I had a lively conversation yesterday with my friend and colleague Leslie Garfield about electronic gadgetry and law faculty etiquette (she scores well in both categories, I must add). Here are her thoughts, posted with permission.
Funny how easily a post about an old fashioned hobby can raise a newfangled issue. I read with interest Jessie Owley's post (here) about knitting during faculty meetings. ( I have also watched first hand as she spun her needles at record pace). It made me wonder more deeply about the place of technology in small meetings. As a faculty member I have come to embrace the value of bringing PDAs, iPads and even laptops to faculty meetings. But I query whether there are limits to when we as faculty should remain wired. Should we embrace a sort of "Oprah No Phone Zone" during recruitment interviews? What about when a colleague is delivering a small faculty colloquium? I sense a generation gap-like response to this question. As someone born before the Internet was invented I fall easily on the side of prohibiting colleagues from checking their email while someone is interviewing for a job. I find such distraction rude. But more junior faculty may have a different view point. I am curious to hear opposing viewpoints.
I myself feel some sort of unspoken rule that the smaller the group, the less appropriate it is to engage with electronics during a presentation.
For appointments interviewers and interviewees, checking email or an iPad is a categorical "don't" as far as I'm concerned. I myself have uploaded candidates' scholarship and CVs to an iPad before a day of interviews, but always felt a self-conscious need to let the candidate know that I was not checking my email, but rather referring to her materials. (Ok, maybe I did peek at my email once or twice…I won't do it again. Oh the shame!) Perhaps not unsurprisingly, I've never seen a candidate check email or gadgets during an interview.
My working hypothesis is that use of electronics signals that the speaker/presenter/candidate is not (yet) important enough to warrant our full attention, no matter how small the audience or room.