Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: What is “Open”

[Jude Foster (foster.jude]

Sharon and all, 
Thank you for writing this post (thank you for all your writing….)  Open 
communication is a challenging, shifting subject, and it has gotten more 
complicated rather than less, as the media/communication possibilities 
multiply, and as people’s lives are ever more complex as a result.

I am just finishing a thorough survey of our community members to gather info 
on everyone’s communication preferences OUTSIDE of F2F and our shared, 
organized  e-bulletin board and server.
I took it on after several personal game-changing realizations - for instance: 
"oh, he’ll read it if I text, but not if I email.”  

For ordinary community business and connections, some people want to be texted, 
some prefer phone calls, some email.  Some use texts for family but don’t want 
it complicated by community, some would rather never speak on the phone, many 
but not most are still committed email users, a few still have land lines.   
And so on.    Then it changes for day-of or more urgent communication:  what 
does each person use there, what will work best?   My inventory of preferences 
shows quite a range of differences among us, it’s been very interesting to 
explore.

Even doctor’s offices and such are jumping on this bandwagon, aren’t they?  I 
had a dentist appointment recently, and I received several emails and texts to 
remind me - geesh!  I had to tell them to back off. 

It is not just generational, at least within our community, though that is 
certainly a big factor.  My own Millenial sons have now trained me to message 
them via Facebook or text rather than email.    Sharon refers to extroverts as 
still loving bulletin boards, which had never occurred to me.    Some older 
Boomers keep up with the latest, texting and Facetime and beyond, others choose 
not to.

Anyway, back to “what is ‘open’” - I am about to report out to our community:  
these people prefer texts, these prefer email, and so on.  And then good luck 
to us all to notice the preferences, to make it work, and to keep up with 
continuing change.  

Cheers from the computer,
Jude, Trillium Hollow, Portland Oregon