Evolving Electronic Communication Networks: An Empirical Assessment

Abstract

Understanding electronic communication and the patterns that characterize its development are critical to realizing full benefits from computer‐supported work. Cooperative work depends on effective communication and on the ability of organizations to manage the technology of communication appropriately. Organizations that do not understand the political and social dimensions of their communications system will inevitably fail to achieve their purposes.

Fragments of your communication: Email, vmail, and fax

“…Or do they increase the impersonality and frantic pace of modern life at work? Many discussions of these issues have considered the new media singly in relation to the traditional tools of business communication: meetings, the telephone, and memos (Eveland & Bikson 1987;Bikson, Goodchilds, Huddy, Eveland, & Schneider 1991;Markus 1992). But in an increasing number of workplaces, employees are confronted with not just one new medium, but several.…”

Hierarchical Motive Structures and Their Role in Moral Choices

“…The relative position of a node compared to other nodes, whether or not the nodes are connected to each other, and the pattern of those connections are studied to reveal how the structure of these relationships motivate behavior. Network analysis techniques have been successfully used to examine the impact of structure in a variety of contexts such as the diffusion of innovation (Coleman et al, 1957), the spread of diseases, (Morris, 1994), acceptance of technology (Davis et al, 1989;Eveland and Bikson, 1987) as well as mental models (Freeman et al, 1987;Hill and Carley, 1999), organizational learning (Carley and Hill, 2001), and the transmission of values (Hill and Carley, 2008).…”

gIBIS: A tool for all reasons

“…For this purpose, the IBIS framework seemed a good starting point. The second theme was an interest in supporting computer mediated teamwork, and particularly the various kinds of design conversations that might be carried on via networked computers, a la "email" or "news" (Eveland & Bikson, 1986;Horton & Adams, 1986). And thirdly, we needed an application in which we would have a sufficiently large information base that we could use to investigate navigation (i.e.…”