Wasted Talent: Xerox fired more than 40 employees in 1999 for idling away up to eight hours a day on X-rated sites. The downloading of porn videos was so pervasive, it actually choked Xerox's computer network and prevented employees from sending and receiving legitimate eMail.
Wasted Talent: Dow Chemical fired 64 workers and disciplined 230 more in 2000 for violating the company's policies against pornographic eMail.
Wasted Talent: The New York Times Company fired nearly two dozen employees and reprimanded another 20 workers for sending and/or receiving eMails that included sexual images and offensive jokes.
Lost Productivity: Firefighters in Columbus, Ohio triggered an internal investigation, media sensation, and public uproar when a routine scan of on-the-job Internet surfing revealed that fire division headquarters' staff were visiting as many as 8,000 pornographic sites a day.
Dec 2, 2005
Email training significantly reduces email defects
Paper from the Computer Science Department, Loughborough University, UK.
Organisations are now becoming aware of the problems associated with email use and are keen to reduce these defects.
These email defects relate to the ineffective way that email is used within organisations, and are not only limited to the volume of email that is sent and received, but also the quality of the email content.
Email defects lead to inefficiencies within the workplace as employees spend more time dealing with email rather than doing other aspects of their job.
This paper firstly examines how email is used within a large organisation and highlights the defects associated with email.
The initial results show that these defects affect some groups of employees more than others. The paper also reports on the effectiveness of email training in reducing the defects associated with email use.
The results show that some of these defects are related and that training can significantly reduce some of the email defects and improve the way people write emails.
See the paper in .PDF format...
Organisations are now becoming aware of the problems associated with email use and are keen to reduce these defects.
These email defects relate to the ineffective way that email is used within organisations, and are not only limited to the volume of email that is sent and received, but also the quality of the email content.
Email defects lead to inefficiencies within the workplace as employees spend more time dealing with email rather than doing other aspects of their job.
This paper firstly examines how email is used within a large organisation and highlights the defects associated with email.
The initial results show that these defects affect some groups of employees more than others. The paper also reports on the effectiveness of email training in reducing the defects associated with email use.
The results show that some of these defects are related and that training can significantly reduce some of the email defects and improve the way people write emails.
See the paper in .PDF format...
May 12, 2005
Some of the most frequently used emoticons in e-mails
In 1979 "emoticons" (emotion + icon) appeared in order to add some emotional meanings to e-mails.
But we can say tha emoticons reflects our limitations because we can’t convey sufficient emotions through our writing, like fiction or proffesional writers do without graphic decorations.
Emoticons are often inadequate because the most important components of interpersonal communications are paralinguistic or non-verbal.
Anyway, these are some of the most frequently used emoticons in e-mails:
:-) = Happy face with nose
:) = Happy face without nose
;-) = Winking face with nose
;) = Winking face without nose
:-D = Laughter
8-) = Surprised happy face
:-( = Sad face with nose
:( = Sad face without nose
:’( = Sad face crying
8-O = Surprised face with nose
=O = Very surprised of startled
:-\ = Unpleasant face
:-| = Serious face
:-X = "My lips are sealed", or "silent"
:-b = Sticking the tong mockingly
8-P = My mouth is watering, with eyes open wide
<3 = A heart or "I love you"
0:-) = "I am a saint", "I am innocent"
:-* = Kiss
But we can say tha emoticons reflects our limitations because we can’t convey sufficient emotions through our writing, like fiction or proffesional writers do without graphic decorations.
Emoticons are often inadequate because the most important components of interpersonal communications are paralinguistic or non-verbal.
Anyway, these are some of the most frequently used emoticons in e-mails:
:-) = Happy face with nose
:) = Happy face without nose
;-) = Winking face with nose
;) = Winking face without nose
:-D = Laughter
8-) = Surprised happy face
:-( = Sad face with nose
:( = Sad face without nose
:’( = Sad face crying
8-O = Surprised face with nose
=O = Very surprised of startled
:-\ = Unpleasant face
:-| = Serious face
:-X = "My lips are sealed", or "silent"
:-b = Sticking the tong mockingly
8-P = My mouth is watering, with eyes open wide
<3 = A heart or "I love you"
0:-) = "I am a saint", "I am innocent"
:-* = Kiss
Apr 8, 2005
Some common acronyms used on emails
Acronyms: A word (as NATO, or FBI) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term. See Merriam-Webster.
* BTW: By The Way.
* FYI: For Your Information. FYI often means that a response isn't expected. An the primary purpose of FYI is to indicate that it's something of low importance.
* NRN: No Response Needed. Sometimes, without body language, it isn't clear when an email-based conversation should be ended.
* IMHO: In My Humble, or Honest Opinion.
* RTFM: Read The Manual ("Manual" here refers to any documentation).
* LOL: [I] Laughed Out Loud (at what you wrote).
* ROTFL: [I am] Rolling On The Floor Laughing (at what you wrote).
* RSN: Real Soon Now
* TIA: Thanks In Advance.
Of course, there are others. You can add them. Welcome.
* BTW: By The Way.
* FYI: For Your Information. FYI often means that a response isn't expected. An the primary purpose of FYI is to indicate that it's something of low importance.
* NRN: No Response Needed. Sometimes, without body language, it isn't clear when an email-based conversation should be ended.
* IMHO: In My Humble, or Honest Opinion.
* RTFM: Read The Manual ("Manual" here refers to any documentation).
* LOL: [I] Laughed Out Loud (at what you wrote).
* ROTFL: [I am] Rolling On The Floor Laughing (at what you wrote).
* RSN: Real Soon Now
* TIA: Thanks In Advance.
Of course, there are others. You can add them. Welcome.
Mar 11, 2005
A theory of information scent
A paper from Peter Pirolli, from PARC, presenting a detailed theory and computational models of the psychology of information scent.
Information scent refers to the detection and use of cues, such as World Wide Web links or bibliographic citations that provide users with concise information about content that is not immediately available.
The information scent cues play an important role in guiding users to the information they seek, and they also play a role in providing users with an overall sense of the contents of collections.
In order to make navigation choices, foragers have a preference function for evaluating interface objects and actions, and a choice rule for selecting among those alternatives based on those evaluations. These evaluations are based on proximal cues on user interfaces.
Evaluation involves a categorization problem in which the information forager must be able to go from past experience and the available proximal cues to infer unobserved features of the distal items.
Models developed in this theory of information scent can predict where people will navigate or what information resources they will select based on their information need.
This also let you to understand what are some reading habits of emails recivers.
More info about this theory of Peter Pirolli click here.
Information scent refers to the detection and use of cues, such as World Wide Web links or bibliographic citations that provide users with concise information about content that is not immediately available.
The information scent cues play an important role in guiding users to the information they seek, and they also play a role in providing users with an overall sense of the contents of collections.
In order to make navigation choices, foragers have a preference function for evaluating interface objects and actions, and a choice rule for selecting among those alternatives based on those evaluations. These evaluations are based on proximal cues on user interfaces.
Evaluation involves a categorization problem in which the information forager must be able to go from past experience and the available proximal cues to infer unobserved features of the distal items.
Models developed in this theory of information scent can predict where people will navigate or what information resources they will select based on their information need.
This also let you to understand what are some reading habits of emails recivers.
More info about this theory of Peter Pirolli click here.
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