Deck 7: Electronic Media

Question 1

When you're posting comments on social media,

A)don't worry about the details of spelling and punctuation.
B)exercise your free-speech rights by ranting and raving at length.
C)promote your products and services aggressively.
D)provide short "chunks" of information that can help others who visit the site.

Answer 1

D
Explanation:D)To be an effective commenter, focus on short chunks of information that a broad spectrum of site visitors will find helpful.

Question 2

Because many email programs display the first few words or lines of incoming messages, you should

A)be vague in your first sentence, to entice the reader to open the message.
B)leave several blank lines at the beginning of each message.
C)treat the first sentence of the message as an extension of your subject line.
D)use phrases such as "MUST READ" in your first sentence.

Answer 2

C
Explanation:C)A well written first line of the email adds to the subject line. It informs the reader of the state of affairs and allows the reader to decide whether or not to look into the situation further.

Question 3

Thanks to Facebook, you've recently connected with an old friend who lives in another state. She emails you frequently at work, often sharing racially charged jokes that you find offensive. Concerned about what would happen if your boss or coworkers saw her emails, you should

A)loosen up, since no one at your company has the right to read your email.
B)politely ask her to stop sending the jokes, and tell your boss about the problem and how you have addressed it.
C)simply delete her email messages from your computer so no one will ever know about them.
D)do none of the above.

Answer 3

B
Explanation:B)Since correspondence at work may be the property of the company, the company may have the right to monitor your correspondence. The only way to make sure the situation doesn't turn into anything damaging is to tell your boss about it.

Question 4

Using "teasers" in electronic media as a way to pull readers or listeners into a story or other document is

A)unethical and should always be avoided.
B)appropriate only when large purchases are not involved.
C)acceptable, as long as the payoff is valuable and legitimate.
D)never appropriate for microblogging sites.

Question 5

Overusing the "cc" function when sending email

A)is no longer a big deal since very few people pay attention to these messages.
B)is a violation of email hygiene.
C)can waste a great deal of time by generating more reply messages than necessary.
D)is a good way to protect yourself in a hostile work environment.

Question 6

Which of the following is the best example of an effective email subject line?

A)Website redesign is on schedule
B)Status Report
C)Employee Parking
D)Read This!

Question 7

Email can be used for external communication

A)regularly, although it is replaced in many cases by other tools.
B)only for formal documents that you need to keep a record of.
C)in response to letters your customers have sent.
D)only if a superior approves the message.

Question 8

Which of the following is an example of an effective subject line for an email requesting information about the August inventory for bananas?

A)Information needed
B)Banana inventories
C)Banana information needed
D)Please send August banana inventory

Question 9

Email hygiene refers to

A)the absence of slang and informal language in email messages.
B)a nationwide movement to do away with information overload.
C)all the efforts companies make to keep email clean and safe.
D)refraining from using foul language in email.

Question 10

When you're writing email messages in the workplace, remember that business emails

A)require a higher level of quality than personal emails.
B)should never be shorter than one screen.
C)do not need to be proofread for grammar and spelling errors.
D)are the best medium for internal messages, regardless of their content.

Question 11

The subject line of an email message

A)is rarely read by the recipient.
B)helps recipients decide whether or not to read the message.
C)should describe only the general topic of the message.
D)does all of the above.

Question 12

Many companies have formal email policies that include restrictions on sending

A)personal messages via corporate email.
B)confidential or proprietary information.
C)material that might be objectionable or offensive to others.
D)all of the above.

Question 13

Compared to email, instant messaging (IM)

A)is slower and more complicated to use.
B)has not caught on in the business community.
C)is much faster, but more costly as well.
D)offers greater speed and is less susceptible to privacy problems.

Question 14

Which of the following is not true of instant messaging?

A)It allows a rapid response to urgent messages.
B)It is less susceptible to security and privacy problems.
C)It costs more than phone calls or email.
D)It is widely utilized in business.

Question 15

To make everyday email more readable, you should do all of the following except:

A)write the subject line and first line of your message all in caps.
B)keep your message simple and easy to understand.
C)pay attention to grammar, spelling, and usage.
D)observe email etiquette.

Question 16

When it comes to writing messages in today's business environment,

A)printed messages are obsolete.
B)printed messages are still preferred for formal correspondence or a court of law.
C)email has completely replaced printed messages for all internal communication.
D)hard-copy messages are used primarily for delivering negative news.

Question 17

Email messages

A)generally require less care than other messages, since email is temporary and easily deleted.
B)should be written with the assumption that they will be stored forever.
C)should always be less formal in business than messages in other media.
D)none of the above.

