============================================================================== RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA OVELOAD ============================================================================== Dear Networker ! ================ As a Subscriber of Discussion List( or Distribution List ), aren't you now facing with the problem of Information Overload? As far as Information Filtering is concerned, how do you satisfy with your System Environments? My name is Sewon Hong. I'm a graduate student of Yonsei University located in Seoul, Korea. I'm studying now about the topic of CMC(Computer-Mediated Communications), especially, I am interested in Information Overload which Network Users face, who are subscribing in Discussion List for the purpose of Group Communications. It is believed to be your concern too. My research objective is to identify the factors which affect the very information overload, specifically, to investigate the effect of systems characteristics and user characteristics on information overload. Solving the problem of Information Overload is assumed to be related with managing the characteristics of both user and systems. I'm also a member of Discussion List you subscribed to. As a matter of fact, I put to use the list of subscribers you belong to, in order to procure the samples for the research. I need your help in order to get the empirical data you provided. The followings are several questions to ask. If you have any interests in my topic, please answer to the questions I have prepared You can append the questionnaire or use the Answering Sheet at the end of this message. All the information you give me will be considered confidential. It will be used exclusively to help me test my research hypotheses. Thank you for your help in advance. If you mind answering my questions, you may discard my message. ========================================================================= ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE + + + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Questions about Information Overload and User Characteristics 1. How frequently have you felt OVERLOADED with INFORMATIONS? (Check on 5-point scale) 1 2 3 4 5 |----------|----------|----------|----------| Never Sometimes Half & Frequently Always Half 2. How many MAILS do you receive per day? (By mail, I mean all kinds of messages from other users.) Average ___________________ 3. Among them, how many mails comes from DISCUSSION LIST? (in Percentage) ___________ % 4. How frequently have you DISCARD any delievered mails WITHOUT READING? 1 2 3 4 5 |----------|----------|----------|----------| Never Sometimes Half & Frequently Always Half 5. HOW MANY MAILS do you discard without reading per day? Average ________________ 6. How frequently do you CHECK your mails? Daily Every two days Every three days Weekly Irregularly Etc _____________________ 7. How much TIME do you SPEND in checking one time? _____________ minutes. 8. What is your MOTHER TONGUE? _________________ 9. What is the NAME of THE NETWORK you belong to? (For examples, BITNET, Internet, JNET, etc) __________________ 10. What are the NAMES of DISCUSSION LIST you subscribed to? Is there any kind of Mediator? and, How many subscibers are there? Mediator is one who are responsible for managing all the messages from and to the Discussion List. ( For examples, IEEE-L at BINGVM.BITNET Mediator presents ) Name of the List Mediator # of Subscribers ---------------------------- -------------- ---------------- ---------------------------- -------------- ---------------- Total Number = _____ 11. How long have you been working with COMPUTER in general? _____________ years What are you doing with your Computer MAINLY? __________________________________________ 12. How long have you been working with COMPUTER NETWORK in specific? _____________ years 13. Where is the system which MAIL BOX located in? (For examples, Mainframe, or your own PC) _______________ What is the NAME of THAT SYSTEM? (For examples, IBM CMS, SunSparc Unix, etc) _______________ 14. How is your system's TRANSFER SPEED and MEDIUM? _____________ bps through a Dedicated Link or, _____________ bps through a Public Phone Line 15. Where is the system which INTERFACE(so called, USER AGENT) located in? _________________ 16. What is the NAME of your INTERFACE or E-MAIL SOFTWARE? And Vendor's name? 17. Are you GOOD AT USING your E-mail Software? 1 2 3 4 5 |----------|----------|----------|----------| Very Poor Below Average Above Very Well Average Average ------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. The followings are questions in order to measure the structuredness and flexibility of your E-mail Software features. By structuredness, I mean the degree to which how your system filters systematically incoming unstructured messages, and by flexibility, the degree to which how your system make you take part in filtering process through any kind of forms. In the course of handling your received messages, do you utilize the following functionalities with regards to your system? Answer with Yes or No. 1. I'm able to make a sort the messages according to some criteria. Y/N < > 2. I'm used to change any criteria when I need it. Y/N < > 3. I can search any kind of keyword in the message satisfying some criteria. Y/N < > 4. My mailer can display the messages with regards to the message status. (For examples, whether or not it is new message, unread message, deleted message etc.) Y/N < > 5. I'm able to open several windows at the same time. Y/N < > 6. I'm used to make adjust numbers of line being diplayed on the screen. Y/N < > 7. My mailer can display the whole header's contents on the initial screen. (For examples, displaying the date, the sender, the subject, the first one or more lines of content of messages, etc.) Y/N < > 8. My mailer makes me adjust some content of header to be displayed