Multiple Communication Media Research Articles

Dynamic Silos: Increased Modularity and Decreased Stability in Intraorganizational Communication Networks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Workplace communications around the world were drastically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, related work-from-home orders, and the rise of remote work. To understand these shifts, we analyzed aggregated, anonymized metadata from over 360 billion emails within 4,361 organizations worldwide. By comparing month-to-month and year-over-year metrics, we examined changes in network community structures over the 24 months before and after COVID-19. We also examined shifts across multiple communication media (email, instant message, video call, and calendaring software) within a single global organization and compared them with communications shifts that were driven by changes in formal organizational structure. We found that in 2020, organizations around the world became more siloed than in 2019, evidenced by increased modularity. This shift was concurrent with decreased stability within silos. Collectively, our analyses indicate that following the onset of COVID-19, employees’ communications began to shift more dynamically between subcommunities (teams, workgroups, or functional areas). At the same time, once in a subcommunity, they limited their communication to other members of that community. We term these network changes dynamic silos. We provide initial insights into the meaning and implications of dynamic silos for the future of work. This paper was accepted by Lamar Pierce, organizations. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.02797 .

Black lives matter messaging across multiple congressional communication mediums

ABSTRACT After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement had a second, large attention surge. Media focus intensified and public opinion of the movement was the most supportive it had ever been. Legislators got involved too, taking to their e-newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, and press releases to publicize support or opposition to the movement. Using those four mediums we ask which sorts of legislators were more or less likely to make public their position, and how these trends vary by medium. Partisanship drives the biggest differences, but that within parties, legislators with more extreme roll-call voting histories, and those from districts expressing greater perceptions of racism tend to be more likely to discuss their positions in explicit and oblique ways. Black legislators and those with greater shares of Black constituents do not seem to have distinct patterns of signaling support or opposition.

Time Pressure and the Extent of Homophily in the Workplace Communications of A/E Design Teams

Workplace collaboration depends on communication and is critical in building design. For large, highly diverse teams, such as those found in architecture and engineering (A/E) who work under timebased deadlines, homophily—or the tendency to seek interactions with others of similar backgrounds and values—can play a role in how individuals communicate. Homophily is potentially damaging to teams that must coordinate information from a diverse membership, since communication may become less likely to occur across disciplines. Therefore, this research examines the extent to which a sampled A/E team exhibits homophily in their information exchanges across multiple communication media, when under the moderating effect of two different levels of time pressure. The study uses a social network analysis of the communication patterns in an 18-member studio team working for a national A/E firm located in the southeastern United States. The results show some evidence of homophily as a predictor of information exchanges when controlling for the hierarchical ties within the studio team and the physical distance between its members in the office. In a low time pressure work environment, face-to-face communication was more likely when members were of the same gender. This effect was not present when the team was under high time pressure, where face-to-face interactions were instead more likely between members of the same discipline. Homophily in phone communication was found in the generational similarity of team members, regardless of time pressure. There was little evidence that homophily was a predictor of email communication. These results have implications for the design of studio workplaces that support information-rich interactions, the assignment of individual designers to project teams that are more likely to interact with co-workers from different backgrounds, and organizational policy regarding the use of specific communication media based on the project schedule and time pressure.

Decision Making in Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications

The Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications (GSCC) paradigm created on the concept of cloud communications facilitates the use of multiple communication mediums concomitantly. In this paper, we address the issue of formulating a cognitive decision function based on utility theory, which allows users with GSCC enabled devices to intelligently distribute its bandwidth requirement amongst the available communication mediums. The green and symbiotic approach entails the simultaneous use of multiple communication interfaces, enabling efficient resource utilization. The judiciously designed architecture allows multiple users to access multiple mediums concomitantly, for both uplink and downlink, via virtualized communication ports and Internet Protocol schematic. Design postulates for technological systems of future are proposed and GSCC is evolved using these concepts.

Consumers Responses to Traditional and Non Traditional Advertisements

This study addresses these challenges posed by new emerging marketing landscape shaped by technological advancement where consumers use a firm’s multiple channels to purchase multiple categories and firm employs both traditional and new media to reach their consumers. The digital world not only allows consumers to embrace new channels in much more active ways facilitated by various communication media but also is transforming how consumers shop, live, develop and interact. Therefore, it is very important for retailers to understand not only the shopping behavior across multiple channels in multiple categories but also the effectiveness of various communication media across categories. Understanding such behavior across multiple channels influenced by multiple touch-points or multiple communication media adopted by firms will facilitate better allocation of resources to attract multichannel consumers.

Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications: Virtualized Transport Layer and Cognitive Decision Function

The evolution of the concept of cloud communications has posed a growing emphasis on virtual and abstract environments for the flow of information, structuring it in similitude to a natural cloud. The green symbiotic cloud communications (GSCCs) paradigm created on this concept facilitates the use of multiple communication mediums concomitantly creating a first of its kind communication cloud. This paper specifically corroborates a virtualized transport layer and network ports and an abstracted Internet protocol scheme in defining the GSCC architecture. We further address the issue of formulating a cognitive decision function based on utility theory, which allows users with GSCC enabled devices to intelligently distribute its bandwidth requirement amongst the available communication mediums. Considering the multiple criteria associated with different networks, we formulate an optimization problem to find the solution for this resource allocation problem for single user. We further address the multi-user scenario and formulate and solve the multi-objective optimization problem using goal attainment technique. Results in single and multiple user scenarios, demonstrate that by utilizing multiple mediums as per GSCC paradigm coupled with our proposed decision function improves the functionality of the communication cloud. The proposed architecture is dynamic and evolving, embedding greenness by efficiently utilizing the available resources as and when required. The multiple virtual links equate a linearly increasing relationship with the throughput achieved. Experimental results for both real time and static data through the proposed schematic are documented. The augmented paradigm enhances the quality of service, linearly increases throughput and increases the overall security in communications.

Multichannel Modality in Displaying Information

Computer science and telecommunications are increasingly important in society and this leads also public administrations to take advantage of ICT, in order to communicate with citizens in a more rapid and simpler way than the complex and paper-based bureaucracy of the past. While on the one hand the use of these technologies responds to the duty of any public institution to involve the largest number of addressees, on the other hand, society must also consider the limitations of these technologies. Firstly not everybody is so familiar in their use. Moreover, the digital administration thus becomes virtual, accessible only through technological devices and not present in a physical location, and is therefore essential to ensure full coverage of the territory, which is currently not always possible. The main novelty of this paper is the implementation of an automated system capable of adapting different types of government services to multiple communication media. The joint exploitation of multiple technologies allows to use the strengths of one of them when are found the limits of another, making this multichannel modality the solution to the requirement of ICT in public administration.

Individual creativity in teams: The importance of communication media mix

We use compensatory adaptation and dual coding theories to explore the effects of communication media use on creativity. Our field study results show that high levels of self-esteem and information-based demographic differences positively influence creativity. Social category differences negatively influence creativity. Communication media mix is an important moderator, improving the relationship of self-esteem and social category demographic differences with creativity when individuals have proportionally more mediated communication. The relationship between information-based demographic differences and creativity is attenuated when individuals use proportionally more mediated communication. The results have implications for managers encouraging creativity among a diverse workforce using multiple communication media.

Realizing an Effective and Flexible ITS Evaluation Strategy Through Modular and Multi-Scaled Traffic Simulation

The next generation of transportation systems employing advanced ITS and vehicular inter-networking are difficult to evaluate because of their inherent complexity. Advanced control algorithms, sensor setups, multiple communication media, and the varying driver reactions require new planning and evaluation strategies. While simulation tools are often used to study the likely effects of such systems in advance, we do not fully know what to expect as the outcome of a given implementation, making it difficult to validate a simulation's output. Data collection from a variety of field-tests is beginning to provide this data, but simulation definition, implementation and validation tools are all in need of improvement in order to keep up. Here we propose a new simulation framework that can translate a single ITS use case to different simulation tools with multiple traffic networks and/or data sets. This allows simulation tools to be compared and combined as appropri-ate for the given use case in order to improve both the validity and scalability of the simulation, and to facilitate better coop-eration between those working in this rapidly developing field.

A social network scorecard to monitor knowledge flows across communication media

This paper describes the application of a scorecard, based on social network analysis, to monitor the evolution of knowledge flows. This scorecard helps organizations to identify new ways to optimize knowledge flows by combining communication media that match their working environments. Three case studies were conducted: one within an Italian Research Centre, and two within U.S.-based Research and Education Centres. The interactions of members of these business communities were observed by monitoring multiple communication media over time. This is a departure from the common practice of using only e-mail communications to describe social networks. The goal of this paper is to answer the following question: does e-mail alone represent an accurate approximation of the social network? The results suggest that a better approximation can be found by monitoring multiple media: e-mail, chat, telephone, social networking websites, and face-to-face interactions.

