🚀 go-pugleaf

    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.

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                +        SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE        +
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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. What is the system  in which MAIL BOX is LOCATED ?
   (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. What is the system in which the INTERFACE(so called, USER AGENT)
    is LOCATED?


    _________________


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


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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 keyword                        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       ______________________


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Cut here!
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                    ========================
                         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


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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       ______________________


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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 ARE IN OTHER NETWORK THAN BITNET, USE A GATEWAY MACHINE

         LIKE    "CMCCVB.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.
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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       |
|   ====================================     ======================    |
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