Should you email your cubicle neighbor?

From ISACA CEO, Susan M. Caldwell:

I recently read some interesting rules about e-mailed communication. They were suggested by D. Mark Schumann, chair of the International Association of Business Communicators. He calls these his “three e-mail rule”:

1. You should exchange only three e-mails with anybody on a single topic. If you haven’t resolved the issue after three e-mails, you should have an actual conversation.

2. You should copy only three people on any e-mail. If you need to copy more, you should have a meeting.

3. If you are in the same office with someone and that person is less than three feet or three floors away from you, you should talk with them in person or call them. The same applies if you are not in the same office, but the person is less than three hours away from you.

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By the way, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) is an excellent organization!

FREE MIS Textbooks for Students

Flat World Knowledge and others have ‘open education resources’ (i.e., free) for some formats of the books. The site also has a list of universities that have adopted the book. For those teaching a core Information Systems course I encourage you to review Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology—by John Gallaher: http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/printed-book/227252

The benefit is the price (free for students if read online) and availability of multiple formats for students. The book has exam/quiz supplements in Blackboard format as well as Powerpoint presentations. It may be an option to help reduce the cost of textbooks for students if the quality is reasonable. From what I can see the book is continuously being updated and quality is good.

Pricing for Books at Flat World Knowledge:

• Read Online- FREE
• Hard Copy (Color) - $69
• Hard Copy (Black & White) - $35
• Download a PDF to Read Offline and/or Print Yourself - $25
• Audiobook - $40
• Ebook (kindle, nook, ipad) - $25

I’m not opposed to textbooks from traditional publishers, but in the courses that may require multiple texts, I’m a proponent of finding inexpensive or free materials for students at least for some of those required texts, given they’re of similar quality and based on the purpose of the text for use in the course.