Dans cet article, nous décrivons un schéma et des modèles de représentation développés pour structurer les corpus de communication médiée par ordinateur (CMC) en suivant les recommandations de la Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). Nous considérons le discours CMC comme un échange dialogique entre humains, organisé de manière séquentielle. Nous insistons d’abord sur le fait que de nombreuses caractéristiques de la CMC ne sont pas traitées de manière adéquate par les schémas et les outils actuels d’encodage de corpus. Nous formulons donc (...) un ensemble de recommandations pour représenter la CMC avec des schémas d’encodage, en insistant sur le fait que la TEI nous semble être un cadre particulièrement approprié pour l’encodage des corpus CMC. Nous proposons une modélisation des unités de base de la CMC (énoncés, messages et actions non verbales) ainsi que des structures de niveaux macro- et micro des interactions dans les environnements de la CMC. À partir de ces modèles, nous introduisons le CMC-core, un noyau TEI pour l’encodage des corpus CMC, qui définit un ensemble de traits d’encodage spécifiques à la CMC sur quatre niveaux: (i) éléments, (ii) classes de modèles, (iii) classes d'attributs et (iv) modules de l'infrastructure TEI. La description du noyau proposé est illustrée au moyen d’exemples extraits des corpus des chercheurs du groupe SIG TEI CMC, représentant une grande variété de genres de la CMC (le chat, le wiki talk, le tweet, le blog, les interactions Second Life…). Le matériel décrit, i.e. les schémas, les exemples d’encodage et la documentation, est disponible sur le Wiki du SIG CMC TEI et accompagnera une demande d’enrichissement de la TEI (TEI feature request) au conseil de la TEI à la fin de l’année 2019. (shrink)

This article presents a study of the discourse characteristics of interaction within a virtual community. The data are from the text-based chat forum of an online community of learners and teachers of English. The forum is the meeting place for community members, and is an international site of language use with participants from a range of linguistic backgrounds. Within this context, some pertinent themes are investigated which relate to a relatively recent form of discourse, synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication. The discussion (...) centres on the interplay between the technological attributes of the medium and the linguistic, discourse and sociocultural conditions within which the participants interact. How do these elements combine to shape the discourse? This question is addressed with reference to the cohesive feature of conversational floor. Because there is a lack of coordination of turn transfer in SCMC interaction, conversational floor emerges as an organizing principle in preference to models of conversation based on turn taking. (shrink)

The regulative and semantic ‘distance’ of electronic conferencing may impede the topical alignment and the unambiguous interpretation of messages, hindering collaborative learning processes. Compared to a face-to-face environment, in electronic conferencing this distance may be caused by a reduced strength of online ‘context’. Explicitly defining the context of messages in an electronic environment may increase the writers’ co-intentionality and co-reference. An annotation tool is presented, strengthening the context by providing a document under discussion and enabling users to anchor their messages (...) in specific passages of the document. Preliminary results indicate that the tool does indeed reinforce the context, focusing the online discussion around a certain topic (increasing co-intentionality) and providing a frame of reference for single messages (increasing co-reference). (shrink)

This paper draws upon contemporary feminist philosophy in order to consider the changing meaning of privacy and its relationship to identity, both online and offline. For example, privacy is now viewed by European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as a right, which when breached can harm us by undermining our ability to maintain social relations. I briefly outline the meaning of privacy in common law and under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to show the relevance of (...) contemporary feminist thought, in particular the image of selfhood that stresses its relationality. I argue that the meaning of privacy is in the process of altering as a result of a number of contingent factors including both changes in technology, particularly computer mediated communication (CMC), and changes in the status of women. This latter point can be illustrated by the feminist critique of the traditional reluctance of the liberal state to interfere with violence and injustice within the “privacy” of the home. In asking the question: “how is the meaning of “privacy” changing?” I consider not only contemporary legal case law but also Thomas Nagel’s influential philosophical analysis of privacy. Nagel’s position is useful because of the detail with which he outlines what privacy used to mean, whilst bemoaning its passing. I agree with his view that its meaning is changing but am critical of his perspective. In particular, I challenge his claim regarding the traditional “neutrality of language” and consider it in the context of online identity. (shrink)

The causal Markov condition (CMC) plays an important role in much recent work on the problem of causal inference from statistical data. It is commonly thought that the CMC is a more problematic assumption for genuinely indeterministic systems than for deterministic ones. In this essay, I critically examine this proposition. I show how the usual motivation for the CMC—that it is true of any acyclic, deterministic causal system in which the exogenous variables are independent—can be extended to the indeterministic case. (...) In light of this result, I consider several arguments for supposing indeterminism a particularly hostile environment for the CMC, but conclude that none are persuasive. Introduction Functional models and directed graphs The causal Markov theorem The causal Markov theorem and genuine indeterminism Are the exogenous variables independent? EPR Conclusion. (shrink)

