The effect of interactivity on initial interactions: the influence of information valence and modality and information richness on computer‐mediated interaction

Research investigating relationship development through computer‐mediated channels has failed to acknowledge the importance of initial interactions. Increasingly, multimodal forms of communication, such as audio‐ and videoconferencing, in addition to text‐only formats have emerged on socially oriented websites designed for relationship initiation. Utilizing the principle of interactivity as a conceptual framework, the present study investigates whether increased structural interactivity provided by the additional aural and visual modalities influences initial interaction processes and outcomes online. The results indicate that increased availability of nonverbal modalities, combined with the valence of the information acquired, significantly affected interaction involvement and mutuality, which are markers of processual interactivity, as well as the interaction outcomes of uncertainty, predicted outcome value, and information seeking. Additional analysis revealed that mutuality mediated the effect of richness on postinteraction uncertainty level and the evaluations of future relationship potential.     

Value and Impact of Librarians’ Interventions on Student Skills Development

The research aimed to discover the perceived impact and to identify the value of four information skills teaching interventions within the curriculum in three faculties at the University of the West of England. Faculty and library staff interviews and student focus groups were used to gather evidence about the perceived impact of the interventions, to identify possible enhancements and to investigate the drivers and barriers to embedding information skills teaching within modules. Staff and students were positive about the structure, content, and administration of the library interventions and the impact of librarians on the success of the sessions. The overwhelming majority of comments relating to the perceived impact of library interventions (84%) were positive and none was negative. One fifth of the comments noted a perceived increase in confidence in searching for information. Improved searching behavior and development of new skills were reported. Where skills were assessed students were motivated to engage, particularly when marks were awarded. The librarian/faculty staff relationship and a desire to improve student engagement with library information skills teaching were key factors in driving the embedding and assessment of library interventions.     

Culture and information manipulation theory: The effects of self‐construal and locus of benefit on information manipulation

This paper offers a preliminary exploration into how culture and cultural orientation influence the perception of deceptive messages. Information manipulation theory (IMF) posits that covert violations of Grice's four conversational maxims give rise to messages that are functionally deceptive. This study (N = 323) attempted to replicate previous IMT results regarding the perceptions of information manipulation in an academic situation, and with a culturally diverse sample. Locus of benefit (self and other) was manipulated, and the respondents’ self‐construal was assessed. Previous IMT findings were replicated, and the effects for self‐construal on honesty ratings varied considerably by manipulation type. Explanations for these findings are provided, as are suggestions for future research.     

The association of socio‐communicative style and relational type on perceptions of nonverbal immediacy

This study examined how an individual's perceived use of nonverbal immediacy is related to his or her perceived socio‐communicative style, and whether the use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors differs across relational types. Reflecting on a recent interaction, participants (N = 309) completed the Assertiveness‐Responsiveness measure (Richmond & McCroskey, 1990) and a modified version of the Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors instrument (Richmond, Gorham, & McCroskey, 1987). Results indicate that (a) competent communicators differ from noncompetent, submissive, and aggressive communicators across ten nonverbal immediacy behaviors and (b) the use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors differs across relational types.     

Comparison of Performances of the Governments＇ Websites of Chinese Provinces and Those of USA --Based on Transformed Cost-Benefit Analysis

通过一种改进的成本效益分析法来对比中关政府网站绩效：将成本简化为运营费用和全职人员数量两个指标,通过“申请政府信息公开”获取中国省级政府网站的数据,用美国州政府网站“联系我们”、“实时帮助”等栏目获取美国数据,而效益数据来源于全球通用的互联网统计工具的监测数据。利用统计软件分析两国政府网站在成本、效益上的差异,进而结合网民规模计算出绩效因子,以判别中美政府网站的绩效水平。最后给出结论并归纳出本研究存在的问题。     

The Influence of Instructor-Student Rapport on Instructors’ Professional and Organizational Outcomes

Students and teachers have relational goals and needs, yet little research has examined the relational goals of instructors and how achieving those goals may affect instructor outcomes. This study examined instructors’ perspectives on instructor-student rapport. Results revealed that instructors who build rapport with students are likely to experience teaching satisfaction, affective commitment to the institution, and enhanced teaching efficacy. However, instructor-student rapport was not related to instructor morale. The findings in this study highlight the importance of positive instructor-student relationships in the classroom and the implications for both instructors and administrators.     

Media’s Influence on the Accessibility of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations

Previous research suggests that media featuring exemplars of specific altruistic motivations can make those motivations more accessible in viewers’ minds. The present study extends this research to also examine egoistic motivations. We (a) developed a coding scheme to examine how frequently exemplars of altruistic and egoistic motivations appear in media content, (b) developed an intuitive motivation-affect misattribution procedure to measure the accessibility of altruistic and egoistic motivations, and (c) examined whether exposure to media content portraying specific motivations makes those motivations more accessible in audiences. The findings are discussed in terms of the model of intuitive morality and exemplars.     

