACHMENT .CONSIDER THAT AS PER REQUIREMENT. PLEASE CONSIDER MY RESUME .

I WILL SEEING YOUR RESPONSE SOON

U MUST MESSAGE ME AT 9451145553

Luv to C U ON [Link]

Bad E-mail
Examples!
How not to send E-Mails!

To: <vinay9mit@[Link]>;<spsinghaps@[Link]>;<vchrgate@[Link]>;<aracad@[Link]>; <dosa@[Link]>;

<ardosa@[Link]>;<dofa@[Link]>;<ardofa@[Link]>;<dr@[Link]>;<sachan@[Link]>;<sandhya@[Link]>;<infocell@[Link]>;<kga@[Link]>;
<kamleshmishra1989@[Link]>;<chrgate@[Link]>;<chrjee@[Link]>;
CC: <vchrjee@[Link]>; doaa@[Link]; dir@[Link]; dd@[Link]; faculty@[Link]; all@[Link]

Subject:Re:Re: Regardin Simmer Training in yr Institution ........................................ref:: dr. Satya Pal Singh, IITK, (assistant professor ,Physics) .....Now in MMM
Gorakhpur

Main body (in text) of the e-mail:

SIR/ MADAM, Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, IITK,

e-mail-- vpsinghaps@[Link] (assistant professor , Physics) .... Now in MMM Gorakhpur

I ,AJAY KUMAR, PERSUING [Link] IN THIRD YEAR WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE BRANCH IN M. I. T . ,MODINGAR , AFFILIATED TO GBTU ,LUCKNOW
FORMERLY KNOWN AS UPTU .I WANT TO DO SUMMER TRAINING / INTERNSHIP IN IIT KANPUR WITH AN ENDEVOUR .SO I AM SENDING MY RESUME
WITH THIS MAIL IN ATTACHMENT .CONSIDER THAT AS PER REQUIREMENT. PLEASE CONSIDER MY RESUME .

I WILL SEEING YOUR RESPONSE SOON

U MUST MESSAGE ME AT 9451145553

Luv to C U ON [Link]

Bad E-mail
Examples!
Conveying
E-Mail sent to Students Group by a Student Leader:
bad news!
Hi Guys & Gals:

It’s so funny that our friend Shekar finally decided to

propose to our college beauty queen Shilpa. Shilpa as usual
rejected his proposal too! Poor fellow! Took it to heart!
Drank a lot alone! Felt pain at night. Roommate took him to
hospital. They refused. He was sent to a specialised
hospital. Know what? Guys, he died on the way! Really felt
sorry for this fellow yaar! Stupid guy! Don’t drink tonight.
Come for his funeral tomorrow! C U tom. . .
BEST STUDENT’S UNIVERSITY
Vice-Chancellor’s Office August 10, 2016 Conveying
COMMUNIQUE
bad news
With profound grief and regret, the University informs the sudden demise
of Mr. Shekar Kumar Gupta (28417089) today afternoon.
properly!
Mr. Gupta was an M. A. student in the Literature Department. He reported to our dispensary at about 1.45
hrs with neck and chest pain for which requisite treatment and investigation was administered. However
ECG revealed severe cardiac problem at an advanced stage and he was immediately referred to the
specialized Cardiology Institute in the city. Unfortunately he expired before the doctors in that hospital
could attend to him.

The sad news of his demise has been communicated to his family who are expected to arrive in the campus
later tonight.

The University deeply mourns this untimely and most unfortunate death of one of its beloved students. We
sincerely sympathize with the bereaved family and pray to the Almighty for eternal peace of the departed
soul.

Vinod Mallik
Vice-Chancellor
Developing Week 5
Soft Skills and Personality Module 5
Lecture 29
 How not to send (bad) e-mails?

✓ Use of formal salutation

Highlights ✓ Avoiding excessive use of capital letters
of the ✓ Avoiding slang and colloquial language
Last Lecture ✓ Avoiding mixing up of two languages
✓ Avoiding text language in formal
communication
✓ Showing regard for punctuation, spelling
and grammar
✓ Mailing only to the concerned person
 “The real danger is
not that computers will begin
to think like men,
but that men will begin
to think like computers.”

~ Sydney J. Harris
 What is Netiquette?
▪A portmanteau word combined from “Internet”/“network” and
“etiquette.” Etiquette is an umbrella term for rules governing
socially & culturally acceptable behavior.

▪Netiquette thus refers to the correct, proper, polite, acceptable

social, official, professional norms, behavioral patterns, and
expected decorum for using the Internet or the cyberspace for
communication purposes.

▪Netiquette is about your code of conduct on the internet.

