The authors
write, “This reduction in the immediacy, variety, and amount of simultaneous
communication and feedback leads to a reduction in how dynamically
co-constructed our communication is and results in a loss of social presence.” I found this very interesting.
I agree
completely. In face-to-face (F2F) synchronous communication, we can catch the
nuances of the other person’s conversation and read his or her body language,
which helps us better understand what the person is meaning by what he or she
says. This helps us construct and adapt our own side of the conversation
accordingly. In other words, we can have dynamic, two-way effective communication.
In addition, we can recognize the social presence of the other person in that
it is easier in F2F to recognize the personality of the other person, which can
help tailor the communication. F2F also makes the interaction that leads to
successful communication easier and more effective.
On the
other hand, computer-mediated communication is often asynchronous. So the
conversation is not as dynamic as F2F communication. There is also often no
sense of immediacy, because people are often not responding immediately, but
doing their part of communication whenever they have time. And they have time
to construct their message and amend it before they send it, so conversation is
not as spontaneous. I prefer this because I have difficulty “thinking on my
feet,” but do well in writing, especially when I take the time to review and
edit my writing. However, this polished version of conversation doesn’t do
anything toward helping people get a real sense of my social presence.
Hi Lee!
ReplyDeleteI think that is a very prominent quote you chose from the text. I totally agree with you and your viewpoint on face to face communication. As you said, body language is the component that allows us to apply meaning to a conversation. Without body language, messages can become easily misconstrued. This is something I struggle with as I tend to read too far into messages that are sent via text or Internet. If someone sends me a short reply, I automatically assume they are upset or are being rude when that is usually not the case. This is also due to the factor of tone of voice which is another component of f2f conversation that is lacking in computer mediated communication.
Lee,
ReplyDeleteGood post, it helped me understand the asynchronous and synchronous communication. You did a great job explaining the positives of both face-to-face and CMC communication. I completely agree with you. Face-to-face communication really helps us understand the speaker’s nuances and read their body language. Being able to interpret their message more clearly helps give us more options for a response, creating more diverse communication. However, in face-to-face communication, immediacy is something that must be addressed. It is a social norm to respond in a timely manner. In CMC, immediacy is not as important. This gives the participant more time to think of a response that addressed all areas of the topic. With CMC we can look back at the conversation and remember parts that might have been overlooked in face-to-face conversation. However, we will not be able to interpret their body language, which is a big portion of communicating meaning. Again, great post.