Wireless innovation through software radios

Advances in networking have been accelerated by the use of abstractions, such as "layering", and the ability to apply those abstractions across multiple communication media. Wireless communication provides the greatest challenge to these clean abstractions because of the lossy communication media. For many networking researchers, wireless communications hardware starts and ends with WiFi, or 802.11 compliant hardware. However, there has been a recent growth in software defined radio, which allows the basic radio medium to be manipulated by programs. This mutable radio layer has allowed researchers to exploit the physical properties of radio communication to overcome some of the challenges of the radio media; in certain cases, researchers have been able to develop mechanisms that are difficult to implement in electrical or optical media. In this paper, we describe the different design variants for software radios, their programming methods and survey some of the more cutting edge uses of those radios.

PERSONAL NETWORKS AND THE PERSONAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

In contrast to technologically deterministic approaches that focus on how communication technology affects social relationships, this paper examines how individuals draw on a variety of commonly used communication media in conjunction with in-person contact to stay connected to their personal networks. I term this use of multiple communication media the ‘personal communication system’. Findings are based on a random sample telephone survey of 2200 adults living throughout the continental USA. Descriptive statistics show that despite the popularity of email and mobile phones, in-person and landline phone contact are still the most common ways of connecting with personal networks. Multivariate analysis reveals a more complex picture of media use, showing that the extent to which each medium is used varies to differing degrees with the size and diversity of personal networks. Hierarchical cluster analysis is used to explore the possibility that individuals may have different types of personal communication systems. Results show only two distinct clusters: those who draw heavily on all types of media to connect with their personal networks and those who draw less heavily on all types of media. Heavy communicators typically have larger and more diverse personal networks than light communicators. When taken together, the results presented in this paper suggest that rather than radically altering relationships, communication technology is embedded in social networks as part of a larger communication system that individuals use to stay socially connected.

Multimodal Working Memory: The Unfolding Story

Given the prevalence of information overload, it is essential that systems are designed utilizing multiple communication media. Wickens' (1984) Multiple Resource Theory (MRT) suggests that performance efficiency may be realized via multiple sensory, processing, and response modalities. Recently, modality-specific working memory (WM) subsystems have been proposed, which include verbal, visual, spatial, kinesthetic, tactile, and tonal components. However, it has yet to be determined if modality-specific subsystems exhibit separate systems with their own resources, or if all or a subset of these systems shared certain resources in a global WM unit. The purpose of this study was to examine if the modality-specific subsystems were indicative of separate WM resources or shared common resources. Results demonstrated no interference between modality-specific subsystems, suggesting that they pull from separate WM resource pool. These findings support the expansion of the MRT to a multimodal WM processing system and great promise for multimodal design.

Communication of socioeconomic research findings.

Socioeconomics is research that identifies, measures and compares the costs and the clinical, economic and humanistic consequences of diseases and healthcare interventions. Research findings must be communicated to be valuable. Publication moves research findings into the public domain and exposes hard won ideas to critical appraisal. The analyst or researcher informs the decision process by defining an answerable question, applying standard economic methodology, developing a credible study, and using appropriate analytical and communication tools. The decision-maker is more likely to listen if the message is relevant, clear, simple and timely, and if he/she has influence over the relevant budget. Traditional print media provide a standardised process for quality control, whereas electronic media can provide speed of publication and wide access, usually at the expense of quality. The quality of both published medical and socioeconomic research articles varies widely. Published checklists can greatly assist in determining the structural quality of a study, but they cannot guarantee that the content of an article is useful to a decision-maker. Barriers to communication include perceived lack of study credibility, lack of relevance to the decision under consideration, suspicion of bias and inadequate training of the readers. Journal editors aim to improve the readability and clarity of articles and to bring them into conformance with journal policies. Recommendations for effective communication include the following: determine the target audience(s) and develop the appropriate perspective; set the study in its clinical context; keep the language simple where possible and use multiple communication media. Well conducted and well communicated studies can influence policy and outcomes.