“Online interaction strips away many of the cues and signs that are part of face-to-face interaction. This poverty of signals is both a limitation and a resource, making certain kinds of interaction more difficult, but also providing room to play with one’s identity.”
Kollock and Smith, 1999; 9.
I found this quote used by Erika in our Week 2 lecture slides really interesting. With virtual communication you never get to see that instant reaction the other person involved gives - be it a look on their face, or the tone of their reply – whereas in Real Life social situations we often judge people based on how we perceive them from afar; the signals they give us and to others. Most of us today have at one point or another communicated via the internet, and one of the most fascinating things I find is the length of time that one person can put into their reply or comment. Communication mediums such as email and chatrooms do not require the instant reply that would be expected in a face-to-face situation, so people can sit there carefully planning their reply, making sure the wording perfectly reflects the identity they wish to portray at the time. I mean, how many of you have held down that backspace key after reading over a comment you are just about to post on a forum, or an email you have just drafted? I know I certainly have!
Kollock and Smith, 1999; 9.
I found this quote used by Erika in our Week 2 lecture slides really interesting. With virtual communication you never get to see that instant reaction the other person involved gives - be it a look on their face, or the tone of their reply – whereas in Real Life social situations we often judge people based on how we perceive them from afar; the signals they give us and to others. Most of us today have at one point or another communicated via the internet, and one of the most fascinating things I find is the length of time that one person can put into their reply or comment. Communication mediums such as email and chatrooms do not require the instant reply that would be expected in a face-to-face situation, so people can sit there carefully planning their reply, making sure the wording perfectly reflects the identity they wish to portray at the time. I mean, how many of you have held down that backspace key after reading over a comment you are just about to post on a forum, or an email you have just drafted? I know I certainly have!
Another similar occurrence I have seen in virtual communities is people changing their username. I have seen people post something that could be somewhat controversial within their community, something that taints the identity they have been building, so they simply create a new account with the hope of starting afresh. However, while this can sometimes work in their favour, the community often recognises the user, through things such as their style of writing, and can instantly detect that they have made a new usernamer/account. I think that really shows how tight the relationships within some virtual communities can become, but also how important identity is to users on the internet.
3 comments:
P.S. Ignore the "I'm leaving the paper..." post that still shows up on Erika's main page... Those plans have changed!!
mmm, loved it!!! THis post was fun to read and interesting! Thanks for the great post, loved the whole idea that you need to spend time writing an email when in real life its instant!!!
I'm with Chris, this was a very interesting post. I love the point about how people can, in a sense, 'shed their skins' by simply ditching their old user name or account and getting a new one and starting over. In light of what was discussed in class today about people using the technology and the network to filter out content or ideas they don't agree or engage with, you have to start to wonder if, online at least, we loose the ability to negotiate conflict when we can just drop it all and walk away...
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