Electronic mail (E-mail)
Ducheneaut & Watts (2005) take a critical look at the research literature about E-mail from the last 30 years and identify three metaphors that have guided e-mail research up to now: e-mail as a file cabinet extending human information processing capabilities, e-mail as a production line and locus of work coordination, and, finally, e-mail as a communication genre supporting social and organizational processes.
Literature:
Clausen, H. (1992). Electronic Mail and Information Professional. A
Study of Computer-Mediated Communication and its future prospects in the
information field. Århus: The Aarhus School of Business, Department of
Information Science. (PhD dissertation).
Ducheneaut, N. & Watts, L. A. (2005). In Search of Coherence: A Review of
E-Mail Research. Human-Computer Interaction, 20(1-2), 11-48. (Special
Issue on Revisiting and Reinventing E-Mail).
Ngwenyama O. K. & Lee A. S. (1997).
Communication Richness in Electronic Mail: Critical Social Theory and the
Contextuality of Meaning. MIS Quarterly, 21(2), 145-167.
http://www.misq.org/archivist/bestpaper/ngwenyama%20&%20lee.pdf
Rask, K. (2006).
Skrivekultur i mailen. Kbh.: Grafisk Litteratur.
See also: Informal communication; Spam
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 06-03-2007