Facebook, mailing lists, blogs, forums and chats
• However, no body receives any formal
training for sending e-mails!
Do Not Forget that the
Receiver
is a Human Being!
• Give human touch and personal appeal through suitable
use of words, smileys and emoticons.

• Consideration for others is thus, the cardinal netiquette

principle one should always bear in mind.
 Remember:
Written words
can be stored
permanently
• The e-mail sent casually can return with so
much malignity that the sender regrets
throughout his or her life for having sent
that one thoughtless mail!
 Ironically,
the receiver controls
the sent e-mail!
• The receiver decides, even if you have requested
that the mail should be deleted immediately,
whether to delete or store the mail for future
use!
So be careful about sending a message that
would embarrass you if shared with others
or exposed to the general public.
Be Ethically Correct!
• The old saying, “All is fair in love and
war,” may be modified to suit the mind-
set of many internet users and as: “All is
fair in love, war, and cyberspace.”

• Or, at least, that is what many net work

users believe when they post materials
which are unethical or communicate by
lowering their ethical standards for the
internet.
• Because of the risk of being caught in
unethical practice is very high, and also the
fact that, if caught, it can damage reputation
gained for years, one should be ethically
correct.
Developing Week 5
Soft Skills and Personality Module 6
Lecture 30
 Highlights
of the
Last Lecture
Make sense,
though it is
difficult to!
 Make sense, though it is difficult to!

• It is easy to make no-sense in e-mails,

especially when people type whatever comes
to their mind without bothering to know
whether what is expressed clearly reflects
their thoughts.
• Making sense is difficult—as it means
curtailing some bad writing habit
accumulated over a period of time.
 To Make Sense . . .

• Plan your e-mail before hand

• Note down what you want to convey
• Prepare yourself by writing a rough draft
• Present it in a readable manner . . .
• Be Clear, Concise and Coherent . . .
• Use simple words with short sentence
constructions
• Avoid flowery, poly-syllabic words, long and
complicated sentences.
Spend an extra-minute
to save an hour
of the receiver!
• Extra time should be spent on editing the text,
checking the spelling, inserting emoticons,
making use of punctuation marks,
dividing lengthy matter into readable paragraphs,
remembering to type a descriptive subject line, and finally,
by not sending an unsolicited and irrelevant mail!

• Let us briefly look at each of these aspects in the following sub-

headings.
Keep it Short
 Keep it Short

• Keep your e-mails focused in content and

short in length.

• People generally do not have time to read

long mails.
• Some by default delete lengthy mails!
 Keep it Short
• If you cannot convey an idea effectively in a
short paragraph you can never do the same in
a long essay! Rule = 1 idea: 1 paragraph!

• In case an e-mail has to be significantly and

justifiably lengthy owing to the nature of the
subject matter, then use subheadings,
paragraph divisions, spaces in between
paragraphs to make it easy for reading and
understanding.
E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Pay Attention to
Subject lines
 Subject Lines

• Tell me the subject lines that you keep

sending, I can tell you who you are!

• Subject lines, apart from describing the inner

content of the matter, have much to tell about
you as a person—whether you are
sloppy, casual, flippant, uncouth, lazy or
sincere, serious, meticulous, dedicated,
professional, sophisticated and stylish.
 Subject lines: NO SUBJECT!

• The worst subject line that an e-mail can have

is “[ No Subject].”
• Because the e-mail is either sent in a hurry
without subject line, or the subject is just not
thought of!
• Indicates that the sender is unmindful of the
precious time the receiver has to spend in
opening, reading, and understanding the
subject, and quite often realize that it is an
irrelevant message that needs to be deleted.
Subject Lines

✓ Should clearly express the content

✓ Should give freedom to the receiver to
exercise an option of opening the mail or
deleting it.
× Should not use tempting subject lines like:
“Free holiday trip to Goa”; “Open and
become Bill Gates!”; “Stay young forever.”
× Should not over-emphasize the subject by
capitalizing them or by creating a false
sense of urgency.
Subject Lines . . .

• Story: Manager’s standard subject line:

“URGENT MATTER: RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.”
Employees never responded!

• When you repeat the same subject matter it

loses its sense of urgency and emphasis!
Subject Lines . . .
✓ Use a short, descriptive phrase indicating the core
idea of the e-mail.
✓ If it is a meeting, mention the time, date and venue
in the subject line [e.g.: Director’s Meeting: 21 June
2016, 10 A. M., Conference Room-CR3].
✓ If it is an e-mail invitation for a talk, you can mention
the name of the speaker and the topic on the subject
line [e.g.: Talk on Cybernetics, Kevin Warwick, LH-16,
28 June 16, 4 P. M.]
• This will help the receiver to have a quick idea about
the mail even without opening it!
 E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Respect reply!
{Avoid:
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:R
e:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:}
 Respect Reply!

