Apple Mac OS X Server v10.6 - Manual (Page 84)

The following is a communication flow that you can use to decide the best
communication medium to use for a specific situation:
Are you communicating
with an established group?
Do you need people
to immediately see
your message?
Send email
Are you attaching
a large file?
Would it be useful
to update or allow
others to update
your message?
Send email to
mailing list
and attach file
to a wiki page
Send email
to mailing list
Add wiki entry Add blog entry
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No Yes No
Problems with Email
Email is an immediate, direct communication method that’s best suited for urgent
requests. By contrast, although wikis and blogs have notification systems such as
My Page and RSS, they’re best suited for information that is viewed as needed.
Email has these issues:
When people reply instead of replying to all, the email threads can get out of sync. Â
Every time an email is responded to, a new version of the email is created. Â
Unfiltered email appears in your inbox regardless of how urgent it is or whether it Â
directly affects you.
The volume of email communication can be burdensome.
Â
To find a specific email, you must perform a text search. Â
84 Chapter 11 Communicating More Effectively with Wiki Tools