I recently took a community education class at the Savannah College of Art and Design on how to set up an online crafts business. The instructor had an excellent manual that she used to guide us through the various aspects of designing and then launching an online business. Throughout the class, she used her own business website as an example of various ways to set up a business site. The site was designed by a professional web designer, and since I am interested in revamping my site, I got the name of her web designer and decided to send an email to see if we could set up a meeting.
Now, I am obviously not a webmaster or even at novice level. I used an online company to design my present website, and since hers had a lot of features that I liked, and the designer came with a glowing recommendation, I thought I would get more information. When I logged on to his website, it had a message that the site was not available, but it did give an email for contacting him.
I sent the email, and heard nothing in return. I pretty much forgot about it, when I got an email from the instructor about another matter. She mentioned the web designer and copied him on her email to me, and shortly afterwards, I got an email from him. He explained that he did receive my first email, but his Spam folder cleared before he could transfer it to his inbox, and it was dropped into the “…Internet abyss for all eternity.”
Ah, for the days when one phone call picked up by an answering machine held a message captive until someone on the other end hit the “play” button. Or, when a human being answered the phone and wrote down a message. My attempt to contact this gentleman had to travel a circuitous route in Cyberspace, only to be dropped by a virtual mailbox into another virtual abyss.
I wonder sometimes how much technology has really advanced our ability to communicate. While we are always available, how much information are we really getting? I checked my Spam folder one day and found a rather important message that had somehow been diverted into this virtual holding tank. How did it get there? Who was making judgments on the legitimacy of my correspondence and decided this one didn’t measure up?
My husband recently complained that I didn’t respond to a message. When I checked my email, there was no message from him. No, he said, he left the message on my Facebook page. Without realizing it, we have surrendered a lot of power and control over our lives and communications with a lot of technology that was supposed to make all of this easier, faster and more meaningful. Instead, we are inundated with a lot of information that may be interesting but distracting, confusing, unwanted and intrusive. And somewhere out there, like a dealer in Vegas, is an oracle who decides which messages get through and which are diverted like planes in a snowstorm. I’m afraid the communication train is firmly on the cyber track and there is little hope of getting off.
Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a freelance writer, blogger, and workplace consultant. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in "Training" magazine, "Training & Development" magazine, "Supervision," “BiS Magazine” and "The Savannah Morning News." You can read her blogs at www.skirt.com/savannahchick, www.workingsmartworks.blogspot.com/ and on the web at www.mjnhconsulting.com.
Now, I am obviously not a webmaster or even at novice level. I used an online company to design my present website, and since hers had a lot of features that I liked, and the designer came with a glowing recommendation, I thought I would get more information. When I logged on to his website, it had a message that the site was not available, but it did give an email for contacting him.
I sent the email, and heard nothing in return. I pretty much forgot about it, when I got an email from the instructor about another matter. She mentioned the web designer and copied him on her email to me, and shortly afterwards, I got an email from him. He explained that he did receive my first email, but his Spam folder cleared before he could transfer it to his inbox, and it was dropped into the “…Internet abyss for all eternity.”
Ah, for the days when one phone call picked up by an answering machine held a message captive until someone on the other end hit the “play” button. Or, when a human being answered the phone and wrote down a message. My attempt to contact this gentleman had to travel a circuitous route in Cyberspace, only to be dropped by a virtual mailbox into another virtual abyss.
I wonder sometimes how much technology has really advanced our ability to communicate. While we are always available, how much information are we really getting? I checked my Spam folder one day and found a rather important message that had somehow been diverted into this virtual holding tank. How did it get there? Who was making judgments on the legitimacy of my correspondence and decided this one didn’t measure up?
My husband recently complained that I didn’t respond to a message. When I checked my email, there was no message from him. No, he said, he left the message on my Facebook page. Without realizing it, we have surrendered a lot of power and control over our lives and communications with a lot of technology that was supposed to make all of this easier, faster and more meaningful. Instead, we are inundated with a lot of information that may be interesting but distracting, confusing, unwanted and intrusive. And somewhere out there, like a dealer in Vegas, is an oracle who decides which messages get through and which are diverted like planes in a snowstorm. I’m afraid the communication train is firmly on the cyber track and there is little hope of getting off.
Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a freelance writer, blogger, and workplace consultant. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in "Training" magazine, "Training & Development" magazine, "Supervision," “BiS Magazine” and "The Savannah Morning News." You can read her blogs at www.skirt.com/savannahchick, www.workingsmartworks.blogspot.com/ and on the web at www.mjnhconsulting.com.
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