EML Communication Tools and Policies
|
|---|
| This page is for: |
|
Everyone at EML: |
At EML, we primarily use email to communicate, but also chat on Microsoft Teams. This section is about how to write business emails at EML.
For paid student workers: FASmail
What is it? The UBC Faculty & Staff Email (FASmail) service is UBC's email system for staff, faculty, and student employees. This is different from your student email (first.last@student.ubc.ca).
How do I access FASmail?
If you are a Co-op or Work Learn student, you should have received an email with your FASmail address, which is usually first.last@mail.ubc.ca. You can log in to FASmail here and change your alias by logging into MyAccount and clicking "Update FASmail Alias" on the left-hand sidebar.
When do I use it?
You should use your FASmail for Microsoft Teams, general correspondence as a representative of EML to external contacts, and any other internal communications. You are free to use your personal email for services like Trello, Github, and any other external services.
For everyone: Email at EML
If you are a student worker at EML, you should use your UBC email address for all EML-related correspondence to comply with BC's privacy laws. If you are a volunteer working on an EMLx project, you are permitted to use whatever email you please, but you are advised to use your UBC email address for better privacy and ease.
It is your responsibility to tell the Lab Coordinator ([[1]]) your current email address, to update the Coordinator if your email address changes, and to check that email address regularly.
When to check email
- Before every meeting: Check your email before a meeting, to see if meeting notes, an updated meeting invite have been sent. (Alternatively, if the meeting itself has been rescheduled.)
- At least three times a day on work days: We recommend checking email in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. It's important that we be able to contact you on short notice. (Most EML staff leave their UBC email open in a browser tab and get alerts as they come in; you are encouraged to do so as well.)
When to reply to email
Ideally, you should answer email on the same day. If you get an email at the end of the day, or on the weekend, you are not obligated to respond until business hours. Outside of your work hours, you do not have to work. We shouldn't let after-hours emails interfere with our work/life balance. People may send things at odd hours, but they needn't respond.
And finally: Do not email your PIs or faculty outside working hours. Go home! Live your life!
How to write an email
Professional emails have different structures depending on the target audience. At EML, there are four primary types of email we send in our workplace:
- Emails to our team and PI
- Emails to people outside EML
- Emails to our team members
- Confirmation emails in a thread with our team members
1. When emailing faculty, including your PI:
- address the email to "Dr. Lee" unless they ask you to use their first name: "Dear Dr. Lee" or "Hi Dr. Lee" are just fine. Starting the email with "Hey" isn't as good.
- keep it short and to the point, but it's okay if you haven't been in touch--for example, over the weekend--to say, "I hope you had a good weekend".
- make a good subject line: "Main Mall Hustle - object pooling" is a better title than "Main Mall Hustle" or "object pooling", because it tells us what the email is going to be about without us opening it.
2. When emailing people outside EML, including faculty and students outside your team:
Remember that you are a representative of EML. Keep it professional and if you're unsure, remember to ask someone.
3. When emailing your teammates (and generally not your faculty)
When emailing your teammates, it's fine to be as casual as your group decides to be. That said, one handy trick is to stick to a relatively formal email structure even with your teammates, because it keeps us in the habit for when we're writing more formal emails.
4. Confirmation emails with our team members
If a team member asks you for something in a longer thread, you can just respond with "Hi David, that sounds good, I'll have it to you tomorrow." You don't have to be more formal than that unless you're corresponding with your PI.
Still not sure? You can look at the emails EML staff send to get an idea of how they should be structured.
Remember: if you're not sure, you are always allowed to ask someone else to look over an email.
Say what you need to say in emails
Don't ask someone to meet if you have a question. Email them and ask the question, then offer to meet if it's a longer conversation. If you're not sure if it would require a meeting, you are allowed to let the recipient offer to meet or not.
Good: "Can you tell me where the latest build of our project is?"
Not as good: "Can we meet to discuss things?"
Terrifyingly bad: "See me when you get in tomorrow."
Likewise, even in chat, you should simply ask your question. Don't message someone and ask if you can ask them something, say, "Can you help me with this question" and then ask the question. This means that if they don't respond for 10 minutes, they'll still be able to answer the question.
How to CC people in email
Addressing emails
You should address emails to people from whom you need a response. People who do not need to respond but are being kept in the loop should be CCed.
But what does that mean?
CCing people on emails
If you're addressing an email to multiple people, you should CC (short for "carbon copy") them so everyone involved can respond to each other. When emailing a staff member, it's fine to keep other staff members in the loop, and as a rule, you should be doing so with at least the EML Coordinator, [[2]].
