Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om det finns negativa konsekvenser av att använda sig för mycket av email istället för av andra typer av kommunikation inom organisationen. Det skickas stora mängder email varje dag inom organisationer, men många organisationer saknar policy för att styra denna kommunikation. Därför genomförs denna undersökning av emailvanor och hur email upplevs på Sörman Information AB. För att besvara syftet har en kvalitativ datainsamlingsmetod använts. Vi har genomfört tio intervjuer på en av avdelningarna på fallföretaget Sörman Information AB. Undersökningen har visat att email är den vanligaste kommunikationsvägen för arbetsrelaterad kommunikation mellan anställda på det undersökta företaget. Slutsatsen blir därmed att email till viss del har negativa konsekvenser för en organisation men de flesta problem går att minimera genom att behandla email på rätt sätt. Som ett hjälpmedel för detta har vi utformat ett utkast till en emailpolicy. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility of negative consequences caused by over use of email instead of other means of communication in an organization. A very large amount of emails are sent every day within organizations. Most organizations lack a proper email policy to govern this communication. Hence this study is conducted to investigate the email habits and the general perception of email use of the employees at Sörman Information AB. The investigation has shown that email is the most preferred choice of communication regarding work related communication between colleagues within the studied organization. T hus the conclusion is that email to some degree can cause negative consequences for an organization. However most of these problems can be minimized by correct email use. As a complementing tool for this we have developed a first draft of an email policy.

Det finns i dagsläget få tids- och kostnadseffektiva metoder och tekniker för att mäta och utvärdera användarupplevelse över tid. Detta trots att tidsaspekten av användarupplevelsen under de senaste åren har uppmärksammats som en viktig komponent av användarupplevelsen inom människa-dator-interaktionsforskning. UX Curve och iScale är två metoder framtagna för att mäta förändringar i användarupplevelse över tid med hjälp av retrospektion och skapande av grafer över utvecklingen av användarupplevelsens olika dimensioner. Mot bakgrund av dessa metoder togs ett webbaserat utvärderingsverktyg fram med målet att undersöka verktygets förmåga att mäta förändringar i användarupplevelse under en utvärderingsperiod. Verktyget testades på 9 deltagare i en utvärdering av en mailklient under två veckors tid. Resultatet indikerar att utvärderingsverktygets dimensioner samlar upplevelser av relevans för de dimensioner som undersökts men visar också på att ytterligare testning och validering av metod och verktyg behövs för att fastställa att mätningarna är reliabla och att det som mäts är vad som avses mätas.

Dans un contexte de développement des stratégies marketing multi-canal lié principalement à l’évolution constante de l’outil Internet et des nouvelles technologies de diffusion (Dupuis, Prunet, 2001 ; Dabholkar, 1996), il convient de mieux comprendre les effets de ces stratégies sur la performance commerciale de l’entreprise via le processus de fidélisation client. Ainsi, ce projet de recherche propose d’investiguer, à travers diverses études quantitatives l’effet les relances multi-canal sur la fidélité envers les enseignes à travers une opération "chèque fidélité". l'étude permettra de construire un modèle de référence dont la duplicité sera vérifiée afin d'être exploité sur plusieurs secteurs d'activité commerciale. / In a context of development of the multi-channel marketing strategies bound mainly to the constant evolution of the Internet tools and the new technologies of distribution (Dupuis, Prunet, on 2001; Dabholkar, on 1996), it is advisable to understand the effects of these strategies on the companies' commercial performance through the process of customer loyalty development. So, this research project suggests investigating, through diverse quantitative studies, the effect the multi-channel relaunchings on loyalty programs to signs through an operation "check". The study will allow to build a benchmark model which the duplicity will be verified to be exploited on several business sectors.

(in English): This diploma thesis focuses on the topic of suicidal thoughts of juveniles and maps the possibilities that adolescents have in such a situation. The thesis is based on the knowledge of the specialized literature in the theoretical part, this section describes concepts such as crisis and crisis intervention Crisis intervention is devided into forms of contact that a juvenile can use. It also describes suicide with an emphasis on juvenile suicide. The practical part, based on research, maps the situation in the Czech Republic in the area of services for juveniles in a crisis situation who have suicidal thoughts. And whether the awareness in this area is sufficient.

