Communications and Cyberspace: Chapters 19, 20, 12, 13, & the Epilogue

Chapter 19 explores the characteristics of e-mail. While e-mail is supposed to be a remediation of letters, what makes it unique is its oral quality. The instantaneous speed at which e-mails can be exchanged induces a more conversational type communication. This conversational aspect to e-mails have given the sender a more informal atmosphere to work within. Now e-mails are inundated with informal vocabulary, phonetic spellings, and colloquial sentence structures. Some of these habits have trickled into places such as school essays where such language is unacceptable. Another issue with e-mails is miscommunication. Sometimes people may read into things and misinterpret certain messages. However we have found ways to adapt this language to our true tone of voice through emoticons and caps locks.
In Chapter 20, author Philip Thompsen commences the chapter with a series of definitions of the term flaming. He says one of the primitive definitions of flaming is "to speak rabidly or incessantly on an uninteresting topic or with a patently ridiculous attitude". The definition of flaming has slowly broadened and now includes a range of negative social behaviors such as hostility and using profanity. Thompsen also concludes that flaming is both a media use and a media evaluation. This means that flaming takes into consideration both the behavior of flaming and the "social negation of what that behavior means." People may start flames by using all caps in order to indicate shouting or use less descriptive messages to suggest discontent.
In Chapter 12 one of the most valuable topics the author discusses is the value of VR in education. When students participate in responsive learning environments that are provided by VR are more like to retain information than the traditional passive learning experience. Information taken in by one's sight, sound, and touch instead by just viewing text and numbers often results in more efficient cognitive absorption. VR is also very practical for training purposes. The author uses the example of flight simulators where novices can practice certain tasks without the risk of injury or danger. VR is more active and can be more fun than a traditional classroom environment. I would support the use of VR in the educational system because often students are more conducive to learning when they are having fun or in a less formal environment.
Chapter 13 talks about the rising popularity of online education. While some still prefer the traditional face to face classroom learning environment, taking classes online has several advantages. Two enormous benefits of online classes are that it is cheaper and that location does not matter. One does not need to pay for transportation or worry about time commuting to school. Furthermore, the student does not have the hefty tuition of a university student because they are paying solely for the classes and not any of the facilities. It also very convenient for those who have many time constraints since classes are offered at flexible times. Although there are some subjects that would be more effectively taught in the traditional class room, online education has many benefits and several class offerings.

Cyberspace and Communications Chapters 19, 20, 12, 13, epilogue

Chapter 19 is titled "Charting the Codes of Cyberspace: A Rhetoric of Electronic Mail." Author Judith Yaross Lee states that e-mail and other similar media heavily resemble formats from letter writing. However, according to Lee, this writing does differ from writing that took place before e-mail. E-mail allows for immediacy, but it lacks intimacy and often leads to misunderstandings, which can be avoided by the use of emoticons. Lee's point is that communication in cyberspace is new and different from any other form of communication and doesn't entirely compare to one medium or another.

Chapter 20 is titled "What's Fueling the Flames in Cyberspace? A Social Influence Model." In this chapter, Author Philip A. Thompsen argues that flaming involves a relationship between people that has been formed through any form of computer media, and that how one interprets a message is equally part of the flaming as the person who sent the message. He defines flaming as sending any insulting, profane, vituperative message through electronic media.

Chapter 12 is titled "Constructing the Virtual Organization: Using a Multimedia Simulation for Communication Education." Author Terri Toles Patkin discusses the psychological implications of Virtual Reality and what cognitive processes are involved. She also writes about the practical, real-life uses of VR.

Chapter 13 is titled "Online Education Unbound." Online education has become widely used, due to its low cost and flexibility. Author Paul Levinson writes that online education has many advantages: it doesn't require transportation, it is time-flexible so that people can take their class any time, it is usually inexpensive, and it allows students to interact with other students. There are also several drawbacks, including the fact that complex science courses with laboratory components do not translate well to online media.