Question 18

For years email has been the primary communication medium at your company. However, many of your employees now use IM daily for personal messages, and they've come to you asking your approval to begin using it to communicate with clients and vendors. Your greatest concern is likely to be

A)incompatibility between your company's IM system and those your vendors and clients use.
B)the need for users to learn complicated software that may take years to learn.
C)the ability to use it only on expensive, highly specialized devices.
D)the high cost.

Question 19

All of the following except ________ will help you plan effective email messages.

A)making sure every email you send is necessary
B)following company email policy
C)ignoring the chain of command
D)keeping virus protection up to date

Question 20

Despite your numerous emails and voicemail messages, a normally dependable vendor has not responded to your important question. Which of the following would be a sensible next step?

A)Consider sending a printed message.
B)Broadcast "high-priority" or "urgent" emails at ten-minute intervals.
C)Use social media to vent your frustrations with the vendor.
D)Use IM to bombard the vendor until he responds.

Question 21

When you're drafting website content, ________ will help visitors find what they want fast and encourage them to return to your site for more information.

A)breaking your information into small, self-contained "chunks"
B)presenting your information in a concise, skimmable format
C)structuring your content according to the inverted pyramid style
D)all of the above

Question 22

The web is a ________ medium.

A)linear
B)unilateral
C)nonlinear
D)tripartite

Question 23

Using the "return receipt requested" feature when you send an email

A)announces that your message is urgent.
B)asks the person who receives your email to fill out a questionnaire.
C)triggers a message back to you when the recipient receives or opens your email.
D)plays a short audio file when the receiver opens your message.

Question 24

Which one of the following is a planning step in creating effective email messages?

A)Following company email guidelines and policies
B)Double-checking your recipient list before sending your message
C)Creating informative subject lines that clarify the purpose of your message
D)Deciding whether to mark your message as "urgent"

Question 25

In order to use instant messaging (IM)productively in the workplace,

A)maintain your IM presence 24-7.
B)don't worry about IM etiquette during short exchanges.
C)treat IM as a professional communication medium.
D)use IM to send confidential, complex, and personal messages.

Question 26

Advantages of using IM rather than email include its

A)ability to completely eliminate the equivalent of "junk mail."
B)availability on cell phones but not computers.
C)ability to hold real-time text conversations.
D)all of the above.

Question 27

The ability to update content quickly and easily makes ________ a natural medium when communicators want to get messages out in a hurry.

A)websites
B)podcasting channels
C)blogs or microblogs
D)user-generated content sites

Question 28

Compared to blogs, podcasts are

A)much easier to edit.
B)more difficult to edit.
C)equally challenging when it comes to editing.
D)used only by high-tech companies.

Question 29

If you're a frequent user of social media, much of what you write will involve

A)orientations.
B)narratives.
C)reference materials.
D)status updates and announcements.

Question 30

In the middle of an important meeting, you receive an unsolicited IM from a company informing you of their great rates on vacations in Hawaii. This is an example of

A)spam.
B)a computer virus.
C)spim.
D)viral marketing.

Question 31

Podcasts are

A)great for entertainment, but not useful in business.
B)helpful for training in business, but not much else.
C)too technical to be practical for business use.
D)none of the above.

Question 32

When a summary appears at the beginning of an article or webpage,

A)it distributes how-to advice to visitors.
B)it offers helpful tips and insightful commentary.
C)it presents the document's key points.
D)it includes updates and announcements.

Question 33

Professional website designers often use the term ________ to describe the content structure, labeling, and navigational flow of all website elements.

A)user experience
B)relational superstructure
C)information architecture
D)inverted paradigm

Question 34

You can plan for important business exchanges via IM by viewing them as

A)invitations to discuss personal matters.
B)conversations with specific goals in mind.
C)opportunities to save time by multitasking.
D)routine events that don't require formalities.

Question 35

Website designers start developing the information architecture for a website by

A)giving visitors options for finding what they want.
B)creating consistent labels for hyperlinks.
C)brainstorming how all potential visitors will want to use the site.
D)outlining all pathways between entry points and target information.

Question 36

Which of the following is not a compelling advantage of email in the workplace?

A)Email is universal.
B)Email closely resembles one-on-one conversations.
C)Email is an effective medium for private, short-to-medium length messages.
D)Email allows senders to write messages and recipients to read them, according to their schedules.

Question 37

Businesspeople can use text messaging for

A)marketing.
B)customer service.
C)crisis management.
D)all of the above.

Question 38

The collaborative nature of wikis makes them suitable for

A)getting messages out in a hurry.
B)aggregating "crowd knowledge."
C)replicating radio or video broadcasts.
D)distributing discount coupons.

