The Politeness of Requests Made Via Email and Voicemail: Support for the Hyperpersonal Model

This study analyzes requests made via email and voicemail for properties of politeness ( Brown & Levinson, 1987 ). Voicemail users have less control over planning, composing, editing, and executing messages, and must manage more nonverbal cues than email users. Thus, it is predicted that email will enable users to create more polite speech than voicemail. A 2 (communication medium: email or voicemail) x 2 (imposition: low or high) factorial design was implemented to test this hypothesis. One hundred fifty-one participants created request messages that were subsequently analyzed for properties of politeness. Overall, the results indicate email requests were more polite than voicemail requests. These results are consistent with the hyperpersonal model ( Walther, 1996 ) .     

A self-awareness approach to computer-mediated communication

Many explanations of both pro- and anti-social behaviors in computer-mediated communication (CMC) appear to hinge on changes in individual self-awareness. In spite of this, little research has been devoted to understanding the effects of self-awareness in CMC. To fill this void, this study examined the effects of individuals’ public and private self-awareness in anonymous, time-restricted, and synchronous CMC. Two experiments were conducted. A pilot experiment tested and confirmed the effectiveness of using a Web camera combined with an alleged online audience to enhance users’ public self-awareness. In the main study users’ private and public self-awareness were manipulated in a crossed 2 × 2 factorial design. Pairs of participants completed a Desert Survival Problem via a synchronous, text-only chat program. After the task, they evaluated each other on intimacy, task/social orientation, formality, politeness, attraction, and group identification. The results suggest that a lack of private and public self-awareness does not automatically lead to impersonal tendencies in CMC as deindividuation perspectives of CMC would argue. Moreover, participants in this study were able to form favorable impressions in a completely anonymous environment based on brief interaction, which lends strong support to the idealization proposed by hyperpersonal theory. Findings are used to modify and extend current theoretical perspectives on CMC.     

Gender and computer-mediated communication: group processes in problem solving

The study reports results from an experiment investigating aspects of communicative processes, using face-to-face (FtF) communication and computer-mediated communication (CMC). The latter was performed in two variants: participants writing under their own names or participants writing anonymously. There were two problems to be solved, both having ambiguous solutions. The theoretical aim was to determine if gender would influence communication equality, social relations, and communicative processes. Furthermore, private and public self-awareness was studied in order to identify differences between the media and between the sexes. The results show that participants discussing FtF were more private self-aware than participants in CMC, and females were more private self-aware than males. Females produced more messages in FtF communication than they did in CMC, and there were also more opinion change from females than from males. Social judgements were more positive from females than from males. A qualitative analysis showed that females expressed more opinions and agreements in FtF communication than in CMC, but also that they agreed more than males in responding to messages from a male. There were also more disagreements in FtF communication than in CMC.     

Virtual Support Communities and Psychological Well‐Being: The Role of Optimistic and Pessimistic Social Comparison Strategies

Do the beneficial or detrimental effects of CMC activity depend on the specific social comparison strategy individuals use? The present study aimed to answer this question by examining social comparison strategies, different measures of online activity within the community, and psychological well‐being of users of online breast cancer support communities. Results showed that the relationship between online activity (i.e., length of visits and frequency of posts) and psychological well‐being (i.e., breast cancer related concerns and depression) was determined by users' pessimistic social comparison strategy; downward identification influenced especially highly active users. Findings suggest that active CMC users should be careful not to become entrapped by negative social comparison processes.     

Sustaining computer-mediated communication in university courses

Abstract In the second of two graduate classes with the same title and content, the volume of on-line messages per person, in the four weeks sampled, was more than seven times higher than in the first. Between weeks l-2 and weeks 5-6, the total number of messages per person dropped in the first class and rose in the second. Each class had a different computer-mediated communication (CMC) system and was given different guidelines for use. This paper analyses differences in volume and hypothesises a relationship between system characteristics, guidelines for use, and the perpetuation of verbal interaction in settings where CMC is mandated.     

Persuasive Electronic Word-of-Mouth Messages in Social Media

Despite the influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) messages in decision-making processes, few studies have tested the determinants of persuasive eWOM messages among social media users. Although most of the researches focused on western and eastern cultural convergence or divergence of online communications, little attention has been paid on the validity and applicability of cultural orientations in countries with perceived inherent similar values. This study examines how Chinese and Malaysian users process eWOM messages and decide on continuing their overseas study. The significance of the study is to identify critical factors that influence Chinese and Malaysian users’ attitudes and behavior when processing persuasive eWOM messages. Results revealed that Facebook is the most used social networking site (SNS) for Malaysian users, while QQ Qzone for Chinese counterparts. This study found that argument quality, source credibility, source attractiveness, source perception, and source style exerted varying influences on Chinese and Malaysian users’ attitudes and intentions to continue their study abroad.     

