Communication source

Abstract: Computer-mediated discourse is the communication produced when human beings interact with one another by transmitting messages via networked computers. The study of computer-mediated discourse (henceforth CMD) is a specialization within the broader interdisciplinary study of computer-mediated communication (CMC), distinguished by its focus on language and language use in computer networked environments, and by its use of methods of discourse analysis to address that focus. Most CMC currently in use is text-based, that is, messages are typed on a computer keyboard and read as text on a computer screen, typically by a person or persons at a different location from the message sender. Text-based CMC takes a variety of forms (e.g., e-mail, discussion groups, real-time chat, virtual reality role-playing games) whose linguistic properties vary depending on the kind of messaging system used and the social and cultural context embedding particular instances of use. However, all such forms have in common that the activity that takes place through them is constituted primarily -in many cases, exclusively -by visually-presented language. These characteristics of the medium have important consequences for understanding the nature of computer-mediated language. They also provide a unique environment, free from competing influences from other channels of communication and from physical context, in which to study verbal interaction and the relationship between discourse and social practice.

Abstract: I study a model of strategic communication between an uninformed Receiver and an informed but upwardly biased Sender. The Sender bears a cost of lying, or more broadly, of misrepresenting his private information. The main results show that inflated language naturally arises in this environment, where the Sender (almost) always claims to be of a higher type than he would with complete information. Regardless of the intensity of lying cost, there is incomplete separation, with some pooling on the highest messages. The degree of language inflation and how much information is revealed depend upon the intensity of lying cost. The analysis delivers a framework to span a class of cheap-talk and verifiable disclosure games, unifying the polar predictions they make under large conflicts of interest. I use the model to discuss how the degree of manipulability of information can affect the trade-off between delegation and communication. Copyright 2009, Wiley-Blackwell.

Abstract: Techniques for reducing the amount of junk e-mail received by a user of an e-mail system. A recipient description containing non-address information is added to an e-mail message. The user has an e-mail filter which has access to information which provides a model of the user. The e-mail filter uses the non-address information and the model information to determine whether the e-mail message should be provided to the user. The e-mail filter further has access to information which provides models of the user's correspondents. If the filter does not provide the message to the user, it uses the non-address information and the model information of the user's correspondents to determine who the message might be forwarded to. A sender of e-mail can also use the model information of the sender's correspondents together with the non-address information to determine who the message should be sent to. The techniques are used in a system for locating expertise.