Lest we forget...

Easily used technology breeds a curious form of cultural memory.

For instance, what ever became of the fax? Or the floppy drive?

Yesterday one of the adminstrative assistants telephoned me with a panicked voice. She needed a copy of my curriculum vitae right away to send to another program.

"But with e-mail, I don't know what we are going to do. How can I get it and how can I send it to her?"

I saved my information to a cheap CD, walked down the hall to her office and handed it to her.

Anita no dummy, in fact, she saves our posteriors frequently. But like most of us, she had become so used to the speed and ease of e-mail file transfers she simply didn't recall that time oh so many (well, just a couple) years ago when all the personnel information was in paper form that had to be photocopied or faxed.

RECOMMENDATION: Keep a written list of non e-mail communications procedures. E-mail is often based on central servers -- and central servers go down. Sometimes we need simple reminders of the "hard way" to complete routine tasks. Like, talking to someone face-to-face...