Gender differences in an on-line learning environment

This paper focuses upon the use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in a specific learning context by a small community of postgraduate (MEd) distance learners and their tutors. Content analysis of on-line dialogues was used to investigate learning and socio-emotional behaviour within this community. The data presented suggests that men and women took distinctively different roles in the on-line learning environment. Most significantly, the cognitive and metacognitive (learning) content of on-line seminar contributions by men and women was found to be similar, but their social and interactive behaviour was significantly different. In particular, it was found that within a formal on-line learning environment men sent (on average) more messages than women; they wrote messages which were twice as long as those sent my women; and made more socio-emotional contributions than women. Women, however, were found to contribute more 'interactive' messages than men. This paper concludes that the application of CMC technology to a specific learning context may reproduce gender differences within a learning community.     

Extending the reach of business processes

A business process is a systematic set of activities by which an enterprise conducts its affairs. Various technologies-including pagers, cell phones, pocket PCs, instant messaging (IM), and the short message service (SMS)-have emerged that people can use to communicate even when they are on the move or far away. Many such devices support synchronous communication as well as proactively "pushing" messages to users. However, these devices have no mechanism to control or structure the information that users are exchanging, and they arc not integrated with business processes based on workplaces. To address these problems, we have designed and implemented PerCollab, a middleware system that facilitates structured collaboration between various communication devices for business processes and pushes tasks to users.     

Instant messaging with WebWho

We present a study of how awareness of presence affects content of instant messaging sent between students using WebWh o, an easily accessible web-based awareness tool. WebWho visualizes where people are located in a large university computer lab and allows students to virtually locate one another and communicate via an instant messaging system. As WebWho is there to be accessed through any web browser, it requires no programming skills or special software. It may also be used from outside the computer lab by students located elsewhere. The sender's user name is normally automatically added to the instant messages, but the messages can also be sent anonymously. We were interested in finding out if the sender's conscious hiding of his or her identity seemed to be reflected in the content of anonymous messages, and how these differed from those with identified senders. Awareness of presence seems to be one of several factors influencing message composition, both content and structural aspects. At this stage, we have primarily focused on examining how different factors affects the content of the messages. We cross-analysed the messages for content in relation to parameters such as sender location (collocated, distributed and distant) and sender status (anonymous vs. identified), in order to find out whether awareness of presence seems to be an influencing factor. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is often claimed to be a sort of hybrid between spoken and written interaction [c.f. Ferrara, Brunner & Whittemore (1991) and and several others]. We compared the messages that were sent using the instant messaging tool in WebWho with data from other types of CMC (email, chat) and also with corpora of spoken language and traditionally written language. The aim of the study was primarily to investigate awareness of presence affects on instant messaging, and only secondarily to investigate spoken vs. written features of the texts. Results show that awareness of both physical and virtual presence affects the content of the messages, and that these factors affects the text differently. Sender status, the nature of the computer-mediated medium, and the written mode shape the messages as well. Results show that the students use the messaging system to support collaborative work and coordinate social activities, and extensively for playful behaviour.     

Factors influencing the use of computer mediated communication by teachers in secondary schools

In this article, a survey on the factors influencing the use of computer mediated communication (CMC) by teachers in secondary schools in Brussels is described. The survey compared a group of CMC users with non-CMC users. It is demonstrated that language teaching was the best predictor for the use of CMC. The main reason for this is that education policy within the area under investigation has developed a specific CMC project that is primarily oriented towards a target group of language teachers. A second predictor of CMC use was the degree of technological innovativeness. This instrument is a measure of the willingness of the teacher to adopt technological innovation in his own teaching practice. A third predictor was perceived CMC attributes. This instrument indicates the degree to which users observe any congruence between the characteristics of CMC as a medium and their own teaching practice.     

