Hi Geoff,
What an interesting e-mail you have written
(spoken?). I think that if I were to go for a PhD in composition (Rhetoric?),
this would interest me as a possible subject for my dissertation: the middle
ground of e-mail, chat rooms, etc., between conversation and formal writing. I
wonder if anyone has done (is doing) this.
Paul E. Doniger
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 10:46
AM
Subject: The Visible Voice
Bob Yates recently posted a response to a thread, and I sent
him a note recalling our wonderful ATEG meeting.
My quandry in
beginning my note to him was to describe my feelings upon seeing his note -
"Great to see your e-mail!" didn't seem to convey how his note brought back
the fun we had at the meeting and how important he was to its
success.
I solved the problem with "It's nice to see your
voice again." And after writing that, I thought I'd see if anyone else on the
list - particularly Pam Dykstra - has had similar thoughts about e-mail
messages. They seem to be a delightful mix of both formal writing and casual
conversation.
On this list, for example, we aren't writing formal
papers in our e-mail messages, yet there is disciplined thought behind the
messages; we aren't truly engaged in conversation, yet there is almost
immediate audience response.
Has anyone written anything formally about
the power of e-mail to evoke a "visible voice" - in other words, the voice of
an e-mail author can be a powerful mix of both oral and written
presentation?
Geoff Layton
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