Displacing and Complementing Effects of News Sites on Newspapers 1998–2009

Media managers are facing the challenge of navigating their organizations through a series of extensive changes involving economic, editorial, and technological challenges. Media managers need to develop a better understanding of user behavior and demand. This article addresses the news media landscape and the dynamics at play between print and online media, departing from an elaboration on theories of displacing and complementing effects. The empirical journey focuses on changes over time with regard to how people make use of evening tabloids through print and online. A dataset that comprises annual postal-based surveys carried out from 1998 to 2009 is used for the analysis. The results show an historical change regarding the usage patterns of evening tabloids. First, online news, in general, has acquired a stronger position among users over time, at the expense of the readership of printed evening tabloids. Second, with regard to the interrelated roles of print and online news sites, the latter constitute the primary channel for users—in particular, among 16- to 49-year-olds. Third, gender has the strongest complementing effect, as men are distinguished users of both print and online news. When it comes to explaining displacing effects, these take place among the more highly educated, and the smallest displacing effects are found among 50- to 85-year-olds. The results illustrate the complex dynamics at hand with regard to simultaneous displacing and complementing effects, which nurtures sage managerial implications.     

Librarians’ Use of Images on LibGuides and Other Social Media Platforms

This study compared the use of librarians’ profile images across Web platforms designed for librarian-patron communication. The primary focus was LibGuides profiles at a peer group of Association of Research Libraries institutions. Librarians are currently using a variety of options, including professional head shots, casual head shots, other photos, alternate images, avatars, and no image. Where possible, results were also analyzed by gender. For a smaller selection of libraries, LibGuides photos were compared with Facebook photos to see if different images were used for a professional versus a personal social media setting. This research was done in December 2010 and duplicated in May 2012 to track changes over time. The later study also reviews profile images for the smaller selection of libraries in LinkedIn and ALA Connect. The findings provide a baseline for further comparative research, could also inform individual librarians’ image choices based on patterns among their peers, and gives the profession a starting point for discussions about the types of images librarians use.     

Effects of imagery‐eliciting on recognition and recall for radio commercials

This experiment suggests that recognition and recall are better for radio commercials with imagery‐eliciting copy than for commercials without imagery‐eliciting copy.     

The impact of forms of strategic and non‐strategic voir dire questions on jury verdicts

This paper examined the effects of strategic voir dire questions on juror evaluations of trial participants. The influence of three types of voir dire questions was assessed on ratings of defendant guilt, defendant credibility, and defense attorney credibility. Using both a control group composed of non‐strategic questions and a control group with no voir dire questions, results indicated that the use of strategic voir dire questions influenced decisions and ratings of trial participants. In particular, questions asking jurors to disregard the defendant's unsavory past produced a main effect on perceptions of guilt. Among other effects additionally, the absence of any voir dire questions seemed to affect negatively perceptions of trial participants on the competence dimension. On both the ratings of defendant character and competence, an interaction emerged between the use of questions encouraging jurors to hold the prosecution to its burden of proof and questions urging jurors to overlook the defendant's unsavory background. Though use of the defendant background question enhanced credibility ratings when the burden of proof question was omitted, these effects were suppressed when both question types were used. In addition, a significant main effect revealed that competence was reduced when jurors were exposed to the question encouraging them to resist group pressure to convict. Furthermore, a three‐way interaction indicated that the highest ratings of defendant competence occurred when jurors were not asked any strategic questions except those urging them to overlook the defendant's unsavory background.     

The Influence of Device Access and Gender on Children’s Reading Frequency

We explore the role that devices currently play in children’s book reading, finding that while children have relatively high access to devices with eReading capability, these devices are underutilised for reading purposes. While ownership of devices was negatively associated with reading frequency for both genders, its negative impact was more significant for girls than boys. We also found that when boys and girls identified themselves as daily readers, and where they had access to devices, they did not use them frequently for book reading, suggesting that paper book reading is still preferable for frequent book readers of both genders.     

Assessing books’ depth and breadth via multi-level mining on tables of contents

Compared with journal articles, books can provide broader, deeper and more comprehensive information, and often have higher expertise and academic depth. However, most researches on book assessment focus on measuring academic value of books (e.g. citations analysis) or identifying attitudes of readers (e.g. book review mining), depth and breadth reflected by book contents is neglected. Therefore, in this paper, we measure books’ depth and breadth by mining books’ tables of contents, so as to enrich resources and methods for book assessment research, help users understand book contents quickly and improve efficiency of book selection. Specifically, we measured books’ depth and breadth based on books’ tables of contents via two levels: topic level and feature level. Firstly, we obtained topic-level metrics by identifying topics expressed in tables of contents and calculating topic distributions. Then, we got feature-level results via feature extraction and feature distribution calculation. Finally, we compared depth and breadth metrics and other book assessment metrics. Experimental results reveal that, books’ depth and breadth at two levels are different, and substantial differences between disciplines and book types are obvious. In addition, books’ depth and breadth can provide alternative and supplementary information for assessing multi-dimensional values of books.     