This thesis aims to find out how communication method a˙ects user experience in a formal communication with a stranger, such as a job application process. The communication methods investigated were instant messaging and email. To this end, two studies were performed. The first one based on a set of interviews with recruiters. The second one based on a questionnaire sent out to job candidates. Recruiters did not value communication method as important for the candidate to make a good first impression, but they were concerned with the need for rapid communication and needing to be constantly available when using informal communication methods. I found that candidates significantly preferred formal communication methods, results also showed that candidates felt less insecure when communicating using a formal method. Finally, we also found that younger users did not have a stronger preference for informal communication methods than older users, contrary to my expectations. / Målet med denna uppsats var att ta reda på hur kommunikationsmetod påverkar användarupplevelsen i en formell kommunikation med en främling, så som i en arbetsansökan. Kommunikationsmetoderna som undersöktes var e-post och chatt. För att ta reda på detta gjordes två studier. Den första bestod av intervjuer med rekryterare. Den andra bestod av ett frågeformulär som skickades ut till kandidater. Rekryterarna värderade inte kommunikationsmetoden i sig högt när det gällde vilket intryck de fick av en kandidat, men kommunikations-hastigheten var en viktig faktor i valet av metod. Speciellt så uppfattade de ett behov av att vara tillgänglig och kunna svara snabbt om en informell kommunikationsmetod användes, denna uppfattning delades av kandidaterna. Mina resultat visade att jobbkandidater hade en signifikant preferens för att använda formella kommunikationsmetoder, och visade sig känna sig mindre osäkra när de använde formella kommunikationsmetoder än när de använde informella metoder. Slutligen upptäckte jag att yngre användare inte visade sig föredra informella kommunikationsmetoder mer än äldre användare.

This study investigated the use and management of electronic mail (email) in Zimbabwe’s central government. Employing a mixed method research approach, the study used a pluralist ontological paradigm and a pragmatic epistemological paradigm within the convergent mixed methods research design. Quantitative responses from questionnaires were corroborated by qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews, personal observation and document reviews. The study was restricted to Zimbabwe’s central government, focusing on head offices of 22 government ministries situated in Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare. The population of the study was 670. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown imposed in Zimbabwe as from 30 March 2020 negatively affected data collection as some targeted respondents could not be accessed as the researcher had initially planned, leading to an overall response rate of 37.3%. Nonetheless, 12 out of 22 government ministries participated in the study. Quantitative data were analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010® and descriptive statistics while qualitative data were analysed thematically using Atlas.ti®. The study conformed to ethical standards of research as espoused in the University of South Africa’s ethical review guidelines. The study revealed that due to the adoption of electronic government and the inherent relative advantages of email, among other factors, there was increase in use of email as an official record in Zimbabwe’s central government. Nonetheless, management of email was still in its nascent stages and was largely poorly articulated. Poor email classification, filing, appraisal, security, preservation and disposal were largely traceable to deficiencies in legal, policy and procedural frameworks as well as skills and information and communication technology infrastructural challenges. These in turn triggered email retrieval, access, preservation and authenticity challenges. This study was a first local research to address both the use and management of email in a single study and one which proposed a framework for the effective use and management of email where a call was made to match increase in use of email with increase in professional management of the same. The proposed framework may go a long way in influencing proper and professional use and management of email in Zimbabwe’s central government and similar organisations. / Information Science / D. Phil. (Information Science)

E-post är det vanligaste kommunikationsverktyget för att skicka och ta emot information på arbetet. Trots dess fördelar att snabbt och enkelt kunna utbyta information visar forskning att mängden e-postmeddelanden har ökat till den grad att det bidrar till informationsöverbelastning. E-postkommunikation förväntas utsätta individer, och särskilt chefer, för allt högre nivåer av informationsöverbelastning. Forskning visar att problemet inte handlar om hur chefer ska undvika information, utan om hur chefer kan hantera e-postkommunikation. Detta leder fram till studiens frågeställning: Hur upplever chefer informationsöverbelastning vid e-postkommunikation och vilka copingstrategier använder de? För att få en ökad förståelse för hur chefer hanterar informationsöverbelastning vid e-postkommunikation har vi använt en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Med hjälp av en tematisk analys har vi kunnat identifiera, analysera och upptäcka återkommande mönster av chefers upplevelse. Vi valde därefter att skapa teman av hur upplevelser kan förstås för att kunna beskriva vilka upplevelser som copingstrategier baseras på. De teman som vi har identifierat under den tematiska analysen är: mängd, alltid ansluten, avbrott och organisationsstöd. Tillsammans skapar de fyra temana en förståelse för hur chefer kan uppleva informationsöverbelastning vid e-postkommunikation och vilka copingstrategier de använder. Studien indikerar att det finns kontraster i chefers upplevelser. En upplevelse som kan upplevas som överbelastande för en chef behöver inte vara det för en annan chef. Detta pekar på att det inte finns en enskild copingstrategi för att hantera informationsöverbelastning vid e-postkommunikation. / Email is the most common communication tool for sending and receiving information at work. Despite emails advantages of being able to exchange information quickly and easily, research shows that the volume of emails has increased to the extent that it contributes to information overload. Email communication is expected to expose individuals, and especially managers, for even higher levels of information overload. Research shows that the problem is not about how managers could avoid information, but about how managers can handle email communication. This leads to the question: How do managers experience information overload within email communication and what coping strategies do they use? In order to gain an increased understanding of how managers handle information overload within email communication, we have used a qualitative research approach. With the use of a thematic analysis, we have been able to identify, analyze and detect recurring patterns of managers’ experiences. We then chose to create themes of how experiences can be understood to describe what experiences coping strategies are based on. The themes that we identified under the thematic analysis are: amount, always connected, interruption and organizational support. Together, the four themes create an understanding of how managers can experience information overload within email communication and that coping strategies they use. The study indicates that there are contrasts in managers experiences. An experience that one manager can perceive as overloading does not have to be overloading for another manager. This demonstrates that there is no single coping strategy for managing information overload within email communication.

