At Inside Higher Ed, Rob Franciosi cites the problems of being always on via email. Not any big news here, although his piece and the subsequent comments do hit all the major issues and potential solutions. Good story about the student who submitted pictures of his burning car by email to provide evidence of why he would need to miss class:

Terry is a grad student at my university who drives 130 miles each week from Interlochen Arts Camp to Grand Rapids for a night class. One Monday he e-mailed that a car problem might result in his absence the next day. Attached to his text was a series of numbered digital photographs taken just hours before: No. 127, his car, smoking alongside the highway; No. 128, from 20 yards further back, the burning car, flames engulfing the left side; No. 142, a firefighter, gazing at the blackened shell; and No. 143, in a creative denouement, the burned-out car being hoisted by a wrecker.

Yet another article on student e-mail in NYT (don't register if you don't want to, instead try http://www.bugmenot.com/)

To me, there are some shocking quotes in the article. To wit:

"Christopher J. Dede, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who has studied technology in education, said these e-mail messages showed how students no longer deferred to their professors, perhaps because they realized that professors' expertise could rapidly become outdated. 'The deference was probably driven more by the notion that professors were infallible sources of deep knowledge," Professor Dede said, and that notion has weakened."

From Wired,

According to recent research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, I've only a 50-50 chance of ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message. The study also shows that people think they've correctly interpreted the tone of e-mails they receive 90 percent of the time.

I wonder to what extent emoticons would increase the likelihood of interpreting the tone? I use them all the time in corresponding with students with the idea that they should make a difference.

It took me a LONG time to learn to exercise self-control with email and instant messaging. The problem is that it's all too easy to forget the trail it leaves behind--all too easy not to consider the permanence of our digital detritus. One reason I'm loathe to use email is that I can't instantly hit "UNDO" when I click "SEND." I've sent STUPID emails. But now I feel better. At least I've never done anything to embarrass myself as badly as FEMA director Michael Brown. Like OMFG, you're going to vomit reading this post. Warning: Don't be drinking Coke when you click this link.