Comparing the effects of argumentation and facework on Americans and Chinese’ responses to advice in supportive interactions

Advice is a culturally universal form of supportive communication. This study examined cultural similarities and differences between American (N?=?248) and Chinese (N?=?225) college students in their responses to advice messages that differ in terms of argument explicitness and use of facework. A 2 (articulation of response efficacy: presence vs. absence) ×?2 (articulation of feasibility: presence vs. absence) ×?2 (articulation of absence of limitations: presence vs. absence) ×?2 (use of facework: presence vs. absence) experimental design was used in the study. A hypothetical problem situation (failing an exam) was employed in the design and three types of advice substance were included (talking to professor, studying with others, dropping the course). Participants were randomly assigned to read one of the hypothetical conversations in which they received advice from a friend about the problematic situation. The findings of this study demonstrated that, in both cultural groups, advice was more effective (resulting in higher perceptions of advice quality and facilitation of coping, as well as stronger intention to implement the advice) when advice givers outlined the efficacy of the advised action, explained the feasibility of undertaking the advised action, addressed the potential limitations of the advised action, and employed politeness strategies when giving advice. Theoretical and pragmatic implications of the study’s findings, as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

The effects of nonverbal reinforcement and interviewee‐interviewer relationship on interviewee's verbal response

Utilizing survey data from 99 nursing home residents in nursing home facilities serving Medicaid patients, this study investigated the relationship of interpersonal network involvement to perceived life satisfaction and perceived need accommodations. Each subject completed three survey instruments developed to measure (a) resident's perceived quality care, (b) residents’ satisfaction with personal need accommodation and (c) interpersonal network satisfaction. Residents’ perceptions of quality care (i.e., attitude of staff, food, and self‐selected social activities) and satisfaction with roommates are significant predictors of perceived needs being met. Further, residents are more satisfied with self‐selected relationships than with institutionally‐selected roommates.     

Changes in confidence during a period of speech training: Transfer of training and comparison of improved and non‐improved groups on the bell adjustment inventory

The Examiner papers, the Conduct of the Allies, the History of the Four Last Years of the Queen, and the other productions which Jonathan Swift composed during his years as chief publicist for the Tory administration of Harley and St. John (1710–1714) are among the most effective examples of persuasive discourse in the history of British political pamphleteering. Much of this effectiveness is attributable to the skill with which Swift‐steadily aware of the prejudices and demands of his predominantly rural and conservative audience—manipulated such specific rhetorical devices as imagery, anecdote, analogy, historical example, allegory, insinuation, and other such items from the vast catalogue available to the polemicist.     

Let Bookstores be Bygones? Memories and Materiality of Bookstores on the Pages of the Singapore Memory Project

In this article we examine the memories of bookstores revealed in entries made to the Singapore Memory Project. Two main themes appeared in these memories: the bookstore as a material place and the bookstore as part of wider life events. Our findings reveal that bookstores (1) have played roles in the life routines of many Singaporeans, (2) are theatres of materiality, and (3) are places where social interaction can take place. From this evidence we argue that the physical bookstore, albeit being dismissed as a dying breed, still does have a number of resources to draw on in its fight with online bookselling.     

The impact of a communication intervention on work‐unit productivity and employee satisfaction

This study investigated the impact of a 10‐week program, designed to communicate job‐specific and general company information, on levels of worker satisfaction and work‐unit productivity. Data were collected from assembly line workers in a large health care industrial plant. Differences between scores on a general satisfaction measure administered before and after the program were observed suggesting that attitudes about the organization did improve after the program. When compared with a control period, work‐unit productivity also improved after the program. Implications of these findings for future organizational communication research were discussed.     

The influence of mode,sub‐mode,and speaker predilection on style

With four basic assumptions about the nature of style as orientation, this study focuses on six subjects across two general modes and six sub‐modes of discourse. After discussing “style markers” such as sentence length, word length, TTR, cloze scores, ratios related to extent of qualification, AVQ, PTQ, and psychogrammatical features across modes and sub‐modes, the study sketches a “stylistic profile” of the subjects including not only these style markers but editing behaviors as well. Although subjects appear to have been influenced by modal and sub‐modal dimensions of style, individual predilections appear also to have been heavily influenced by factors relating to “epistemic stance.”     

Movers’ advantages: The effect of mobility on scientists’ productivity and collaboration

With the rapid globalization of science, mobility is perceived as an important driver of scientific progress and innovation success. However, we have little knowledge about whether and how scientists’ mobility influences their career development, especially scientists’ productivity and collaboration. In this case study, using the data on 62,330 scientists, the Chinese computer scientists who published at least one computer science paper and published no fewer than 10 papers in total from 2000 to 2012, we apply difference in differences models in conjunction with PSM methods to show the effect of domestic mobility (i.e., moving inside China) on scientists’ research quantity and quality by distinguishing the direction of mobility. In contrast to the existing literature that documents a short-term negative effect due to adaption costs or disruption of routines and social capital, we do not observe an initial detrimental impact of following moves on productivity and collaboration, even for non-upward moves. We further find that mobility leads to increased collaboration with new partners without dampening scientists’ collaboration with previous collaborators. However, scientists have a higher probability of collaborating with new collaborators, as evidenced by the decreased share of previous collaborators to the total co-authors after they move. The findings of this case study imply that the benefits of mobility might outweigh its costs and that mobility improves scientists’ productivity and collaboration for prolific scientists in emerging countries.