Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-88). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-220).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 197 p. Includes abstract.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Faculty of Science, University of Oulo, Finland, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-236).

No description available.

This research seeks to determine the impact of the use of e-mail between lecturers and students at the NMMU. New students at universities, and especially first year undergraduates, can sometimes have difficulties in addressing their concerns, questions and ideas about their courses and are faced with the difficulty of adapting to a new lifestyle and the university environment. Interactivity and feedback are key contributors to providing an effective learning environment for such students. Lecturers provide the main source for university students to discover what is expected of them to identify the key learning goals related to a course, from a lecturer (Braxton, Milem & Sullivan, 2000:569). The increase in student numbers in Higher Education over the last decade has been dramatic, placing greater pressures on academic staff in terms of contacting students. As computer technology becomes both more prevalent and more intrusive, its use and misuse are increasingly falling under the critical scrutiny of academic researchers. If traditional educational methods are supported, such support must be flexible enough to accommodate technology, but as a means, not an end. The research of e-mail impact between students and lecturers is still very new and is open for additional study (Braxton, et al. 2000:590).

This study was designed to gain a better understanding of whether electronic mail (email) was replacing traditional behaviors in which college students engage to achieve academic and social integration. Data consisted of printouts of email records, and corresponding logsheets detailing the relationship of the participant to the sender/receiver of each message and the general nature of the message. Additional data included answers to email survey questions and lists of traditional academic and social integration behaviors against which the email behavior categories were compared. Specifically, this study was designed to explore the following research questions: 1. For what purpose do students use email? 2. Do college students use email in lieu of traditional behaviors that lead to social integration? 3. Do college students use email in lieu of traditional behaviors that lead to academic integration? 4. Does students' use of email differ by gender? Two samples were selected for this study. The first consisted of a comprehensive list, compiled from nationally normed survey instruments, of traditional behaviors that students use to achieve academic and social integration. The second sample consisted of 23 traditional-aged freshmen who used email (11 males and 12 females). Results were based on an analysis of 4,603 messages sent or received by the participants and revealed several important findings. First, while the participants did use email for some academic and social integration purposes, the bulk of their email activity did not relate to either form of integration. Second, participants seemed to be using email to communicate extensively with family members and high school friends. Third, there were no major differences in either the extent of email use or the nature of that use by gender. Finally, the participants spent a considerable amount of time every day checking, writing, composing and sending email messages. These trends suggest that email has become an integral part of college student life and that college administrators need to explore new and effective ways to ensure that the use of email is beneficial, not detrimental, to the overall development of college students. / Master of Arts

In January 2004, the United States Congress passed and put into effect the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN SPAM). The Act was set forth to regulate bulk commercial email (spam) and set the limits for what was acceptable. Various sources have since investigated and speculated on the efficacy of the CAN SPAM Act, few of which report a desirable outcome for users of electronic mail. Despite the apparent consensus of anti-spam firms and the community of email users that the Act was less than effective, there is little to no research on the efficacy of the Act that utilizes any significant statistical rigor or accepted scientific practices. The present study seeks to determine what, if any, impact the CAN SPAM act had on spam messages, to identify areas of improvement to help fight spam that is both fraudulent and dangerous. The data consisted of 2,071,965 spam emails sent between February 1, 1998 and December 31, 2008. The data were aggregated by month and an interrupted time series design was chosen to assess the impact the CAN SPAM Act had on spam. Analyses revealed that the CAN SPAM Act had no observable impact on the amount of spam sent and received; no impact on two of three CAN SPAM laws complied with among spam emails, the remaining law of which there was a significant decrease in compliance after the Act; and no impact on the number of spam emails sent from within the United States. Implications of these findings and suggestions for policy are discussed.

