The impact of e-mail on the evolution of a virtual community during a strike

Abstract This paper discusses a study of the group dynamics of a virtual community, determined through its members' communication on e-mail. The basis is an extensive case study that describes the struggle of academic staff members at all universities in Israel to gain salary increases and improved status. During the long strike, e-mail was used as a major means of communication between the strikers and their leaders. Data for the case were derived from in-depth content analysis of the e-mail messages that were found in the strikers' mail. The analysis of the e-mail messages demonstrates that during the strike this virtual community went through a series of phases that marked its evolution from a large disorganized group of dispersed individuals, into a united virtual community.

[1]  C. Gersick.  MARKING TIME: PREDICTABLE TRANSITIONS IN TASK GROUPS , 1989 .

[2]  N. Maier.  Assets and liabilities in group problem solving: the need for an integrative function. , 1967, Psychological review.

[3]  Lee Sproull,et al.  Increasing Personal Connections , 1995, Computerization and Controversy, 2nd Ed..

[4]  August E. Grant,et al.  Individual and network influences on the adoption and perceived outcomes of electronic messaging , 1990 .

[5]  Milam W. Aiken,et al.  Electronic brainstorming in small and large groups , 1994, Inf. Manag..

[6]  Starr Roxanne Hiltz,et al.  Experiments in group decision making, 3: disinhibition, deindividuation, and group process in pen name and real name computer conferences , 1989, Decis. Support Syst..

[7]  S. Kiesler,et al.  Group and computer-mediated discussion effects in risk decision making. , 1987 .

[8]  D. Robey,et al.  The Persistence of Status Differentials in Computer Conferencing. , 1994 .

[9]  Nava Pliskin,et al.  Diffusion of E-mail: An organisational learning perspective , 1996, Inf. Manag..

[10]  Sara B. Kiesler,et al.  The Equalization Phenomenon: Status Effects in Computer-Mediated and Face-to-Face Decision-Making Groups , 1991, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[11]  Maryam Alavi,et al.  An assessment of electronic meeting systems in a corporate setting , 1993, Inf. Manag..

[12]  R. Rice,et al.  Attitudes toward New Organizational Technology: Network Proximity as a Mechanism for Social Information Processing. , 1991 .

[13]  S. Asch.  Effects of Group Pressure Upon the Modification and Distortion of Judgments , 1951 .

[14]  Susan C. Herring,et al.  Gender and Democracy in Computer-Mediated Communication , 1995, Computerization and Controversy, 2nd Ed..

[15]  Jerald Greenberg,et al.  Equity and Workplace Status: A Field Experiment , 1988 .

[16]  Cecily Anne Snyder.  Patent explorer: Derwent on the Internet , 1998 .

[17]  David A. Kravitz,et al.  Ringelmann rediscovered: the original article , 1986 .

[18]  S. Kiesler,et al.  Group processes in computer-mediated communication☆ , 1986 .

[19]  Mark P. Zanna,et al.  The impact of computer-mediated communication on self-awareness☆ , 1988 .

[20]  Nava Pliskin,et al.  Design of charging mechanisms according to the interaction between information technology type and diffusion lifecycle phase , 1991, DATB.

[21]  A. Osborn.  Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking , 1953 .

[22]  G. W. Hill.  Group versus individual performance: are n + 1 heads better than one?" psychological bulletin , 1982 .

[23]  R. Rice.  Computer-Mediated Communication and Organizational Innovation , 1987 .

[24]  Thomas A. Finholt,et al.  Electronic Groups at Work. , 1990 .

[25]  Michael H. Zack,et al.  Electronic messaging and communication effectiveness in an ongoing work group , 1994, Inf. Manag..

[26]  J. W. McCormick,et al.  Computer friends and foes: Content of undergraduates' electronic mail , 1992 .

[27]  C. Gersick.  Time and Transition in Work Teams: Toward a New Model of Group Development , 1988 .

[28]  Kathleen Ferrara,et al.  Interactive Written Discourse as an Emergent Register , 1991 .