communication

Ningaloo reef: when reassurance is impossible

ABC News reports today that the Shell oil company are requesting permission to commence exploratory drilling for oil and gas 50 km from Ningaloo reef. As a Shell spokesperson, John D’Agostino, trots out the usual reassurances, I find myself in the strange situation of almost feeling sorry for him. Here’s the Shell line: “Shell has [...]

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Fine tune your language for better communication

On a recent trip to Vietnam I found myself sitting in a hotel lobby for a few minutes. With nothing else to do, I eavesdropped on the communication taking place between staff and guests at reception. (Beware the bored writer.) As I listened, small misunderstandings seemed to creep into nearly every conversation I heard across [...]

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Our Love Affair with Digital: Are we Being Led Astray?

The stark realisation of just how wedded to digital technology we have become gave me a strong sense of unease recently. Am I alone in feeling a growing sense of communal vulnerability in this relationship?

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Avoiding Murder on the Internet: Making Writing Worthwhile

Yep. Nup. Nothin’. No one. Sort of. Dunno. Nowhere. Good. That’s about the extent of it. Your average teenager’s vocabulary as captured cleverly by songwriter Peter Denahy in his song Sort of Dunno Nothin’. Parents all over the world bemoan their offsprings’ metamorphosis from bubbly, verbose toddler to mumbly inarticulate teen. Yet it is a [...]

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New Research on Happiness at Work (sort of)

One of the benefits of the mobile phone culture is the ease with which one can do informal social research. It may not be kosher to eavesdrop on one half of a private conversation, but I figure that people who choose to loudly air their wares are willing subjects. This year I’ve noticed a disturbing [...]

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