Jim Parham, PR Chronicle

Halloween can be a scary time of year, and I’m not just referring to the ghouls and goblins preparing to roam my neighborhood in search of sweets.

PR executives at national retailer Target got quite a fright a few weeks ago after an offensive costume appeared on the company’s Web site. Alongside the pointed witches hats and vampire fangs appeared an “illegal alien” costume, consisting of an extraterrestrial mask, orange jump suit and official green card.

Being a professor on a college campus that is known for its parties, I’ve seen my share of slightly offensive, but amusing costumes. But usually these are creative, homemade creations, not something you can grab off of a rack for $29.99.

Target officials pulled the costume after receiving complaints from the Latino community and quickly issued an apology, stating that the costume was never intended to be sold at Target or via the Web site. Regardless, they learned a tough lesson: sometimes the scariest Halloween costume doesn’t involve blood and gore.

This week, Elinor Ostrom, a distinguished Indiana University professor, won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. She works for the same university that I do. But, that’s where the similarities stop. I still haven’t won the distinction of chief bottle washer, so I won’t even try to suggest we are on equal footing.

But, the two of us may have similar thoughts about communication. Dr. Ostrom’s body of work has shown that large-scale engineering solutions may look better on the surface, but it is the lack of communication in these endeavors that may spell trouble.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in its support of her award, suggested that, despite flawless engineering in building dams for irrigation in Nepal, many projects ended in failure. The reason? Building dams cut out local communities and eliminated communication among various factions.

This seems to have some applicability to my recent ramblings about the dangers of e-mail. Technology is a wonderful thing, but relying on digital pathways as the primary way to communicate to staff, friends and business associates is full of danger.

It may be advantageous to engage in face-to-face dialogue and discrete and clear communiqués via videoconference or telephone. These are the tried-and-true pathways to successful interplay. E-mail is a wonderful and efficient tool. However, it quickly loses out when attempting to ascertain the motivations, feelings or intent of the missive.

So, pick up the phone, ask for a sit down or get out of your seat and visit the client. There are untold benefits to doing some things the old-fashioned way.

College students using the miracle of modern technology to reach out to professors and potential employers may be doing more harm than good. E-mailing and texting are efficient and convenient, but drawbacks include potential misinterpretation of the message or a negative reaction from the recipient.

Somewhere in the e-revolution, we found that short-form messages, delivered electronically, are an adequate replacement for face-to-face interaction.

E-mail wars, endless strings of communiqué and unrepentant language can make a bad situation worse. When you write a professor about missing today’s class, it’s probably not a priority on her/his to-do list. It’s even worse to ramble on with long-winded excuses and pabulum.

Many employers have switched to electronic applications on their Web sites for both job applicants and internships. Unfortunately, this company-centric process eliminates the human interaction, thereby negating any interpersonal skill strength a candidate may possess.

Here’s my partial list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”

Do
1. Write e-mails and text with the same care and specificity of a hard-copy document.
2. Use full sentences and proper grammar.
3. Construct your e-mail as you would any written correspondence, with a beginning, middle and end.
4. Determine if an e-mail or text is a proper way to communicate with another party.
5. Understand that colleges and universities retain most student e-mails in their databases, keeping a record of your informal banter.

Don’t
1. Take the easy route on an internship or job hunt by simply “applying online.” Press hard and find a warm body willing to talk.
2. Use popular online abbreviations and electronic shorthand. The recipient may have no idea what you mean.
3. Use e-mail or text for important, delicate or questionable communication. It’s much better not to have a written history of these discussions.
4. Don’t use electronic correspondence to wage war or bicker. In the heat of the battle, it’s much too easy to “fire off an e-mail.”
5. Rely on e-mail as your sole source of social and business interaction. Human interaction and telephone calls can help you gauge another person’s demeanor and viewpoint much more accurately.