Chapters 19, 20, 12, 13 & the Epilogue

E-mail has been a upcoming and influential form of communication within the last two decades. Marshall McLuhan discussed and described the medium as being synonymous with the message itself. E-mails have many things that make them different from letters or even older correspondence such as memos where emails take a bulk of their form from. Most individuals these days use acronyms and initials to shorten the length of what they are writing. At the same time many individuals do not use a proper letter format such as including sincerely, dear, or the regular structure of a formal letter. This is making communication a lot faster and easier to respond to, but increasing less and less formal. They were aiming to make e-mail as fluid as possible. Flaming is a term that is used in describing email conversations and the content with in them. Flaming used to describe someone who was a complete and utter annoyance to those that came in contact with that individual. It has now adapted a more broad meaning including many things as expressing hostile emotions and cursing within expressing these emotions.  Many factors come into play when deriving the cause of flaming. There are many different situations that can effect flaming and the outcome of flaming. Individuals feel that those who follow the rules will get rid of those who do not follow the rules, but in any circumstance there are always going to be rule breakers. When discussing virtual reality and implementing it into our society there are many precautions that need to be examined. Many think that introducing new technology is as easy as inventing something and selling it. There are many tests and prototypes that are conducted and made to ensure compatibility with humans. Many hope that a ambiquitous society is near and will be most helpful in aiding everyone to learn and enlighten individuals to the advancement of our society. Many schools today are implementing online classes, which the students, professors, and schools see as a great opportunity to let individuals learn from home with ease. On the other hand people are afraid that this will make the student body lazy or more capable of cheating through uses of technology. With everything said we as a society need to take necessary precautions when attempting to use or create new technology. When our society becomes totally entwined and dependent on technology is when there could be a serious problem. We need to take a step back and look at what we have done and what we are looking to do. All in all technology and its advancements have brought miracles to millions of people so we should embrace it, but at the same time have a great sense of caution in the back of our minds that we are creating our own fate.

Chapters 19, 20, 12, 13

     Chapter 19 starts out with describing different genres of email: personal correspondence, public announcements, discussion lists, and e-conferences.  “It is a social site where messages, rather than people, meet.”  This chapter lays out how email has changed cyberspace.  It is interesting to note that email is in the middle of the telephone and the letter, where email is instantaneous like the telephone yet in textual form like the letter.  The virtual community that uses email uses codes.  Email converts speaking into virtual conversations, even using informal and abbreviated language being allowed.  Although there are so many positives to the new form of email, there are some negatives.  One negative is what Andrea Ovans calls “the pitfalls of the memo culture.”  This means that people can lie and say they never received an email, delete them, or just answer the emails that they want.  Emails have a more casual feeling than that of letters and it is also easier to see which emails are important based on the subject or email address.  Reading one section of this chapter reminded me of how I went to college and came home with a new nickname.  With email, someone can change their identity any way they want, just as I have in college.  Another interesting fact is that in 1994, 87% of males dominated discussion groups.  Judith Lee mentions that flaming is something that can happen over email, but it never lasts long because it is not always a synchronous form of CMC.  There is also something called email redundancy, where subject line is like a publicity release, but may not have anything to do with the actual message being conveyed.  Emails can also lack substance, but there is something that email can do that letters or telephone cannot.  Simply adding an important part of the last message into the new message can show what exactly that person is responding to, so that it is not necessary to have to go back to the previous email.  The best part about email is the accepted slang words and mock-oral writing.  One example of this is: “Trying to get ahold of you but the address aint working.”  If people think that email can be often monotone and cannot show emotion, emoticons are the perfect way to counter that argument.

     Chapter 20 discusses the reasons for flaming in cyberspace.  Flaming can be defined as, “to speak rabidly or incessantly on an uninteresting topic or with a patently ridiculous attitude.”  There are many definitions in this chapter, but that is one of the earliest ones.  There are many reasons for flaming.  For one, some experience an erosion of self-control by being in a whole different “world.”  Another is the social presence theory, where social presence is no longer needed for CMC communication.  A third is the information richness theory.  A new way of addressing flaming and its weaknesses of old models is called the social influence model on technology use.  Media features and prior use of other media are two factors influencing the interpretation of flaming.  Goodwin suggested, “Flames are the friction born of minds rubbing too closely together.”

     Chapter 12 is about using multimedia simulation for communication education.  One important use for communication education is that students can go at the exact pace they want and also focus on the weaknesses.  Human factors, visual factors, auditory factors, and social factors are all reasons for why multimedia simulation is the best way for communication education.  Virtual learning experiences are way more active than traditional learning environments.  Being interactive is the best way in my opinion as students grow and their minds expand.

     Paul Levinson wrote chapter 13 called “online education unbound.”  Governments and corporate sites first used the computer as a communication tool in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  By the time I was born, in the beginning in the 1990’s, more and more people had personal computers in their home and have developed immensely since.  The process of online education works like email.  Online college courses have become extremely popular in this new era.  Geography is obviously the first advantage to this experience because not everyone is forced to be in the same geographic area to take an online course.  Time, retention, economics, teacher domination, and physical disability are all other advantages for online education as well.  With advantages, come disadvantages.  Some disadvantages include no panacea, the comfort level in writing must be high, not all subjects can be taught online, there is no campus life, and distractions like television and online social networks/websites/games.