This could get a little convoluted, so I'll tell you at the outset that this blog is really about the advantages of hard copy newsletters.

On Friday evening I met up with 6 other men who had been at secondary school with me.  For one of them it was the first time we had met in nearly 40 years.  Of the seven of us, two had gone into private sector employment: they were both now fully retired after getting generous payoffs from their firms sometime before their expected retirement ages.  The other five had gone into public sector activities - three lecturing in universities, one as a consultant cardiologist, and one as a social worker.  One of the university lecturers had retired but the others of us were all still in employment.  The person who had retired had actually taken voluntary severance as part of Sheffield's VSS scheme of 3 years ago.  As we sat in a French restaurant in Bow Street, London (the school we had attended was in London so it seemed only fitting that we should all meet up there) he reminded me of how he had found out that he and I were working for the same institution.

When the Octagon Centre opened, with a great fanfare, a lot was made of the versatility of the venue and of the huge variety of events that were scheduled to take place there: a significant part of the university's monthly newsletter was devoted to the story.  Something about the list of events annoyed me, and I wrote a letter to the editor, which was duly published, arguing that a civilised institution such as Sheffield University should not be condoning boxing dinners on its premises. My letter provoked a response from the then manager of the Octagon, effectively arguing that he would accept any booking that paid.  And there was then a further flurry of correspondence, almost unanimously taking my view.  It was my letter in the newsletter that had alerted my old school friend that he and I were now working in the same university.  It was also what first brought me some recognition (notoriety?) within the institution.

That was a period when a copy of the university newsletter was placed in every staff pigeonhole and in every office and workshop.  It was well-read and coffee conversations revolved around the stories in it.  The 1st April edition was eagerly awaited - at least, after the first 'special' edition when a number of people did actually fall for the line that the university was about to insist that all its staff wore a distinctive uniform.  In other years there was a report on the plans for a chair lift to get people across the ring road (more needed now than it was when the story was written), and the relandscaping of the Brook Hill roundabout as the 'Magic Roundabouit.'   The hard copy newsletter brought everyone together and created a sense of community - everyone read the same material.

Of course, that was before the internet and the delivery of information and news via e-mails.  Today I receive a couple of dozen newsletters in various ways.  I do read 'Overview' - the replacement of the old hard copy edition.  But the vast majority of e-mail newsletters I receive just get filed on one side to be read later - but never are.  The only one I really read is Learning and Teaching News (hard copy).  Readers may say that these are the reflections of someone who has been around rather too long, and who doesn't appreciate the advantages of modern technology.  But I am writing this in uSpace.  I use MOLE2 in my teaching.  I do a lot of feedback work with students via SurveyMonkey.  I read others' blogs, and follow message trails.  It's just that none of these means of communication creates such a wide sense of community and belonging as a booklet in everyone's pigeonhole that everyone then reads and talks about with others.

I will close with a challenge.  When I was promoted to a chair the next newsletter had a photo of all the new chairholders and a few words about each of them.  For the following month or so as I went around the university many people stopped me to offer me congratulations.  My challenge to others is to name those in the university who were promoted to chairs a month ago: I suspect that even with modern means of communication very few have much idea of who to congratulate.

But I am prepared to be dismissed as a communications Luddite and out of touch with how others use contemporary means of messaging!