The purpose of this project is to design, build and implement a secure, payment-based email delivery system that provides privacy and reduces spam.

The aims of the research are to study the effects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on individual communication processes and group interaction under realistic conditions. This contrasts with previous research which has been conducted using inexperienced users in artificial situations. A study investigated communication issues in an organisation where a new electronic mail (e-mail) system had been implemented. Data regarding usage patterns and subjective evaluations of e-mail showed that usability of the system was not critical, but communication and social interaction were important issues not considered during implementation. In particular, the linking of groups within the organisation had been ignored. The second and third studies investigated the way that e-mail impacts on group interaction. Research on the effects of CMC on group processes has produced a number of contradictory findings and it has been proposed that differences in the e-mail context may be responsible for these findings. Based on social identity theory and the concept of de-individuation, it was hypothesised that the identifiability of users and the strength of group identity would be important factors. It was predicted that there would be less adherence to group norms in individuated groups, in terms of: more uninhibited communication (flaming), less group cohesion and less group polarisation. Study 2 compared subjects before and after discussion, whereas study 3 focused on the dynamic nature of communication and experience, using repeated assessment. The provision of extra identifying information was associated with increases in communication activity, self-disclosure and flaming, while limiting the amount of identifying information resulted in more balanced participation. Personal identifiability did not significantly affect the way users perceived themselves, but did affect the way they perceived other group members: there was more perceived group cohesion in groups which received extra identifying information. There was no significant support for the group polarisation phenomenon. There were very few significant effects. of group identity. The research findings are discussed in relation to social psychological theory, previous CMC research and theories of group development. Methodological issues and the practical implications of varying levels of identifiability are also considered. Recommendations are made for future research. One particular issue that needs addressing concerns whether 'flaming' is properly conceptualised as normative or antinormative behaviour.

Discussions via electronic mail are becoming commonplace to support decision-making and coordinating activities. Users of these technologies are usually dispersed either in a geographical and/or a temporal sense. Thus, unlike participants in face-to-face meetings, participants in electronic text discussions cannot speak to each other nor can they see each other. Unfortunately, few guidelines exist which identify the tasks for which electronic text and face-to-face meetings are effective. This study examines how communication via electronic text impacts the processes and outcomes of negotiation in dyads. Electronic and face-to-face discussions are characterized by the efficiency of the communication media supported by each, and by media richness, the ability of those media to convey social and emotional information. These communication media will be compared and contrasted on the ability of each to support a negotiation task which requires two participants to simultaneously solve a logical problem and resolve conflicting objectives. In a controlled laboratory experiment, pairs of subjects with either a competitive or an integrative bargaining orientation completed the Bilateral Monopoly Task in one of four communication media (text-only, text-plus-visual-access, audio-only, audio-plus-visual-access). As hypothesized, an integrative bargaining orientation and/or the relatively efficient audio mode of communication lead to a higher joint outcome. In addition, visual access (which conveys a rich array of social and emotional information) resulted in a higher joint outcome for subjects with integrative bargaining orientations, but lower joint outcomes for those with competitive orientations. The results indicate that bargaining orientation and communication medium have a marked impact on negotiation processes and outcomes. An efficient communication media is required to closely examine negotiation issues, and to reduce uncertainty about the constraints inherent to the negotiation task itself. Media richness strongly moderates the effect of bargaining orientation. A rich media enhances both the predisposition of an integrative bargainer to trust, and a competitive bargainer to dominate, the other party. Uncertainty regarding the logical structure of the task was reduced only via verbal communication, while equivocality regarding the bargaining orientation of the negotiating parties was reduced only via visual communication.

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M.A., Journalism and Media Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2006 / The focus of this study is on the coverage of industrial action by the Mail & Guardian between 1999 and 2004. Mainly, the study seeks to understand the coverage of labour issues by the newspaper in post-apartheid South Africa. It is argued that the coverage, or lack of coverage, of labour issues by the paper is related to socio-economic and political conditions in the country. Literature on the influential role the ownership and control of media play in the content of news, as well as the influence of advertising, is analysed to attain a clear understanding of the pattern of coverage of labour news in post-apartheid South Africa. Therefore, the study uses the coverage of industrial action as a yardstick to measure as well as to understand the extent and the shift in editorial content of the newspaper with specific reference to industrial action. The main argument of the study is that the prevailing socio-economic and political conditions in South Africa, brought about by the advent of democracy, coupled with structural limitations play a fundamental role in determining the manner in which working-class issues are currently covered by the Mail & Guardian. It emerges in the study that the manner in which labour news in general and industrial action in particular are covered has shifted and thus replaced in the main by articles on labour politics. The extent to which the Mail & Guardian covers industrial action in the post-apartheid era has declined, and more emphasis is being placed on other beats that are not directly the interests of the poor and the working class.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries / Department: Computer Science.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-103). / by Mark Rosen. / M.Eng.

The aim of this dissertation is to define favourable conditions for a company to implement IceWarp Mail Server groupware product. In the first part of the dissertation the author defines the term "groupware" and analyses the market of groupware applications of similar functionality, presenting a basic comparison with IceWarp Mail Server. The second part is focused on functionality description of each IceWarp Mail Server module and its possible uses. The author also compares individual ways of accessing the functions of a supported client and their advantages and disadvantages. In the third part the author defines hardware and software requirements for implementation and operation of server and client. The author describes implementation of IceWarp Mail Server and clients in general, including ways of migration of present data from the old system, and points out the most common problems and questions connected to this process. The last part of the dissertation is focused on finished projects of IceWarp Mail Server implementation into various organisations. First, initial conditions and expectations are analysed, then the process of implementation is described along with the arisen difficulties and their solution.