Affective responses to system messages in human–computer-interaction: Effects of modality and message type

Affective responses of users to system messages in human–computer interaction are a key to study user satisfaction. However, little is known about the particular affective patterns elicited by various types of system messages. In this experimental study we examined if and how different system messages, presented in different modalities, influence users’ affective responses. Three types of messages, input requests, status notifications, and error messages, were presented either as text or speech, and either alone or in combination with icons or sounds, while users worked on several typical computer tasks. Affective responses following system messages were assessed employing a multi-modal approach, using subjective rating scales as well as physiological measures. Results show that affective responses vary systematically depending on the type of message, and that spoken messages generally elicit more positive affect than written messages. Implications on how to enhance user satisfaction by appropriate message design are discussed.     

A lightweight privacy preserving SMS-based recommendation system for mobile users

In this paper, we propose a fully decentralized approach for recommending new contacts in the social network of mobile phone users. With respect to existing solutions, our approach is characterized by some distinguishing features. In particular, the application we propose does not assume any centralized coordination: It transparently collects and processes user information that is accessible in any mobile phone, such as the log of calls, the list of contacts or the inbox/outbox of short messages and exchanges it with other users. This information is used to recommend new friendships to other users. Furthermore, the information needed to perform recommendation is collected and exchanged between users in a privacy preserving way. Finally, information necessary to implement the application is exchanged transparently and opportunistically, by using the residual space in standard short messages occasionally exchanged between users. As a consequence, we do not ask users to change their habits in using SMS.     

Computer mediated communication for social and academic purposes: Profiles of use and University students’ gratifications

The present study approaches the Internet as a social space, where university students make use of computer mediated communication (CMC) applications, i.e. e-mail, instant messaging and social network sites, in order to satisfy social and academic needs. We focus on university students, because they represent one of the most avid groups of CMC users and additionally, because they are expected to carry their perceptions of media with them into the work place and their social life. In order to investigate this issue, we conducted an empirical research using, as a target group, a sample of students from a specific Greek University. Grounded in the “uses and gratifications” perspective, we investigated the various profiles of CMC use by students along with (a) the students’ perceptions about social and academic usefulness of CMC applications, (b) the extent up to which these perceptions are correlated with students’ prior experience with the use of CMC applications, and (c) how both of these factors can predict the frequency of present use of CMC for social or academic purposes respectively. The results reveal that although these three CMC applications constitute “functional alternatives” (media that satisfy similar needs) they are different to the degree of their “functionality” for the gratification of social and academic needs. Furthermore, the degree of CMC use by students is not correlated with the years of CMC experience, but with the profile of use that students dynamically adopt according to their daily needs and preferences. The results provide evidence for the current CMC use by university students and can be useful for the implementation of further academic policies regarding CMC use in Higher Education settings.     

Rationalist assumptions in cross-media comparisons of computer-mediated communication

Users' comparisons between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and other forms of communication are of theoretical interest and have important implications for system design and implementation. This paper outlines the prevalent systems-rationalist perspective on CMC, which sees the medium primarily as an efficient channel for information transfer in specific organizational tasks, and critically reviews the evidence that studies of users' perceptions and media preferences offer for this generalized view. In advocating a widening of our perspective on CMC, a field study is described in which electronic mail users within a large commercial telecommunications company were invited to compare eight different communication activities, using repertory grid technique. From a total of 91 user-generated constructs, five principal dimensions were identified that accounted for users' discriminations among the different activities. Electronic mailing was construed as being similar to written activities (such as note-writing) on some dimensions (e.g., ' asynchrony', ' emotional quality' but similar to spoken, face-to-face communication on other dimensions such as ' spontaneity'. The results suggest that the group of users construed CMC mainly in terms of its attributes as a medium for conversation and social interaction. There was no evidence of spontaneous task-related media comparisons. These results together with findings from other studies are discussed in terms of rationalist and symbolic interactionist perspectives on CMC. Implications for system design are also considered.     

Predicting the ideological orientation during the Spanish 24M elections in Twitter using machine learning

Through the application of machine learning techniques, this paper aims to estimate the importance of messages with ideological load during the elections held in Spain on May 24th, 2015 posted by Twitter’s users, as well as other variables associated with the publication of these types of messages. Our study collected and analysed 24,900 tweets associated to two of the main trending topics’ hashtags (#24M and #Elections2015) used in the election day and build a predictive model to infer the ideological orientation for the messages which made use of these hashtags during Election Day. This approach allows us to classify the ideological orientation of all collected tweets, instead of only tweets that explicitly express their ideological or partisan preferences in the messages. Using the ideological orientation for all tweets predicted by our model, it was possible to identify how messages with a defined ideological load were pushed forward by users with leftist tendencies. We also observed a relationship between these messages and the partisan orientation of those who published them.