There are many reports about the digital divideand many discrepant interpretations of what thereports indicate. This pattern of competinganalyses, often in relation to identical datasets, has endured for a good part of the lastdecade. It is argued here that a major problemwith much of the digital divide research is afailure to include ethical concerns as anexplicit part of analyzing and interpretingdigital divide gaps. If researchers includemore recognition of ethics with their findingsabout divide gaps, it is likely that they willproduce better (...) research and findings as well asmore defensible linkages between study reportsand policy deliberations. (shrink)

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) raises anew traditional questions of truth and trust. Challenges to communicating with truth and trust are exacerbated by qualities of CMC which encourage users to communicate mindlessly, particularly its capacity to evoke a sense of being present to an Other, despite different locations in time or space. Rhetorical presence and dialogic presentness are used to explore the communication dynamics of CMC and delineate some of the challenges of truthful and trustworthy CMC.

Cet article définit les spécificités de communication des forums de discussion en replaçant cet environnement au sein d’un tableau de qualification reprenant les 9 principaux environnements de production de contenus numériques que sont les blogs, les forums, les réseaux sociaux, les espaces de commentaires, les sms, les messageries instantanées, les chats, les courriers électroniques et les wikis. Ces environnements sont abordés sur base de 4 critères : le but de la communication, les acteurs, l’(a)synchronie et le pseudonymat. Si l’analyse se (...) centre ici sur les forums, le tableau de qualification peut quant à lui servir de base théorique pour de futures analyses conversationnelles et comparatives des contenus numériques et des nouvelles possibilités d’interaction nées du Web 2.0. (shrink)

The prelims comprise: Introduction: CMC and Philosophy Some Definitions Philosophical Perspectives: Worldview Interdisciplinary Dialogue and Future Directions in Philosophy.

A growing body of research explores emoji, which are visual symbols in computer mediated communication (CMC). In the 20 years since the first set of emoji was released, research on it has been on the increase, albeit in a variety of directions. We reviewed the extant body of research on emoji and noted the development, usage, function and application of emoji. In this review article, we provide a systematic review of the extant body of work on emoji, reviewing how they (...) have developed, how they are used differently, what functions they have and what research has been conducted on them in different domains. Furthermore, we summarize directions for future research on this topic. (shrink)

In this paper we show that the application of Occam’s razor to the theory of causal Bayes nets gives us a neat definition of direct causation. In particular we show that Occam’s razor implies Woodward’s (2003) definition of direct causation, provided suitable intervention variables exist and the causal Markov condition (CMC) is satisfied. We also show how Occam’s razor can account for direct causal relationships Woodward style when only stochastic intervention variables are available.

Emojis and stickers are becoming increasingly popular in computer mediated communications. The present study examined the associations between personality traits and people’s reasons and patterns for using both emojis and stickers. Participants (n= 312) completed three on-line questionnaires assessing shyness, the Big Five personality traits and why and how they used emojis and stickers. Results revealed that shyness, neuroticism, extraversion and agreeableness were correlated with different reasons of usage. Moreover, some participants exhibited a tendency to adjust frequency of usage depending (...) on who the target person was and whether they were in a private or group chat. People who showed such tendencies were found to differ in personality with those who did not. Some differences in usage patterns were also observed between emojis and stickers. Together, the present study sheds more insights into how emojis and stickers can help people with different personality traits to achieve different purposes in their daily communication. (shrink)

Le présent article se propose de revenir sur le projet national CoMeRe (Communication Médiée par les Réseaux) en insistant sur la complexité du corpus développé. Constitué de quatorze sous-corpus variés, le corpus CoMeRe est un corpus de référence de la communication médiée par les réseaux en français. Quatorze enseignants-chercheurs de huit laboratoires différents se sont impliqués dans le projet et ont été guidés par trois mots clés lors de leurs collaborations : variété, standards et accès ouvert.Le corpus CoMeRe a ainsi (...) été construit sur une hypothèse de variété et contient une gamme étendue d’interactions de la CMR dont nous restituons les différences et les caractéristiques principales (courriels, clavardage, SMS, forums de discussion Internet, blogs, tweets, discussions Wikipédia, interactions provenant de mondes synthétiques). Nous détaillons ensuite comme le corpus CoMeRe a été rendu interopérable : les quatorze sous-corpus ont été standardisés, suivant le modèle de l’espace d’interaction élaboré lors du projet (Chanier & Jin, 2013) d’une part et suivant les propositions de représentation standardisée des corpus de la CMR en TEI (Text Encoding Initiative, 2019) élaborées en lien avec les partenaires européens. Enfin, les collègues tenaient à diffuser le corpus en accès ouvert pour permettre son utilisation par la communauté scientifique. Nous revenons sur les retombées du projet liées à la diffusion du corpus dans la conclusion de notre article. (shrink)

