The concept of power in computer-mediated communication

Author(s):  
Šárka Hastrdlová

There has been a recent increase of interest in the phenomenon of power amongst linguists and also philosophers. The presented article attempts to consider power and ways in which it is exercised through language of computer-mediated communication (further CMC). This unique environment is determined by the specific conditions of an Internet chat room, such as anonymity and no audio-visual cues. In the theoretical part, Watts’s and Diamond’s investigations of power in various open and closed groups in oral communication are discussed and the notion of status is presented. The author divides the chat group corpus into individual sub-groups and tries to draw a graphical presentation, a sociogram, to show their complexity and distribution of power. However, the question remains how tight the sub-groups in CMC are or how interrelated they are with one another. In this respect, it is noteworthy to observe how a selected chat participant develops her status in various sub-groups and to analyze the means by which this possible status is achieved. The corpus was collected by the author herself. The main hypothesis is that the status of power changes quickly throughout chatting and it depends to a great extent on other cues such as address, non-verbal action displays, punctuation marks and so on. In other words, there are very few means by which to exercise power and hold it in this continuously changing and anonymous environment.

2021 ◽  
Vol PCP2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Hayato Tokutake ◽  
James York ◽  
Hiroshi Nakayama

Synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) is a topic of great interest in CALL literature where research has investigated the effectiveness of SCMC compared to traditional face-to-face instruction. However, there are few studies that investigate the intrinsic differences in SCMC modes, particular in terms of their effect on oral communication. At the JALTCALL 2019 conference, we introduced research which assessed the anxiety-reducing affordances of VR. This year we presented results of a follow-up study which focused on the effect of SCMC modality on learners’ speaking performance. 30 participants (15 pairs) completed a spot-the-difference task within three different SCMC modes: voice, video, and virtual reality (VR). Using the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) model, participants’ oral task performances were analysed. Results suggest that the voice mode promoted the highest structural complexity, however, the VR mode promoted the highest lexical complexity. Findings therefore suggest that different modes of communication may be used to focus on different skill development. Additionally, practitioners should consider how modality affects learner anxiety and choose the most appropriate system for their students and needs. This paper introduces the VR system, a detailed analysis of results, pedagogical implications, and future research directions for the use of VR in language teaching contexts.


2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christa Dürscheid ◽  
Sarah Brommer

This article focuses on every day communication in New Media with special regards to private writing on Instant Messaging. After brief introductory thoughts about writings beyond the linguistic norm in New Media we compare the specific circumstances of "new" writing via internet and mobile phone with "traditional" offline writing that can be realized by the use of a computer, a type writer or by hand. How this new writing is judged by the public, whether it is considered to be "good" or "bad" and how experts position themselves in this discussion, is shown in section 3. Section 4 takes a look at which linguistic theories might apply to the analysis of typed dialogues in computer mediated communication. The main focus here is on the theory of Interactional Linguistics which formerly had been applied only to the analysis of oral communication. Finally, language critical and linguistic aspects of writing in the New Media are discussed in a brief synopsis.


Author(s):  
Susan R. Fussell ◽  
Qiping Zhang ◽  
Leslie D. Setlock

In this chapter, we discuss how culture influences computer mediated communication (CMC). We use an Input-Process-Output (I-P-O) model as a theoretical framework to analyze relationships between culture and CMC. We describe three dimensions of cultural variability—individualism/collectivism, low vs. high context of communication, and task- vs. relationship-orientation—and describe how these dimensions influence people’s reliance on features of CMC. A review of the literature to date suggests that cultural factors do indeed shape how people use CMC. More specifically, auditory and visual cues appear to have more importance for members of collectivistic, high-context, relationship-oriented cultures than they do for members of individualistic, low-context, task-oriented cultures. However, further research is needed to clarify relationships between cultural dimensions and CMC, to understand the role of moderating variables such as gender of participants, task, and group composition, and to provide design guidelines for new tools to support intercultural communication and CMC in developing regions.