     

SpaDeS: Detecting spammers at the source network

Despite the large variety and wide adoption of different techniques to detect and filter unsolicited messages (spams), the total amount of such messages over the Internet remains very large. Some reports point out that around 80% of all emails are spams. As a consequence, significant amounts of network resources are still wasted as filtering strategies are usually performed only at the email destination server. Moreover, a considerable part of these unsolicited messages is sent by users who are unaware of their spamming activity and may thus inadvertently be classified as spammers. In this case, these oblivious users act as spambots, i.e., members of a spamming botnet. This paper proposes a new method for detecting spammers at the source network, whether they are individual malicious users or oblivious members of a spamming botnet. Our method, called SpaDeS, is based on a supervised classification technique and relies only on network-level metrics, thus not requiring inspection of message content. We evaluate SpaDeS using real datasets collected from a Brazilian broadband ISP. Our results show that our method is quite effective, correctly classifying the vast majority (87%) of the spammers while misclassifying only around 2% of the legitimate users.     

Twitter analysis algorithms for Intelligence Circulation System

The convergence of broadcasting and broadband communications network technologies has attracted increasing attention as a means to enrich the television viewing experience of viewers. Toward this end, this study proposes the ‘Intelligence Circulation System (ICS)’, which provides several services, by using newly developed algorithms for analysing Twitter messages. Twitter users often post messages about on-air TV programmes. ICS obtains viewer responses from tweets without requiring any new infrastructure or changes in users’ habits or behaviours, and it generates and provides several outputs to heterogeneous devices based on the analysis results. The algorithms—designed by considering the characteristics of Twitter messages about TV programmes—use auxiliary programme information, similarity between messages, and time series of messages. An evaluation of our algorithms using Twitter messages about all programme genres for a month showed that the accuracy of topic extraction was 85 % for an emphasis on quality (with 56 % of messages processed) and 65 % for an emphasis on quantity (with 95 % of messages processed). The accuracy of message sentimental classification was 66 %. We also describe social recommendation services using the analysis result. We have created a Social TV site for a large-scale field trial, and we have analysed users’ behaviours by comparing four types of social recommendation services on it. The experimental result shows that active and passive communication users had different needs with regard to the recommendations. ICS can generate recommendations for satisfying the needs of both user types by using the analysis result of Twitter messages.     

Usable error message presentation in the World Wide Web: Do not show errors right away

Online form validation can be performed in several ways. This article discusses two empirical studies with 77 and 90 participants, which have found evidence that the best way of presenting error messages is to provide the erroneous fields after users have completed the whole form. Immediate error feedback recommended by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) showed the worst performance in these studies. Where presented with immediate feedback, users often simply ignored the messages on the screen and continued completing the form as if nothing happened. These results lead to the postulation of the “Modal Theory of Form Completion”: Users are in either “Completion” or “Revision Mode” when filling out online forms. These modes affect the users’ way of interaction with the system: During Completion Mode the users’ disposition to correct mistakes is reduced, therefore error messages are often ignored.     

Computerized,telephone-based health promotion: II. Stress management program

Many interactive computer systems are being developed to provide health-related information to the public, but little research has explored how these systems should interact with their users to have the greatest impact. In the present study, 267 subjects were randomly dispersed among four versions of a computerized, interactive telephone-based stress management program in a two-bytwo factorial design. Two of the versions offered personalized messages; in the other two, messages were not personalized. Two of the versions contained homework assignments; two did not. The results suggested that personalization and homework motivated subjects to continue calling the program, to comply with the suggestions in the program, and to report that the program was helpful. Subjects whose messages were not personalized were more likely than other subjects to value empathic comments in the messages and to leave voice mail for the staff of the program. These results suggest that subjects prefer interactions with a computer to be conversational and directly responsive to their particular expectations.     

基于共享对象划分的工作空间感知处理模型

在协作应用系统中,灵活、方便面又自适应的工作空间感知是提高工作组协同效率和加快协作任务进程的重要手段。文中提出一种协同系统中工作空间感知处理模型,该模型把所有共享的对象置于一个全总集合中,视为广义的空间场所,按各用户工作职责范围划分为个人专注场所和按各用户所在操作对象位置划分为影响工作场所,依据各场所的接近程度,确定用户间的行为感知强度,从而研制感知信息收集、发送算法和感知信息理解表示方法。该模型