FACE TO FACE IN VIRTUAL SPACE:THE CHANGING NATURE OF COMMUNICATION

JOSHUA HILL AND JESSICA CROMBIE

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

OUTCOMES• Identify the changing nature of communication

• Discuss various communication theories

• Understand student perceptions of online (virtual) communication and how it affects the “real world”

• Understand the implications for the future of our profession

HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION

HISTORY OF COMMUNICATIONThe Word: 1-to-1 Audio Communication - The Same Place At The Same Time

The Cave Painting: 1-to-1 Text Communication - Same Place, Different Times

The Stone Tablet: 1-to-1 Text Communication - Any Place, Any Time

The Printing Press:1-to-Many Text Communication - Any Place, Any Time

The Telephone:1-to-1 Audio Communication - Any Place, Same Time

Radio & Television:1-to-Many Audio / Visual Communication - Different Place, Same Time

The Web and Internet: Many-to-Many Text, Audio, Visual Communication - Any Place, Any Time

REMEMBER WHEN…

REMEMBER WHEN YOU…• Got your first:

• Computer• Computer game• Email address• IM screenname• Cell phone• Pager?!?

• Started using:• Text messages• MySpace/

Friendster• Facebook• Twitter• Smartphone

COMMUNICATION THEORIES: TRANSMISSION MODEL

Created by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949) for Bell Laboratories. Designed to mirror the functions of radio and telephone technologies.

Consisted of three primary parts:

• Sender - the part of a telephone a person spoke into

• Channel - the telephone itself

• Receiver - the ear-piece of the phone

• Also included: noise – the static that interferes with one listening to a telephone conversation

COMMUNICATION THEORIES: TRANSMISSION MODEL

Transmission Model – with the addition of an alphabet

COMMUNICATION THEORIES: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION• This view considers communication to be the product of

the participants sharing and creating meaning.

• The Constructionist View can also be defined as, how you say something determines what the message is.

• The Constructionist View assumes that “truth” and “ideas” are constructed or invented through the social process of communication.

COMMUNICATION THEORIES: COMMUNICATION BANDWIDTH

Communication bandwidth is the level of information that a kind of communication is capable of transmitting.

• Very low bandwidth: email, instant messaging, and SMS texting.

• Slightly higher bandwidth: Skype voicecalls or telephone

• Higher bandwidth: video call (i.e Skype, iChat, Facetime)

• Highest bandwidth: Face-to-face

COMMUNICATION THEORIES: SOCIAL COHESION

Ling (2007): Mobile Communication and Mediated Ritual

• Ritual Interaction

• Social Cohesion

• Micro-Coordination

• Ambient Accessibility

• Bounded solidarity

PERCEPTIONS & EXPECTATIONS

What do staff think: What do students think:

Timeliness – in terms of response time

Policing v. Privacy – what must be addressed vs. considered private

Amount/Frequency – how much communication is appropriate

Formality – where on the spectrum between professional and casual does it lie

DISCUSSION• As we look at different modes of communication, what

possible sources of noise exists?

• Knowing that technology impacts the quality/types of relationships students have, how does this affect our missions of developing community?

• If teaching effective communication is a life-skill we want to educate our students about, how does this information change our approach? Should it?

• What examples exist from your institutions where you have made changes, or decided not to?

QUESTIONS/(MAYBE) ANSWERS

REFERENCES

http://www.omstrategy.com/87/a-brief-history-of-communication

Ling, R. (2007). Mobile communication and mediated ritual. In Communication in the 2st century. Ed. K. Nyirir. Budapest, Hungary.