In a message dated 10/21/98 5:19:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< If I may chime in on the computers as the employer's property. If the
 computer is connected to a network, it is using up resources. If an
 employee is using the computer/network for personal things (personal
 e-mail, storage of games, etc) the employer or computer systems manager
 should have the right to go into the the system and remove files, provided
 that there is a true concern that these things are draining the system and
 making it hard for work to get done.  Also a company or organization could
 possibly be held libel for "unathorized" or pirated software/stuff found
 on computer. And unlike your desk, bad software that causes a nasty giltch
 or a virus infects other computers, whereas your desk is not likely to
 have any adverse effect on the next guy/gal.

 But hopefully everyone is using authorized and properly purchased
 software, and most e-mail messages are business or professionally related.
 Of course I do believe in some employer subsidy of e-mail and computer
 use, but I try to take as much care with it as I do when I have "borrowed"
 pens from the office.

 --
 M Marie Maxwell >

In the museum world, we work our employees to death and we pay them much lower
than their colleagues in other fields, I can't see not allowing folks to use
email for their personal use unless it is pornographic or is for the purpose
of hurting the institution.

Software and games is another issue.  I have noticed lots of problems with
viruses lately.  Software also takes up lots of space.  My feeling is that if
we want to start policing how employees use their email, we probably don't
have enough to do and don't trust them
.
And if it takes up too much space, you probably need to bring your drives up
to speed.  It's the least we can do for folks who dedicate their lives to our
mission and work very hard.

If you are running out of disk space, ask folks to clean up their files to
make some room.  I bet they'll be cooperative.

Remember using email for personal messages is a lot cheaper than having them
use your phones for personal long distance calls.

Good luck and I hope we strive to trust our employees when making policies.

Stephen Brand


******************************************************
Stephen Brand
President and Chief Imagination Officer
The New Enterprise Factory, Inc.
New Venture Consulting for Museums
566 White Pond Drive
Suite C-301
Akron, OH 44320-1116

330-864-1518
330-865-1623 fax
[log in to unmask]

www.enterprisingmuseums.com (coming online on November 1st)

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