This thesis discusses the creation of a novel platform that incorporates multiple communication methods, including SMS, email and web-based technologies, for interacting with users of mobile communication devices. The platform utilises people in a mobile environment to solve a range of different application problems, where each problem is a separate and distinct scenario type with unique objectives. There are existing applications available that interact with users of mobile communication devices to provide a service, such as regular weather updates to the users. Other applications have been designed to manage and coordinate the users to perform tasks within a mobile environment, such as performing field studies for scientific purposes. However, the existing applications are designed for only one specific scenario, with the design and implementation solely focused on solving the objectives of that scenario. Each component of these applications needs to be developed from scratch in order to cater for the application s requirements. There is currently no integrated communications platform that offers a framework for supporting a range of different scenario types. The new platform, entitled the Connected-Mobile Platform, aims to support the rapid development and implementation of new scenarios. This platform is composed of a framework of generic components that enable the active running of multiple scenarios concurrently, with the ability to tailor to the requirements of new scenarios as they arise via a structured process. The platform facilitates a means to coordinate its users in order to tackle the objectives of a scenario. The thesis investigates several system architectures to determine an appropriate architectural design for constructing the proposed platform. The platform has a generic framework, based on a client-server architecture, to facilitate the inclusion of a multitude of scenarios. A scenario represents a problem or an event, whereby the platform can utilise and interact with users of mobile communication devices to attempt to solve the objectives of the scenario. Three mobile communication methods are supported; the Short Message Service, electronic mail and web-forms via the mobile internet. Users are able to select and switch between the different methods. The thesis describes the platform s tailored communication structure for scenarios and autonomous analysis of messages. The thesis discusses case studies of two different scenarios to evaluate the platform s facilities for rapid scenario development. The Diet Diary scenario, which is for individual users, aims to manage a user s daily calorie intake to help them reach their desired weight goal. The focus is on the platform s functionality for analysing and responding to messages autonomously. The Missing Persons scenario, which utilises multiple users, involves tracking and locating people who have been reported missing. The focus is on the platform s functionality for coordinating the multiple users, through the creation of assignments, in order to distribute the scenario objectives. The thesis concludes by highlighting the novel features of the platform and identifying opportunities for future work.

Avsikten med studien var att undersöka om bedömningen av olika egenskaper hos avsändaren till ett mejl kan relateras till mottagarens kön, avsändarens kön och mejlets valens. I föreliggande studie är avsändaren av mejlet en fiktiv chef och mottagarna av mejlet är deltagarna i studien. Datainsamling genomfördes med en enkät vilken distribuerades i pappersform till 100 studenter på en högskola i Mellansverige. Insamlad data analyserades sedan med SPSS med sex upprepade ANOVA. Enligt de signifikanta huvudeffekter som observerades framkom det att mejlets valens var den variabel som hade störst påverkan på deltagarnas bedömning av avsändarens egenskaper. Vidare observerades det att avsändarens kön endast påverkade deltagarnas bedömning av avsändarens egenskaper gällande maskulinitet/femininitet. Vidare könseffekter som observerades var att deltagarnas kön i interaktion med mejlets valens i viss mån påverkade bedömningen av egenskaperna hos avsändaren. Noterbart i interaktionseffekterna var att kvinnor var mer polariserade än män i sina bedömningar av avsändarens egenskaper både vad gällde mejlen med positiv och negativ valens. / The purpose of the study was to investigate whether participant's assessment of different personality traits of the sender of an email may be related to the participant's sex, the sender's sex and the valence of the email. In the present study the sender of the email is a fictional manager and the recipients of the email are the participants in the study. Data collection was performed by using a questionnaire that was distributed in paper form to 100 students at a university in central Sweden. The data was analyzed with SPSS with six repeated ANOVA. The result showed that it is the valence of the email that had the greatest importance for the assessment of the selected personality traits of the sender. It was observed that the sender's sex only affected the participants' assessment of the sender’s characteristics regarding masculinity/femininity. Other sex effect that was observed in the study was that the sex of the participants in interaction with the valence of the email to some extent affected the assessment of personality traits of the sender. Worth to mention is that in the interaction effect women were more polarized in their assessments of the manager's personality traits than men both as regards emails with positive and negative valence.

Spam emails are flooding the Internet. Research to prevent spam is an ongoing concern. SMTP traffic was collected from different sources in real networks and analyzed to determine the difference regarding SMTP traffic characteristics of legitimate email clients, legitimate email servers and spam relays. It is found that SMTP traffic from legitimate sites and non-legitimate sites are different and could be distinguished from each other. Some methods, which are based on analyzing SMTP traffic characteristics, were purposed to identify spam relays in the network in this thesis. An autonomous combination system, in which machine learning technologies were employed, was developed to identify spam relays in this thesis. This system identifies spam relays in real time before spam emails get to an end user by using SMTP traffic characteristics never involving email real content. A series of tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of this system. And results show that the system can identify spam relays with a high spam relay detection rate and an acceptable ratio of false positive errors.