Storage and retrieval of e-mail in a business environment: An exploratory guide

Executives recognize the value of maintaining access to information. More managers filter their own e-mail rather than have assistants do this task. Organizing and storing data for future use are left to the personal preference of the individual manager. Is this in the best interest of the organization? Are data being stored in a manner causing them to be irretrievable in the future? Are irrelevant data being stored? This study investigates the strategies used to store and retrieve e-mail. The results revealed that the primary search strategy was a reliance on memory. The labels assigned to the e-mail folders triggered the user's memory. Although, in the short term, memory is sufficient for organizing and retrieving information, the lack of transferability and preservation of this information poses a danger. The association between the electronic file label and the stored information is unique to the manager and may lead to inaccessibility of relevant corporate knowledge in the future.     

Ubiquitous Computing in the Library:Indiana State University Library s Experience

1 Introduction New technologies and other developments haye changedthe information seeking behaviors of the academic communityand the general public.Nowhere is this more evident than inthe exponential growth of the World Wide Web and cellularphone usage.Responding to these user needs and newtechnologies,libraries are moving from being InformationWarehouses to becoming Information Portals.Full-text     

THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS IN BRITAIN

Controversy concerning the issue of homosexual rights and practiceshas intensified in Britain over the last decade. Despite thisincrease in intensity, however, the question of mass publicopinion in relation to homosexual rights and practices has receivedalmost no empirical investigation. In an effort to remedy thissituation, this article focuses on both the role of respondents'gender as well as their perceptions concerning the gender ofparticipants in a homosexual relationship (both sexes versusgay men) in distinguishing their attitudes toward the publicacceptance of homosexuals and the adoption rights of lesbiansand gay men. Using nationally representative data from the BritishSocial Attitudes Surveys, we found that, whereas both respondents'gender and the gender of participants in a homosexual relationshipdemonstrated a significant influence on attitudes toward thepublic acceptance of homosexuals, they were unrelated to theadoption rights of lesbians or gay men. Even in relation tothe public acceptance of homosexuals, however, gender was notthe only, or even the most important, attribute in distinguishingindividual opinion in this instance. Other stronger and moreconsistent influences were education, age, and attitudes towardeither pre-marital or extra-marital sexual relations. The implicationsof these findings for both policy makers and homosexual activistsare discussed.     

Validating the Willingness to Self-Censor Scale: Individual Differences in the Effect of the Climate of Opinion on Opinion Expression

Hayes, Glynn, and Shanahan (2005) defined self-censorship asthe withholding of one’s opinion around an audience perceivedto disagree with that opinion. They argued that people differin their willingness to self-censor and introduced an 8-itemself-report instrument, the Willingness to Self-Censor scale,to measure this individual difference. The results of an experimentalstudy presented here provide further evidence of the constructvalidity of the scale. Each participant in the study was presentedwith a hypothetical scenario that contained information suggestinga group of people the participant was conversing with abouta controversial topic held opinions that were either uniformlysimilar to or different from the participant’s own opinion.Four weeks prior, each participant had responded to the Willingnessto Self-Censor scale and a measure of dispositional shyness.As expected, the manipulation of the climate of opinion affectedwillingness to express an opinion to the group, but more soamong those who scored relatively high on the Willingness toSelf-Censor scale. These results support the notion that somepeople rely on information about the climate of opinion moreso than do others when they decide whether or not to voice theiropinion publicly, and they suggest that the Willingness to Self-Censorscale measures this individual difference.     

Conservation Heating 24 Years On

ABSTRACT

Control of relative humidity (RH) for collections care is challenging in U.K. historic houses because they are often highly ventilated with poor heat retention, a porous building fabric and naturally tend to high (60–80%) RH if unheated. The significance of the building means that large-scale modifications and installation of air handling systems may be unfeasible and undesirable for the conservation of the building. In the late 1980s the National Trust, for English, Wales and Northern Ireland, investigated conservation heating as an RH control method that works with the natural environment of historic buildings, mimicking historic heating and requiring only modification of existing heating services or a light touch installation of new heating systems. The National Trust adopted conservation heating as its preferred method for environmental control in historic buildings from the 1990s. This method was presented at the IIC 1994 Ottawa congress on preventive conservation. Conservation heating has since been adopted by many historic house management organisations, particularly across north-west Europe, where it is well suited to the climate. This paper reviews conservation heating developments implemented by the National Trust since 1994, in response to a changing external context, new knowledge and developments in operational practice.     

No Longer One-to-Many: How Web 2.0 Interactivity is Changing Public Service Radio’s Relationship with its Audience

The relationship between public radio and its audience has undergone significant change since the adoption of Web 2.0 technology. Web 2.0 allows an audience to interact easily and speedily with a public service broadcaster, forming an inclusive, two-way listening environment. This contrasts with the traditional one-way model of public broadcasting. This research project used New Zealand public radio broadcaster RNZ National as a case study. The phenomenon was studied from the perspective of those who listen to content, and those who create it. Findings include the ready adoption of Web 2.0 technology by the audience and the validation of that participation by RNZ National hosts and producers.     

Later life learning experiences: listening to the voices of Chinese elders in Hong Kong

Abstract

Governments’ anxieties about ageing populations are mostly concerned with the costs of welfare, care and health provision which all have to be paid for by an ever dwindling working population. However, research in later life learning indicates the significant role that lifelong learning can play in promoting mental well-being and resilience, and in assisting with maintaining personal self-confidence and self-coping strategies that prevent cognitive decline in an ageing population. This paper draws on the research with a group of Chinese elders in Hong Kong, who provide information about their experiences and views on learning in later life, including the meaning of learning, barriers to participation, learning interests, needs, motivations, and instructional preferences. Both quantitative and qualitative findings are reported to shed light on later life learning experiences, which contribute to the global understanding of later life learning and serve to inform the development of policy and practice geared to the planning and provision of opportunities to keep learning at the later stages of life.     

Gender Differences in Children's Normative Beliefs about Aggression: How Do I Hurt Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

This research was designed to assess whether children view relationally manipulative behaviors (i.e., those behaviors labeled relational aggression in past research) as "aggressive." 2 studies were conducted to evaluate whether children view relationally manipulative behaviors as associated with 2 defining features of aggression, anger (Study 1) and intent to harm (Study 2). Results of Study 1 ( n = 459, 9–12-year-olds) indicated that relational aggression was the most frequently cited angry behavior for girls' interactions whereas physical aggression was the most frequently cited angry behavior for boys' interactions. Results of Study 2 ( n = 60, 9–11-year-olds) demonstrated that relational aggression and verbal insults were the most frequently cited harmful behaviors for girls whereas physical aggression and verbal insults were the most frequently cited harmful behaviors for boys. These studies provide the first evidence that children view relationally manipulative acts (relational aggression) as angry, harmful behaviors (i.e., as "aggressive").