It was about five minutes before my first shift and I had already logged in, so I decided to check it out. Upon clicking the link I was whisked away to a chat room that had a simplistic beauty to it. There was a list of everyone who was in the chat room, an area that held conversations, and even a place to write new messages. It had almost everything in it to make it easy to contact, check in with, and carry out conversations with my fellow consultants.
Unfortunately, the key word here is almost. Despite the amazing potential that this chat room has it was missing the most vital piece of the puzzle, the people. It is hard to call it a "chat" room when there is no one to chat with. While this may have been the first time I logged into the chat room, it would not be the last and every time I experienced similar results.
When discussing with Jane about the Chat Room she said, "I put up the chat room because I wanted to have some way for consultants to chat virtually during quiet shifts. I thought consultants might want to say "hi" to each other and maybe chat about conferencing challenges, etc. I figured some might have exchanged phone #s, etc. but wanted to make chatting possible for everyone"
Right now, due to the coronavirus, we may have no choice whether we are physically separated, but we do have the choice to talk and communicate our ideas and thoughts. This app represents an opportunity for us to spend our work study time together instead of in isolation and silence. I know that for many of us this transition has and still is difficult, but each of us is a part of the Coe College Writing Center. We are a community of consultants and friends who help each other and work together to make better writers not papers. The last thing I want to see are those parts fractured. For I know that "Silence like a cancer grows."
The Sound of Silence
I am not saying we should all be forced to use it, or even that we should. However, what reason do we have not to use it?
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