Author(s):  
Dona J. Hickey

This chapter examines how a social community was created and developed on a left-leaning political blog, Firedoglake; in particular, it explores how readers, as commenters, engaged each other, establishing credibility, or rhetorically speaking, acquiring and enhancing their ethos and attaining the status of a respected member of the blog’s community. All excerpted threads include pseudonyms or screen names of users and all material from the designated blogs is, of course, in the public domain. In part 2, the chapter describes how the character of the blog itself, Firedoglake, changed over time as it grew to include an increasing number of front-page posters, became generally identified as hypercritical of the Obama administration, and became an umbrella site for smaller blogs under its banner. The discussion in both parts explores identity creation and the question of community in computer-mediated communication.


Author(s):  
Bin Yu

The essence of communication is to exchange and share information. Computers provide a new medium to human communication. CMC system, composed of human and computers, absorbs and then extends the advantages of all former formats of communication, embracing the instant interaction of oral communication, the abstract logics of printing dissemination, and the vivid images of movie and television. It also creates a series of new communication formats, such as Hyper Text, Multimedia etc. which are the information organizing methods, and cross-space message delivering patterns. Benefiting from the continuous development of technique and mechanism, the computer-mediated communication makes the dream of transmitting information cross space and time become true, which will definitely have a great impact on our social lives.


Author(s):  
Bin Yu

The essence of communication is to exchange and share information. Computers provide a new medium to human communication. CMC system, composed of human and computers, absorbs and then extends the advantages of all former formats of communication, embracing the instant interaction of oral communication, the abstract logics of printing dissemination, and the vivid images of movie and television. It also creates a series of new communication formats, such as Hyper Text, Multimedia etc. which are the information organizing methods, and cross-space message delivering patterns. Benefiting from the continuous development of technique and mechanism, the computer-mediated communication makes the dream of transmitting information cross space and time become true, which will definitely have a great impact on our social lives.


PMLA ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Foster

In the study of postmodern technocultures, including computer-mediated communication and popular narratives about cyberspace, the status of embodiment has emerged as a key question, especially in the context of popular rhetorics that imagine the Internet as a site of freedom from embodied particularity. But while analyses of gender bending and sexual performance on the Internet abound, the future of race in cyberspace has been relatively neglected. This essay traces recent developments in the work of the Mexican American performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, whose earlier interests in immigration, transnationalism, and border-crossing art have increasingly led him to reflect on the promises and dangers cyberspace poses for racially minoritized groups, to the extent that people who use or study the Internet fantasize cyberspace as a site of subjective border crossing and identity play. The essay looks at the theme of virtual reality in specific performances and at Gómez-Peña's incorporation of new technologies into his work.


Author(s):  
Markus Wolf ◽  
Stephanie Bauer

Psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions rely mainly on verbal communication and language. With the expanding use of computers as well as the capacity of the Internet to bridge geographic distances and to increase access, computer mediated communication (CMC) plays an increasing role for the delivery of psychosocial interventions. This chapter focuses on the advantages and limitations of CMC for psychosocial and psychotherapeutic approaches and introduces three specific CMC-based interventions developed for the provision of step-down treatments in psychotherapy, in which e-mail, Internet chat and the Short Message Service (SMS) were used. Empirical findings on the feasibility, user acceptance, and effectiveness of these interventions are reported. Finally, future perspectives for CMC in psychosocial and psychotherapeutic contexts as well as research directions are outlined.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-74
Author(s):  
Sandra Nekesa Barasa ◽  
Maarten Mous

Youth ‘languages’ are an important topic of research in the domain of linguistic change through language contact because the change is rapid and observable and also because the social dimension of change is inevitably present. Engsh, as a youth language in Kenya expresses not only modernity and Kenyan identity but also, the status of being educated, and it differs in this respect from Sheng, the dominant Kenyan youth language. The element of Engsh that expresses this aspect most directly is the use of a grammatical system from English whereas Sheng uses Swahili. In lexicon, Engsh draws upon Sheng and urban English slang. This is a first extensive description of Engsh. The social function of Engsh is interesting in that class is expressed in it, which is not often reported in African urban youth codes. Also the fact that Engsh is a non-exclusive register, which expands through its use in (social) media and most of all in computer mediated communication.


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