Published on April 22, 2013

The First Quarter 2013 issue of the peer-reviewed journal, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication is now available online and in print.  The issue features these articles:

How to read these articles: Members can read these articles either by visiting IEEExplore (a valid password and userid are needed to read articles online and download them) or by checking the most recently mailed issue of the journal (which also contains the second quarter 2013 issue).

Articles in this issue include:

1. (Research Article) Learning in Color: How Color and Affect Influence Learning Outcomes
by Richard Kumi, Moez Limayem, Christopher M. Conway, and Sandeep Goyal

This article  explores how affective reactions to color impact learning attitudes and outcomes in a computer mediated learning environment. The research study it describes considers how color differences change affective processes and outcomes in computer-mediated communication.

2. (Research Article) Measuring Mobile ICT Literacy: Short Message Performance Assessment in Emergency Response Settings
by Elizabeth Avery Gomez and Norbert Elliot

A construct mediated in digital environments, information communication technology (ICT) literacy is operationally defined as the ability of individuals to participate effectively in transactions that invoke illocutionary action.  This study investigates ICT literacy through a simulation designed to capture that construct, to deploy the construct model to measure participant improvement of ICT literacy under experimental conditions, and to estimate the potential for expanded model development.  

3. (Research Article) In-Group (Us) vs. Out-Group (Them) Dynamics and Effectiveness in Partially Distributed Teams
by Robin Privman, Starr Roxanne Hiltz, and Yiran Wang

In Partially Distributed Teams, where some members are co-located while others are geographically distant, co-located members tend to treat one another as a preferential ‘Us’ vs. treating distant members as the outsiders, ‘Them’. This research article explores this phenomenon, specifically considering (1) To what extent is Us-vs.-Them reported as a problem across a wide number of organizational Partially Distributed Teams, and is it significantly related to team effectiveness?) (2) What do members see as the greatest challenges to Partially Distributed Teams?), and (3) Can Partially Distributed Teams overcome in-group dynamics?  If so, how?

4. (Tutorial) How to Use Search Engine Optimization Techniques to Increase Website Visibility for Search Engine Users
by John Killoran

 As its title suggests, this tutorial explains how to increase website visibility in search engines.  It specifically answers two general questions: (1) What contributes to search engine rankings? (2) What can web content creators and webmasters do to make their content and sites easier to find by audiences using search engines?

5. (Teaching Case) A Model For Understanding Interdisciplinary and Multicultural Communication, for consideration in the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
by Renato Verdugo, Miguel Nussbaum, Magdalena Claro, Marcos Sepúlveda, Boris Escobar, Ricardo Rendich, Fernando Riveros.

This teaching case of a semester-long course within a computer-science program explores how an undergraduate level course help computer science students better understand the multicultural and interdisciplinary scenarios that compose today’s working environment.