It is still a matter of controversy whether the Principle of the Common Cause (PCC) can be used as a basis for sound causal inference. It is thus to be expected that its application to quantum mechanics should be a correspondingly controversial issue. Indeed the early 90’s saw a flurry of papers addressing just this issue in connection with the EPR correlations. Yet, that debate does not seem to have caught up with the most recent literature on causal inference generally, (...) which has moved on to consider the virtues of a generalised PCC-inspired condition, the so-called Causal Markov Condition (CMC). In this paper we argue that the CMC is an appropriate benchmark for debating possible causal explanations of the EPR correlations. But we go on to take issue with some pronouncements on EPR by defenders of the CMC. (shrink)

If the rhetorical and economic investment of educators, policy makers and the popular press in the United States is any indication, then unbridled enthusiasm for the introduction of computer mediated communication (CMC) into the educational process is wide-spread. In large part this enthusiasm is rooted in the hope that through the use of Internet-based CMC we may create an expanded community of learners and educators not principally bounded by physical geography. The purpose of this paper is to reflect critically upon (...) whether students and teachers are truly linked together as a``community'' through the use of Internet-based CMC. The paper uses the writings of Kierkegaard, and Hubert Dreyfus's exploration of Kierkegaardian ideas, to look more closely at the prospects and problems embedded in the use of Internet-based CMC to create "distributed communities" of teachers and learners. It is argued that from Kierkegaard's perspective, technologically mediated communications run a serious risk of attenuating interpersonal connectivity. Insofar as interpersonal connectivity is an integral component of education, such attenuation bodes ill for some, and perhaps many instances of Internet-based CMC. (shrink)

Woodward present an argument for the Causal Markov Condition (CMC) on the basis of a principle they dub ‘modularity’ ([1999, 2004]). I show that the conclusion of their argument is not in fact the CMC but a substantially weaker proposition. In addition, I show that their argument is invalid and trace this invalidity to two features of modularity, namely, that it is stated in terms of pairwise independence and ‘arrow-breaking’ interventions. Hausman & Woodward's argument can be rendered valid through a (...) reformulation of modularity, but it is doubtful that the argument so revised provides any substantially new insight regarding the basis of the CMC. Introduction The CMC versus Hausman & Woodward's conclusion Hausman & Woodward's argument Modularity and independent error terms Conclusion Appendix: D-separation. (shrink)

I argue that the Causal Markov Condition (CMC) is in principle applicable to the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) correlations. This is in line with my defence in the past of the applicability of the Principle of Common Cause to quantum mechanics. I first review a contrary claim by Dan Hausman and Jim Woodward, who endeavour to preserve the CMC against a possible counterexample by asserting that the conditions for the application of the CMC are not met in the EPR experiment. In their (...) view the CMC is inapplicable to the EPR correlations—i.e. it neither obtains nor fails. The view is grounded upon the non-separability of the quantum state, and the consequent unavailability of interventions. I urge that whether interventions are available in EPR—and why—is a complex and contextual question that does not have a unique or uniform answer. Instead, I argue that different combinations of causal hypotheses under test and interpretations of quantum mechanics yield different answers to the question. (shrink)

In this paper, I first outline a model of Computer-Meditated Interaction (CMI) to distinguish between (1) CMI HCI-transparent (HCI = human-computer interaction) and (2) CMI HCI-dependent. Some main features of (1) are then analysed (data-radiation, data-tracking, internalisation of problem solving), while (2) is further divided into (2.1) CMI-HCI stand-alone and (2.2) CMI-HCI on-line. Some advantages and limits of (2.1) are suggested, together with an overview of the present and future strategies leading the production of new applications in the field. The (...) analysis of (2.2) provides a last distinction between communication-oriented and elaboration-oriented CMI-HCI on-line (i.e. CMC and NIA). A description of these two forms of CMI is then sketched, together with an interpretation of the new strategic view which should lead the projection of applications in the field, a possible agenda and a forecast of the chief effects of some present trends. (shrink)

