The role of computer-mediated communication in the research process of music scholars: An exploratory investigation

Electronic mail (email) and electronic discussion groups are increasingly important alternative channels for informal scholarly communication. Because communication patterns in the humanities traditionally have differed from those in the sciences and social sciences, it is not clear whether email and discussion groups are providing useful communication channels in humanities disciplines.; The purpose of this study was to explore the role of computer-mediated communication in the research process of music scholars, a subset of humanities scholars. The research activities of music scholars were examined in the context of diffusion of innovations theory, which suggests that adoption and use of innovations can be predicted by two attributes of an innovation: relative advantage and compatibility.; Data were collected in two stages, first through structured interviews with thirty music scholars and then through a mail questionnaire completed by 175 randomly selected music scholars from the United States and Canada. These data yielded a six-stage model of the music scholars' research process. Respondents' perceptions of the relative advantage and compatibility of computer-mediated communication were found to be significantly associated with their ratings of the helpfulness of these innovations for most research activities.; Music scholars rated email as consistently more helpful than discussion groups for selected activities such as maintaining current awareness. Scholars who found discussion groups not helpful in their research reacted by periodically unsubscribing, a pattern of intermittent discontinuance consistent with diffusion theory. The main conclusion of this study is that both email and electronic discussion groups currently appear to play a relatively marginal role in the music scholar's research process in comparison with more traditional methods such as face-to-face communication and use of other information resources. Implications for information professionals and topics for further research are discussed.