Question 39

One of the greatest drawbacks to using podcasts in business is the

A)costly equipment you'll need, regardless of the production quality you want.
B)intimidation factor of online audio and video.
C)difficulty of scanning back and forth to find specific parts of the message.
D)high distribution costs associated with them.

Question 40

In terms of the three-step writing process, podcasts differ mostly from written messages in the ________ step.

A)planning
B)writing
C)completing
D)finishing

Question 41

The term ________ signifies a plan that reveals how a website's content is organized and shows the navigational linkages that let users map individual pathways through the site.

A)web-path interchange
B)virtual superstructure
C)information architecture
D)media scaffolding

Question 42

The ________ of websites makes them more difficult to plan and organize than virtually any other type of communication.

A)linear nature
B)versatility
C)objectivity
D)narrow scope

Question 43

An effective email subject line is very short and describes only the general topic of the message.

Question 44

Sites such as Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube are valuable for social communication, but not for business.

Question 45

When you're creating a website, think of it as ________ that visitors must learn how to operate before they can use it efficiently.

A)a data-driven dynamo
B)a panorama of possibilities
C)a modular multimedia matrix
D)an information-delivery machine

Question 46

Leaving the subject line out on important email messages will spark your readers' curiosity and increase their desire to read your email.

Question 47

In email, "cc" stands for "confidential copy."

Question 48

In business-related email messages, it is a good idea to make frequent use of background colors and colored type to add visual appeal to the text.

Question 49

Writing "teasers" on microblogging sites can be effective, as long as the payoffs to which they lead are valuable and legitimate.

Question 50

In business communication, email is often being replaced by other tools that provide better support for instant communication and real-time collaboration.

Question 51

In a court of law, email messages and other electronic documents can have the same weight as printed documents.

Question 52

If you want to create a podcasting channel, plan on using a wide variety of topics and themes to keep the audience guessing and coming back for more.

Question 53

When you're using an inverted pyramid style to write content for the web,

A)put the least important information at the top of the message.
B)put the most important information at the top of the message.
C)put the least important information in the middle of the message.
D)put the most important information at the bottom of the message.

Question 54

It is illegal for your company to open and read email you send and receive at work.

Question 55

Because each electronic medium has unique requirements, basic communication skills do not usually transfer from one system to another.

Question 56

Due to budget constraints, very few employers now monitor employee email.

Question 57

Printed, hard-copy documents have no place in a court of law.

Question 58

The information architecture of a website is a three-dimensional outline of the site that shows

A)the vertical hierarchy of pages from the homepage down to the lower levels.
B)the horizontal division of pages across the various sections of the site.
C)the links that connect the site's pages, internally and externally.
D)all of the above.

Question 59

Respecting the chain of command is an important element of effective email messages.

Question 60

Spelling, punctuation, and grammar do not matter in email; getting your message out quickly should be your only concern.

Question 61

Instant messaging is a faster communication tool than email.

Question 62

The ________ ________ of an email is important because it helps readers decide whether to read the message or delete it.

Question 63

The completing step is where podcasting differs most dramatically from written communication.

Question 64

A(n)________ is the online equivalent of recorded radio or video broadcasts.

Question 65

Compositional ________ for electronic media include (among others)conversations, comments and critiques, orientations, summaries, and narratives.

Question 66

"Spim" is the term used to describe the IM version of email spam.

Question 67

A potential drawback of instant messaging involves ________ ________ or making sure that online correspondents are really who they appear to be.

Question 68

Using iTunes to distribute podcasts is unrealistic for most organizations.

Question 69

Unlike other business presentations, podcasts require little planning and are most effective when delivered impromptu.

Question 70

Website designers use the term informative nomenclature to describe the content, structure, labeling, and navigational flow of all the parts of a website.

Question 71

________ systems such as Twitter are being used widely in business for everything from research to customer service to live backchannels during presentations and conferences.

Question 72

Always read from a prepared script when creating podcasts for business.

Question 73

Professional website designers use ________ ________ to create a rewarding experience for all website visitors.

Question 74

Mistakenly clicking "reply all" when sending an email can be career threatening in today's technology-driven economy.

Question 75

Website authors use the ________ ________ style to cover the most important information briefly at first and then gradually reveal successive layers of detail.

Question 76

An ________ ________ includes items such as your name, title, company, and contact information at the end of your email messages.

Question 77

If you are frustrated that virtually no one responds to your emails, you should set the message priority to "High" for all the messages you send.

Question 78

Some email users employ ________ to express emotional nuances in casual or informal email messages.

Question 79

Marketers use microblogging systems to send ________ that withhold key information, in order to attract the attention of current and prospective customers.

Question 80

One of the best ways to distribute podcasts is to use a blog that provides supporting information.