Within the research field of computer-mediated communication, extensive attention has been paid to the differences between CMC and spoken conversation, particularly in terms of sequential structure. In this study, the aim is to analyse how participants maintain continuity and handle discontinuities in institutionally arranged, computer-mediated communication. The empirical material consists of chat log files from in-service training courses for professionals in the food production industry. In the chat sessions we analysed, participants initially had some problems in co-ordinating their postings, that (...) is, keeping track of the discussion’s threading.We also found, however, that methods for co-ordinating postings rather quickly were established among the participants. Two methods for making recognizable how postings were to be read were common in the material: 1) the use of personal names to address a specific participant, and 2) recycling part of the content of a previous posting or reformulating the content in the posting addressed in recognizable ways. We also found an emerging norm in their interaction: that of waiting for one’s turn. (shrink)

In response to the attractive moral and politicalmodel of cosmopolitanism, this paper offers anoverview of some of the conceptual limitations to thatmodel arising from computer-mediated, interest-basedsocial interaction. I discuss James Bohman''sdefinition of the global and cosmopolitan spheres andhow computer-mediated communication might impact thedevelopment of those spheres. Additionally, I questionthe commitment to purely rational models of socialcooperation when theorizing a computer-mediated globalpublic sphere, exploring recent alternatives. Andfinally, I discuss a few of the political andepistemic constraints on participation in thecomputer-mediated public sphere (...) that threaten thecosmopolitan ideal.``Nature should be thanked for fostering socialincompatibility, enviously competitive vanity, andinsatiable desires for possessions and even power.Without these desires, all man''s excellent naturalcapacities would never be roused to develop.'''' Theultimate destiny for mankind, according to Kant whowrote these words in 1784, is to achieve through theuse of reason a `cosmopolitan existence'' or ``thematrix within which all the original capacities of thehuman race may develop.'''' Ironically, however, as Habermas andothers have realized, Kant''s carefully developedvision for `perpetual peace'' among nations and `worldcitizenship'' is now murky even as the electronicallymediated infrastructure of that matrix is rapidlydeveloping. Globalization as a process has intensifiedto the point where a new social, political, andeconomic condition has taken hold in the global arena.Recently this condition has been termed ``globality'''' –a term denoting a networked world characterized byspeed, mobility, risk, insecurity, andflexibility. And a debate is forming around thequestion of whether we are still in late modernity andexperiencing the culmination of modernity''s inherentlyglobalizing tendency or instead we have entered thenetworked age, in which the tension between collectiveand transformative identities and the networking logicof dominant institutions and organizations heralds theend of civil society. Inthis paper assume the latter but wish to explorefurther the political and epistemic constraints onparticipation in the computer-mediated public sphere.These constraints seem certain to impact the viabilityof a cosmopolitan public sphere. In the first sectionI shall discuss James Bohman''s definition of theglobal and cosmopolitan spheres and howcomputer-mediated communication (hereafter CMC) mightimpact the development of those spheres. In the secondsection, I question the commitment to purely rationalmodels of social cooperation when theorizing a globalpublic sphere. I explore recently proposed alternativeways of thinking about this issue in section three.And finally, I discuss a few of the political andepistemic constraints on participation in thecomputer-mediated public sphere that threaten thecosmopolitan ideal. (shrink)

Although coherence has been widely studied in computer-mediated communication, insufficient attention has been paid to emergent multimodal forms. This study analyzes a popular commentary system on Chinese and Japanese video-sharing sites – known as danmu or danmaku – where anonymous comments are superimposed on and scroll across the video frame. Through content and multimodal discourse analysis, we unpack danmu-mediated communication analyzing the newest interface, the comments, the interpersonal interactions and the unusual use of the second-person pronoun. Results show that despite (...) the technological constraints, users construct order in interactions through repetition, danmu-specific expressions and multimodal references, while using playful language to make fun. This study provides an up-to-date analysis on an increasingly popular CMC medium beyond well-studied social networking sites, and broadens the understanding of coherence in contemporary CMC. (shrink)

Does a Postal Principle, a principle of destinerrance, hold true for computer mediated communication (CMC)? Perhaps. However, the question is not one concerning technology. Is it rather the case that we must ask, after Derrida, after all, whether destinerrance ever held true, as a principle? This paper considers the prospect that the Postal Principle was, in principle, or as a principle, an expression of a truth value from something that can not in fact, be held at all: the ghost in (...) the machine. Drawing on a phenomenology of computer practice, the paper argues that there is greater explanatory value to be found in Derrida's more recent comments on the relative exteriority of the technological apparatus (in Archive Fever and elsewhere), framing an understanding of the human body as partes extra partes. Yet it is demonstrated here that this same framing was already in place from the moment that the principle of destinerrance was first articulated, and that a subsequent technical turn in Derrida's work merely extends a framework already set in place in the earlier work (in The Post Card, for example). It is argued, then, that in articulating a Postal Principle for the purpose of guaranteeing its failure, Derrida had calculated the future trajectory – and had built the logic of the calculation and of the ‘jet’ words, as he calls them, into this trajectory – of what I call the ‘fantasy of the disembodied virtualm’ through which users of CMC project themselves into the archive of archives that the internet was bound to become. (shrink)