✓ Use a subject line while replying a mail instead of

leaving the automated “Re:” for reply.
✓ Example: An e-mail request for urgent loan, the
employer’s reply with the subject line “Re: Amount
Sanctioned” can be a great relief to the employee even
before opening the mail!
ꭖ Do not use an old mail for the sake of address without
changing the subject matter, which will be worse than
sending the mail without any subject!
 Respect Reply!

• As the Convener of the Department Postgraduate

Committee, I received a mail from a colleague of mine
with the subject matter: “Re: Vending Machine” but the
mail requested me to forward a new PG course
developed by the sender!

• Obviously, my colleague has used an earlier mail in which

we had shared some suggestions on the Vending
Machine, but to have that as a subject line for a course
forwarding request is too inappropriate!
 E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Avoid Typing in
FULL CAPITALS!
 Avoid typing in FULL CAPITALS

• Unnecessary use of capitals is considered SHOUTING

or YELLING. MOREOVER, LONG SENTENCES WITH
FULL CAPITAL LETTERS ARE DIFFICULT TO
COMPREHEND AND EYES TAKE MORE TIME TO
CAPTURE THE MESSAGE.

• You could see the difference just by reading the

previous sentence itself!
 E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

No random CCing/
Do not Reply All
 No random CCing/Do not Reply All

ꭖ Do Not Copy to many or reply all when the message

seeks the attention of a single receiver.
ꭖ It is considered rude, bad-mannered, discourteous,
and even uncouth because the sender is taking for
granted the time of unsolicited receivers.
• Even just the time it takes to identify that the mail is
unwarranted and then to delete it is unworthy.
• Hence, habitual or inadvertent copying to many or
replying all should be avoided at all cost!
E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Use
Abbreviations
Discretely
 Use of Abbreviations
✓ Use abbreviations or acronyms, which are commonly known and
universally recognizable.
✓ AKA (also known as), ASAP (as soon as possible), BTW (by the
way), CUL8R (see you later), FYI (for your information), KIT (keep
in touch), LOL (laughing out loud), SYS (see you again), TYVM
(thank you very much), WRT (with respect to).
× Using abbreviations according to one’s whims and fancy, and
that too with inconsistent spellings would cause confusion to
the receiver.
× The message can be distorted or misrepresented and result in
evoking a negative response.
 E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Avoid
Spelling, Grammar
Mistakes &
Typographical
Errors
 Spelling Mistakes/Typographical Errors

✓ Check your e-mail for spelling, grammar mistakes and

typographical errors.
✓ Use in-built spell checker that underlines errors while
typing itself.
✓ Pay attention to those underlined words, you will not
only save plenty of the receiver’s time but also ensure
that your message is communicated effectively!
Bad spelling and frequent typographical errors
reflect illiteracy and lack of professionalism!
 E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Take Note of
Punctuation Marks!
 Punctuation Marks
• Many wrongly think that punctuation marks are not
necessary while sending e-mails.
• But punctuation marks, capitalization, and spaces
after punctuation marks are very necessary for clear
communication.
• Have a look at the following mail that I received
from a research scholar. You can note how the
sender’s scant regard for punctuation, capitalization,
and rampant use of personal abbreviations have
immensely affected the readability and effectiveness
of the mail:
 Punctuation Marks?!

thanks for d suggestion sir

if u can give me some more suggestions so it l be
very kind from ur side
actually I m P.G wd 67% in IInd year n wd 62% as al
over i was doing ph.d under mrs. b. r. Agarwal, the
principal of sarawati devi college bt coz of d entrance
announcement in kanpur university i could nt get my
thesis registered n it was also coz of the busy schedule
of my guide so as per my per n ds situation wt should i
do kindly send ur suggestions I wil be obliged so
sorry for ani eror
E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Check Your
Computer Clock
 Check your computer clock

• Set your system clock correctly (A.M. or P. M.)

• You will profusely confuse your reader during
the fixing of an appointment for future while
your mail would indicate a time lapsed in the
past!
Conclusion
Netiquette norms, if followed, could generate a
high level of professionalism and likeability and
result in getting favorable responses in internet
based communication.
Use this lecture as a quick check list for Netiquette
and build up a reputation for sending good,
engaging, thoughtful, time-saving, useful,
effective and interesting E-Mails!
 TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION!

And the moral . . .

Thanks to technology, we can

now waste time with an efficiency
until now unimaginable,
all in the name of saving time!