Although electronic messaging systems (EMS) are an attractive business communication medium several studies on the usage and impact of EMS have shown that despite the benefits, they have been generally used for routine and informal communication activities. Theoretically, EMS have yet to find their niche in organizational communications. Technically, EMS designs are not flexible to support communication activities of managers, are not maintainable to permit easy integration with other office applications and access to information from data/knowledge bases, and are not easily extendible beyond the scope of their initial design. Behaviorally, end users are not directly involved in the development of EMS. This dissertation attempts to bridge the transition of EMS technology from message processing systems to communication support systems. First, the dissertation provides an analysis for a knowledge-based messaging system (KMS) through a framework. The framework provides a theoretical basis to link management theory to EMS technology. It suggests that the communication needs of the managers vary depending on the activity level, implying related variations in EMS functionality. Second, the dissertation provides a design for the KMS through an architecture which incorporates the design and implementation issues such as, flexibility, maintainability, and extendibility. The superimposition of the KMS on an existing EMS provides flexibility, the loose coupling between the KMS-interface components and the KMS-functions increases its maintainability, and the strong functional decomposition and cohesion enhances the extendibility of the system beyond the scope of its initial design. Finally, the dissertation provides a implementation through the development of a prototype KMS which involves users into the design process through a validation study conducted at University of Arizona. The prototype used GDSS tools in eliciting message attributes for the personal knowledge base. This method proved effective in reducing the bottleneck observed in the acquisition of knowledge from multiple experts, simultaneously. Similarly, the combination of observation with interviews proved effective in eliciting the organizational knowledge base. The validation method measured the system's accuracy (which was very accurate) in prioritizing messages for the users.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Management make use of e-mail as a tool to enable them to do their daily tasks. E-mail is used as one of the best communication channels by management. Sishen Mine also makes use of e-mail as communication channel. The question however is whether e-mail has a positive or negative impact on management effectiveness. The history of e-mail as well as the reasons for e-mail use have been investigated. The different areas of use of email were discussed. Additional to this, the positive effects experienced by the individual as well as companies when using e-mail were highlighted and discussed. Unfortunately e-mail also has negative influences on the individual and the company and these were also highlighted and discussed. Data was obtained from the Sishen e-mail application in order to analyse the use of e-mail by the employees. The key insight from the e-mail application data was that a small group of employees send and receive the majority of e-mail at Sishen. A survey was sent out to all e-mail users at Sishen in order to determine the influence of e-mail on management effectiveness. The survey data enabled a detailed geographic analysis of the e-mail users at Sishen per department, gender, race, age and years of service as well as the details of the respondents. Analysis of the survey data revealed that e-mail has a positive impact on management effectiveness and that Sishen uses e-mail extensively. However, the data also revealed that e-mail impacts negatively on management effectiveness. The key insight from the survey was the extreme low levels of computer and e-mail training done by management. The lack of sufficient e-mail training was seen as one of the major contributing factors of high levels of frustration with e-mail experienced by management. Recommendations were made to Sishen as a result of the study to enable improvement of management effectiveness through the use of e-mail. Implementation of key recommendations with potential key positive impact was also highlighted. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Bestuur gebruik e-pos as 'n gereedskapstuk om uitvoering aan hul take te gee deur middel van die kommunikasiekanaal wat e-pos bied. E-pos leen hom daarna om 'n uitstekende kanaal te wees vir kommunikasie. Sishen Myn gebnuik ook e-pos as 'n kommunikasiekanaal. Die vraag is of die kommunikasiekanaal 'n goeie of slegte invloed het op bestuurseffektiwiteit van die bestuur van die myn. Die geskiedenis van e-pos en die redes vir die gebruik van e-pos is ondersoek. Die verskillende gebruike asook die waarde van e-pos vir die individu en maatskappye is uitgelig. E-pos het ongelukkig ook nadele vir die individu en maatskappye en hierdie nadele is uitgewys en bespreek. Na die toepaslike literatuurstudie is inligting vanaf die e-pos databasis onttrek om die e-pos gebruik van Sishen werknemers te evalueer. Die belangrikste insig vanuit die databasis-ontleding het daarop gedui dat 'n klein hoeveelheid mense die grootste hoeveelheid e-posse binne Sishen stuur en ontvang. 'n Vraelys is tydens 'n meningsopname aan alle e-pos gebruikers binne Sishen uitgestuur om die invloed van e-pos op bestuurseffektiwiteit te bepaal. Vanuit die analise van die vraelys inligting was dit moontlik om geografiese samestelling van die e-pos gebruikers te bepaal. Dit was moontlik om te sien hoeveel werknemers per afdeling, geslag, ras, ouderdom en jare diens e-pos gebruikers is, asook om die besonderhede van die gebruikers vas te stel. Verdere analise van die vraelysinligting het aangedui dat e-pos 'n positiewe uitwerking op bestuurseffektiwiteit het en dat werknemers dit goed gebruik. Ongelukkig het dit ook na vore gekom dat daar genoegsame bewyse is dat daar ook negatiewe invloed op bestuurseffektiwiteit is. Die mees insiggewende was die besonder lae vlakke van rekenaar en e-pos opleiding wat bestuur deurloop het. Dit word gesien as een van die grootste bydraende faktore tot die hoe vlakke van frustrasie wat ervaar word deur bestuur. Vanuit die bevindinge van die vraelys is daar aanbevelings aan Sishen gemaak om sodoende te help om die bestuurseffektiwiteit te bevorder deur die gebruik van e-pos. Die potensiele voordele wat verkry kan word wanneer die aanbevelings implementeer word, is ook aangedui.