on the screen with regards to my need. Y/N < > 9. I can skip all the header lines by displaying just the top few lines of the message. Y/N < > 10. Together with header, I can make adjust the numbers of the content lines at my disposal. Y/N < > 11. I'm able to display content with getting rid of blank lines in the message. Y/N < > 12. I can display header of the same message again after display the content. Y/N < > 13. My mailer can sort the header according to the same criterion. Y/N < > 14. I'm used to mark the message that I have read in order to identify it in the future. Y/N < > 15. I'm able to edit and append the message that I have received from other, and to send to the originator. Y/N < > 16. In case of replying, I have the options who can be the recipient whether originator or the others. Y/N < > 17. I can delete several messages simultaneously. Y/N < > 18. I can undelete the deleted message. Y/N < > 19. I can save the received messages respectively, according to some criterion. Y/N < > 20. The message received can be directed to my local printer for the purpose of hardcopy. Y/N < > Thank you for your respond and reply. You can use the Answering Sheet that I provided, or just reply my message with your answers appended. # Your Personal Profile Vocation ______________________ Age ______________________ Sex ______________________ ========================================================================= Cut here! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================== ANSWERING SHEET ======================== A. Questions about Information Overload and User Characteristics 1. Frequency of Experience of Information Overload 1 2 3 4 5 |----------|----------|----------|----------| Never Sometimes Half & Frequently Always Half 2. Numbers of Mails received per day Average ________________ 3. Percentage of Mails from DISCUSSION LIST ___________ % 4. Frequency of Discarding Unread Mails 1 2 3 4 5 |----------|----------|----------|----------| Never Sometimes Half & Frequently Always Half 5. Numbers of Mails DISCARDED AND UNREAD per day Average __________________ 6. Mail Checking Patterns Daily Every two days Every three days Weekly Irregularly Etc _____________________ 7. Checking Time _____________ minutes. 8. MOTHER TONGUE? _________________ 9. NAME of THE NETWORK __________________ 10. NAMES of DISCUSSION LIST, whether or not Mediator presents Name of the List Mediator # of Subscribers ---------------------------- -------------- ---------------- ---------------------------- -------------- ---------------- Total Number = _____ 11. Computing Experiences _____________ years 12. Networking Experiences _____________ years 13. Location of MAIL BOX and System it located. _______________ _______________ 14. TRANSFER SPEED and MEDIUM? _____________ bps through a Dedicated Link or, _____________ bps through a Public Phone Line 15. Location of USER AGENT(E-Mail Software) _________________ 16. Name of E-MAIL SOFTWARE and its Vendor _______________________________ 17. Skills 1 2 3 4 5 |----------|----------|----------|----------| Very Poor Below Average Above Very Well Average Average ------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Questions about System Characteristics (Structuredness and Flexibility) 1. Y/N < > 11. Y/N < > 2. Y/N < > 12. Y/N < > 3. Y/N < > 13. Y/N < > 4. Y/N < > 14. Y/N < > 5. Y/N < > 15. Y/N < > 6. Y/N < > 16. Y/N < > 7. Y/N < > 17. Y/N < > 8. Y/N < > 18. Y/N < > 9. Y/N < > 19. Y/N < > 10. Y/N < > 20. Y/N < > C. Your Personal Profile Vocation ______________________ Age ______________________ Sex ______________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cut here ! ========================================================================= I am interested in any other comments you wish to make on my study. Thank you for your time. Please return this questionnaire(or Answering Sheet) to this address : HSCHOO@KRYSUCC1.BITNET or HSCHOO AT KRYSUCC1.BITNET If you have any interests in my topic, read the following articles. References ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Denning, P. J. "Electronic Junk," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 25, No. 3, March 1982, pp. 163 - 165. Deutsch, D. P. "Implementing Distribution Lists in Computer-Based Message Systems," In Computer-Based Message Services , H. T. Smith. Ed., Proceedings of the IFIP WG 6.5 Working Conference on Computer-Based Message Services, Nottingham, England, 1-4 May, Elsevier North-Holland, 1984, pp. 3 - 13. Goldberg, D., Nichols, D., Oki, B. M., and Terry, D. "Using Collaborative Filtering to Weave an Information Tapestry," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 35, No. 12, December 1992, pp. 61 - 70. Hiltz, S. R. and Turoff, M. "Structuring Computer-Mediated Communication Systems to Avoid Information Overload," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 28, No. 7, July 1985, pp. 680 - 689. Malone, T. W., Grant, K. R., Turbak, F. A., Brobst, S. A., and Cohen, M. D. "Intelligent Information-Sharing Systems," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 30, No. 5, May 1987, pp. 390 - 402. Palme, J. "You have 134 unread mail! Do you want to read them now?," In Computer-Based Message Services , H. T. Smith. Ed., Proceedings of the IFIP WG 6.5 Working Conference on Computer-Based Message Services, Nottingham, England, 1-4 May, Elsevier North-Holland, 1984, pp. 175 - 184. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= F R O M +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | SEWON HONG | | YONSEI UNIVERSITY E-MAIL ADDRESS : | | DEPT. OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION HSCHOO@KRYSUCC1.BITNET | | 134, SHIN-CHON DONG, SEO-DAE-MOON GU | | SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 120-749 PHONE : 82-361-2503 | | ==================================== ====================== | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ .