Revamp weekly e-mails
by Rebecca Blady
Acting Forum Editor
Columnists | 11/24/09
Posted online at 11:22 PM EST on 11/23/09
I rode on a sudden impulse last week and signed myself up to go ice skating with the Ice Skating Club last Thursday night. I'm not particularly good at ice skating; in fact, I've only done it perhaps three or four times in my life, hanging onto the wall for a good percentage of my time on the rink every single time. But after hearing friends' rave reviews of the previous week's trip, it sounded like a good idea. So I went about figuring out how to register myself-and then I got stuck.
Eventually, after asking my peers some excessively pointed questions about this mysterious sign-up process, I came to realize that the way to inform the relevant authority of my interest in joining this trip was hidden in the weekly Student Union Announcements. After spending several moments scrolling up and down the lengthy message, waiting for the right text to pop out at me and send me on my way, the endless stream of Arial with dotted lines scattered at random intervals did me little good. So I settled on the more efficient route of typing, "ice skating" into the search bar. And there it was-B16! Ice skating. Bingo. I clicked on the link and signed myself up in a matter of seconds.
Well, the trip itself was a blast, but I still wonder why navigating the Student Union Announcements can be such an aggravating procedure. I'm not quite clear on the difference between "things to know" and "stuff to do." And though I hate to question the legitimate attempt to organize all of the "things to know" and "stuff to do" into lists of categories A and B, I must confess that these long lists with seemingly arbitrary numerals in my inbox don't effectively distinguish each announcement and activity. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I'd call myself an informed Brandeis student simply because I have very little patience to read an extensive display of 10-point Arial font just to educate myself about A11 and B20 aspects of campus life.
All hope is not lost, however. Spreading information at Brandeis has its share of issues, but one specific medium has truly inspired me to consider the possibilities of successful communication: the Stall Street Journal. Gross? At the outset, maybe. Effective? Without a doubt. The Stall Street Journal captures students' attention at one of the few moments of the day when they must stop completely and leave their senses open to whatever stimulation they can most immediately absorb. The placement of that single sheet of paper on the back of the stall, while perhaps a bit distracting from the matter at hand, ensures that students take in at least a page's worth of information about campus goings-on.
Eventually, after asking my peers some excessively pointed questions about this mysterious sign-up process, I came to realize that the way to inform the relevant authority of my interest in joining this trip was hidden in the weekly Student Union Announcements. After spending several moments scrolling up and down the lengthy message, waiting for the right text to pop out at me and send me on my way, the endless stream of Arial with dotted lines scattered at random intervals did me little good. So I settled on the more efficient route of typing, "ice skating" into the search bar. And there it was-B16! Ice skating. Bingo. I clicked on the link and signed myself up in a matter of seconds.
Well, the trip itself was a blast, but I still wonder why navigating the Student Union Announcements can be such an aggravating procedure. I'm not quite clear on the difference between "things to know" and "stuff to do." And though I hate to question the legitimate attempt to organize all of the "things to know" and "stuff to do" into lists of categories A and B, I must confess that these long lists with seemingly arbitrary numerals in my inbox don't effectively distinguish each announcement and activity. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I'd call myself an informed Brandeis student simply because I have very little patience to read an extensive display of 10-point Arial font just to educate myself about A11 and B20 aspects of campus life.
All hope is not lost, however. Spreading information at Brandeis has its share of issues, but one specific medium has truly inspired me to consider the possibilities of successful communication: the Stall Street Journal. Gross? At the outset, maybe. Effective? Without a doubt. The Stall Street Journal captures students' attention at one of the few moments of the day when they must stop completely and leave their senses open to whatever stimulation they can most immediately absorb. The placement of that single sheet of paper on the back of the stall, while perhaps a bit distracting from the matter at hand, ensures that students take in at least a page's worth of information about campus goings-on.
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