| Type of Document |
Dissertation |
| Author |
Sheffer, Mary Louise
|
| Author's Email Address |
msheff2@lsu.edu |
| URN |
etd-03312005-144110 |
| Title |
Illinois Legislators Revisited: A Comparison of Legislators' Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Constituent E-mail |
| Degree |
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) |
| Department |
Mass Communication |
| Advisory Committee |
| Advisor Name |
Title |
| Louis Day |
Committee Chair |
| James Garand |
Committee Member |
| Kirby Goidel |
Committee Member |
| Ralph Izard |
Committee Member |
| Timothy Cook |
Committee Member |
| Ronald Niedrich |
Dean's Representative |
|
| Keywords |
- e-mail
- constituent communication
- state legislator communication
- computer mediated communication
- agenda setting
- diffusion of innovation
|
| Date of Defense |
2005-03-11 |
| Availability |
unrestricted |
Abstract
This is a follow up study to a 2000 report, which measured and compared Illinois state legislators’ attitudes and perceptions toward constituent e-mail, and its impact on personal political agendas. Along with measuring attitudes, this study sought to measure and compare the impact of advances in e-mail technology on Illinois legislators’ use of e-mail as a political tool of communication. The panel comparison consisted of 59% of respondents who participated in both the 2000 and the 2004 study. A survey conducted in February 2000 showed that 89% of Illinois legislators had an active e-mail address, but only 65% of those legislators agreed that they were using e-mail to communicate with constituents, albeit very infrequently. Legislators’ inability to determine the origin of e-mail negatively affected constituent e-mail’s impact on legislators’ personal political agendas. Despite this minimal impact, legislators indicated a strong future reliance on e-mail as a form of communication. Improvements in e-mail technology, especially filtering systems like Echo-mail, could greatly affect legislators’ attitudes and perceptions, thus changing constituent e-mail’s impact on legislators’ political agendas. This study aspires to gauge the impact of advancing e-mail technology on Illinois legislators’ perceptions and attitudes toward constituent e-mail.
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| Files |
| Filename |
Size |
Approximate Download Time
(Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
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| 28.8 Modem |
56K Modem |
ISDN (64 Kb) |
ISDN (128 Kb) |
Higher-speed Access |
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Sheffer_dis.pdf |
388.92 Kb |
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