An Experimental Study on the Effects of a Function for Referring the Data of Reading Times in Asynchronous Communication

Abstract

Asynchronous communication for electronic meeting has inherent difficulties such as what to do when no reply comes back at all, or how to determine whether or not other members are really participating. These problems can sometimes reduce the motivation required for members to participate aggressively. In this paper, we focus on the motivation to participate in electronic meetings, by adding a function that presents the time data of when the document was read (hereafter "Function of Referenced Information") to the electronic meeting system (EMS) in order to show how many times a certain document has been viewed by other members, and thereby give users knowledge of the actions of other members. This function is expected to have two effects; increase members' motivation to participate and concentrate members' attention to the same points. In order to verify the effect, a laboratory experiment was conducted. Two types of EMS were studied : an EMS with the Function of Reference Information and one without the Function of Reference Information. Two types of name presentation methods are investigated : pen name and real name. The members' recognition and change in communication process were measured. The results suggest that the addition of Function of Reference Information does not seem to influence motivation. Also suggested is that, during the first stage of discussion, topics with a higher reading time hit rate are seen as central, thereby preventing the scope of discussion from broadening. Furthermore, members understand what the central topics are for discussion during the middle and end stages, indicating that the function promotes more focused discussion.