Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Use of e-mails as a marketing channel has been rapidly growing. Although e-mail ads are found to generate more interactions from consumers than banner ads, only few studies have examined the effectiveness of e-mail ads. Besides, current concerns on unsolicited e-mails (i.e., spam mails) pose a threat, as many of the messages are being avoided and deleted before even being opened. The current study focused on the subscription status of Korean consumers (i.e., opt-in mails vs. spam mails), different types of the title of the e-mails, and the consumers�� need for cognition. The results have found significant impacts of message types and subscription status on the consumer��s attitude toward the ad and intention to click, whereas need for cognition was not found to be related to the intention to click.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The administration of elections is the responsibility of state and local governments, and important differences among and within states persist. The number of voters with access to “no excuse” mail voting is growing, but adoption rates vary widely. We explore various methods employed by local election officials to promote the availability of mail voting and the effects of these differential promotion rates on subsequent modes and rates of voting. Election officials play a major, but overlooked, role in the massive shift to convenience voting over the last several elections. One in 5 ballots were cast before Election Day in 2004 and may reach 1 in 3 in 2008. Currently we have neither an understanding of when or where mail balloting is promoted nor any estimation of the effects of these efforts on election administration and participation. Colorado provides a valuable case study as counties have taken different approaches to promoting permanent mail voting (passed in 2007) and administering the 2008 election. Using pre and post election surveys of Colorado’s County Clerks, we examine a wide range of techniques for promotion of mail balloting and explore the effects on subsequent modes and rates of voting across counties.

Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: Successful use of e-mail to notify potential respondents of an Internet survey partially depends upon the completeness and accuracy of the e-mail database. In the case of a customer satisfaction survey, when a client�s database contains e-mail addresses on only half of its customers, selection bias may occur if only the customers with e-mail addresses are asked to participate.
A state agency proposed a customer satisfaction survey using its list of superintendents, business managers and principals within the school districts it serves. Approximately half of the records in the agency�s database included an e-mail address for the contact person on record. All records included a postal mailing address. The agency estimated that nearly all of the potential respondents had Internet access in the office even though the agency did not have a complete listing of e-mail addresses.
To be sure that all customers had the opportunity to participate, potential respondents were notified about the Internet survey in one of two ways. Respondents with e-mail addresses on file were sent an e-mail notification and respondents without an e-mail address were mailed a letter notifying them about the online questionnaire. A follow-up notification was sent about two-weeks later to most non-responders using the same method as used in the first wave. A subset of randomly selected non-responders who were e-mailed the first notification were sent a second notification via postal mail. Thus, three groups resulted from the two wave notification process: (1) e-mail/e-mail (2) e-mail/paper (3) paper/paper.
The response rate effectiveness of these three methods was tracked over time. Differences in response rate and question response by customer type will be examined for each of the methods. Implications for using Internet surveys with paper notifications will be discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: E-mail emerged not only as a major communication device but also as a new campaign tool in recent years. Due to its easy and low operating cost, major parties and candidates do not monopolize e-mail campaign. On-line activist groups take an advantage of e-mail campaign for their election goals. John Kerry�s official e-mail campaign targeted not only democrats but also moderates and independents. Thus they have some restrictions in selecting words and attacking opponent. On-line activist, on the other hand, have much more specific targeted (more liberals in moveon.org�s case). Thus On-line activists have less restriction to attack their opponents. John Kerry was able to send less negative message due to his attack dog: moveon.org.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The media are one vehicle for shaping attitudes about age and ageing, and have been often blamed for perpetuating ageism and cultural stereotypes about seniors, particularly older women (Cohen, 2002). Yet, while a few studies have been concerned with how gender inequalities are portrayed by the North American media, little is known about the media portrayals of older men and older women in the post-soviet world, where both the cultural norms concerning the elders, and the traditional roles of elderly men and women in families, organizations, and societies may be different from the North. Very few cross-cultural comparisons of the media portrayals of seniors have been conducted so far (Harwood and Roy, 1999), and none of them has considered the portrayals of intra- and intergenerational gender inequalities in the news media. The purpose of my paper will be to compare the contemporary portrayals of older men and older women in the Toronto Globe and Mail and of the Moscow Nezavisimaya Gazeta, and to discuss whether the cultural attitudes towards male and female seniors that these portrayals reinforce (or resist) are the same or different in the two countries. Are older men and older women in Canada and in Russia portrayed similarly, or are some older adults portrayed differently from others, and in what terms? When a story involves both seniors and non-seniors, how are older men and older women portrayed in comparison to younger people? The analyses of whether in different cultures male and female seniors are portrayed in similar or different roles, and whether the news media in different societies may depict intra- and inter-generational gender inequalities in different terms, will be very insightful for scholars concerned with the cultural aspects of globalization. Canada and Russia are chosen to reflect the diversity and similarity of the West and of the post-communist space: these two largest countries of the North American and Eurasian continents have obvious political, economic, institutional and cultural differences, and yet share important similarities regarding the heterogeneity of their populations, and the northern dimension of their geography. The Globe and Mail and Nezavisimaya Gazeta are selected for analysis because they are referred to (and portray themselves) as national newspapers respectively in Canada and in Russia. Thus this study may provide some general insights into the portrayals of seniors and inequality in Canadian and Russian media, to serve as benchmarks for further investigation. The method used will be thematic analysis of all articles focusing on seniors and their issues published in The Globe and Mail in 2004 and in Nezavisimaya Gazeta in 2005. Findings will compare how various characteristics (such as economic, social, health, and political status) differentiate among the portrayals of older men and older women and the roles in which they are presented in the two newspapers. Certain groups of seniors may experience feelings of disempowerment, exclusion, and segregation which may be largely ignored by the media, and therefore rendering them invisible to the public. I will situate the results of my analyses within the context of research literature on ageing, gender, inequality, and globalization. Implications for addressing ageism through social and media policies in Canada, in Russia and elsewhere will be discussed.