But who you include on an email depends on the situation. Here are some examples:
Scenario 1:
You are having trouble logging into Workday. Email the Lab Supervisor, who can fix it, and CC the Lab Coordinator ([[3]]) to keep them informed.
Scenario 2:
You are sick today and won't be able to make your project team meeting. Email the project team members who were meant to attend the meeting, including your project's PI, if they were attending, to give them your regrets and CC the Lab Coordinator.
Scenario 3:
You would like to reschedule a one-on-one meeting with the Lab Supervisor or Emerging Media Mentor. Email them and CC the Lab Coordinator to ask to reschedule. The Lab Coordinator can help you with that.
Scenario 4:
Your project team is having a meeting with someone outside EML, but you can't make the meeting. Email your project team, CC any EML staff who might be attending, but don't include the person from outside EML. If you're not sure who to notify, contact the Lab Supervisor and Lab Coordinator immediately.
BCCing people on emails
If you're a Work Learn or volunteer, don't BCC ("Blind Carbon Copy") anyone when sending emails.
When to use email, when to use chat
Wherever possible, use email!
Chat is not permanent! Microsoft Teams chat at UBC is deleted after 90 days. The EML Alumni Slack hides old messages. You can make decisions with your team via chat, but always confirm what your group has decided by sending an email after your discussion. This gives you and your team a permanent record of the decision that was made so you can refer to it later. This is important if your team disagrees on what decision was made!
Communication tools we can't use
For Work Learns, Co-op students, and volunteers working on EML projects
We can't use American cloud services for EML correspondence. That includes Google Hangouts/Chat, Slack, and Discord. This is to comply with FIPPA, BC's privacy legislation.
As a Work Learn, you must use your UBC email address rather than Gmail or Hotmail for correspondence at EML.
Volunteers may use their Gmail or Hotmail account, but are strongly encouraged to use their UBC emails.
Important: You MUST use your UBC email account when talking about anything private or confidential your team might be working on. An example of private information would be the phone numbers of your teammates. Are you unsure about whether or not something is private? Ask the Lab Coordinator.
For students doing coursework at EML
ECE capstone teams or THTR 399E teams working on class projects are allowed to use whatever platforms their program or instructor allows.
Your calendar
Your UBC email includes a calendar feature. At EML, you must keep it up to date, so EML staff know whether or not you're available.
This means if you use Google Calendar or another calendar system hosted outside UBC, remember that you cannot sync your Google Calendar and Outlook calendar easily, so you have to manually add your meetings at EML to your Google Calendar. This includes your project meetings, the weekly team check-in meetings, and if you're a Work Learn or co-op student, your recurring weekly check-in with the EML Supervisor. These events will usually be scheduled by your project's team lead or by the EML Coordinator.
If you keep both a UBC and a personal calendar, remember to keep them both up to date! This might mean manually copying into your UBC calendar that you have a midterm--this means that we won't invite you to another meeting at the same time. (If you have already been invited to that meeting and add the midterm after, just make sure you tell us.)
As a Work Learn, share your calendar with emergingmedia.lab@ubc.ca as well as the EML Supervisor. To do so
- Browse to https://www.mail.ubc.ca and login with your FASmail/CWL account
- Click the Calendar category, on the left.
- Above your calendar, click Share, then Add Calendar…
- In the “Add Calendar” window, enter the name of the person, who’s calendar you want to view and click OK.
Get access to the EML Schedule calendar
The EML Schedule calendar is attached to the emergingmedia.lab@ubc.ca account, and is controlled by the Lab Coordinator. It is intended to share what's going on at EML with the internal team. It is not public.
The EML Schedule calendar contains important public and team-wide events. This includes:
workshopsdrop-in sessionsthe EML socialevents such as the showcaseset-up times for the showcase
The EML Schedule calendar does NOT include:
Project team meetings are not included, because they are often subject to change.Internal meetings are also not included. (For example: a 1-on-1 meeting between the Lab Supervisor and a Work Learn.)
Who can see the EML Schedule calendar?
This calendar is not public. Instead, you will need to ask the Lab Coordinator for access. This requires your UBC email address. This can be your FASmail, or student email. (It doesn't work with your non-UBC email address.)
Accept meeting invites!
When you're invited to a meeting, your email software will prompt you to accept the invitation. If you do not respond, or do not tell us that you cannot attend, you are expected to be at the meeting.