The CMC range war

Abstract

Voice mail and electronic mail are the most prevalent types of computer mediated communication today. Both technologies are relatively new to many end users, yet one would suspect users to quickly form a preference for one form of electronic communication or the other This paper details the findings of a research prqject involving 33 1 faculty, staff, and administrators at Metropolitan State College of Denver. Electronic mail was the preferred method of CMC in this study, which was heavily represented by faculty (43.2%.) User preference was shown to be related to level of computer literacy, and also related to age, sex, length of tenure, and employment position. Faculty and administrators preferred email, while staff were more evenly split between email and vmail. The findings of a pilot study done in industry showed voice mail preference, suggesting occupation is also related to preference. Final results of a log linear analysis showed that the odds of preferring email are greater with higher levels of computer literacy. More noteworthy, however, is the finding that perhaps users truly do not have a "favorite" mode of CMC. Fifty-five per cent of the subjects in this study did not indicate a preference for either email or vmail; they saw the two technologies as being used for different purposes.