This paper explores the concept of anticipation of future interaction (AFI) in Computer?Mediated Communication (CMC) with conflict management. Specifically, the tenet of the current paper is to determine whether CMC is suitable for conflict management. This central question was address drawing on anticipation of future interaction. Along this line, the issue of task, identity, self?presentations are discussed relative to the role of anticipation of future interaction in CMC encounters. Specific propositions are presented. The discussion addresses implications for group conflict management (...) process in general while paying attention to the key stages of conflict management. (shrink)

The Principle of Common Cause (PCC) puts forward the idea that events which occur simultaneously and are correlated have a prior common cause which screens off the correlation. I endorse the view that the PCC does qualify as a principle that can be used as a tool in explaining improbable coincidences. However, though there are epistemological advantages in common cause explanations of correlated events, the PCC is not impeccable. This paper offers a preliminary assessment of the PCC advocated by Reichenbach, (...) and then attempts to illustrate three scenarios in which the principle might be inadequate in explaining correlated events. The paper also compares the Common Cause Principle and the Causal Markov Condition (CMC), and examines the advantages of CMC over the Common Cause Principle. (shrink)

The aim of Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE), as Ess aptly puts, is to “(a) address both local and global issues evoked by ICTs / CMC, etc., (b) in a ways that both sustain local traditions / values / preference, etc. and (c) provide shared, (quasi-) universal responses to central ethical problems” (Ess 2007a, 102). This formulation of the aim of IIE, however, is not unambiguous. In this paper, I will discuss two different understandings of the aim of IIE, one of (...) which advocates “shared norms, different interpretations” and another proposes “shared norms, different justifications”. I shall argue that the first understanding is untenable, and the second understanding is acceptable only with qualification. Finally, I shall briefly suggest an alternative way to understand the aim of IIE. (shrink)

We investigate whether smile mimicry and emotional contagion are evident in non-text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC). Via an ostensibly real-time audio-visual CMC platform, participants interacted with a confederate who either smiled radiantly or displayed a neutral expression throughout the interaction. Automatic analyses of expressions displayed by participants indicated that smile mimicry was at play: A higher level of activation of the facial muscle that characterises genuine smiles was observed among participants who interacted with the smiling confederate than among participants who interacted (...) with the unexpressive confederate. However, there was no difference in the self-reported level of joviality between participants in the two conditions. Our findings demonstrate that people mimic smiles in audio-visual CMC, but that even though the diffusion of emotions has been documented in text-based CMC in previous studies, we find no convincing support for the phenomenon of emotional contagion in non-text-based CMC. (shrink)

Purpose This paper aims to survey the moral psychology of emoji, time-restricted messaging and other non-verbal elements of nominally textual computer-mediated communication. These features are increasingly common in interpersonal communication. Effects on both individual well-being and quality of intimate relationships are assessed. Results of this assessment are used to support ethical conclusions about these elements of digital communication. Design/methodology/approach Assessment of these non-verbal elements of CMC is framed in light of relevant literature from a variety of fields, including neuroscience, behavioral (...) economics and social psychology. The resulting ethical analysis is informed by both Aristotelian and Buddhist virtue ethics. Findings This paper finds that emoji and other nonverbal elements of CMC have positive potential for individual well-being and interpersonal communication. They can be used to focus and direct attention, express and acknowledge difficult emotions and increase altruistic tendencies. Research limitations/implications This paper is conceptual, extrapolating from existing literature to investigate possibilities rather than reporting on novel experiments. It is not intended to substitute for empirical research on use patterns and their effects. But by identifying positive potential, it can help both users and designers to support individual and relational well-being. Practical implications The positive effects identified here can be incorporated into both design and use strategies for CMC. Social implications Situating ethical analysis of these trending technologies within literature from the social sciences on the effects of stylized faces, disappearing messages and directed attention can help us both understand their appeal to users and best practices for using them to enrich our social lives. Originality/value The paper uses empirically informed moral psychology to understand a deceptively trivial-looking phenomenon with wide-ranging impacts on human psychology and relationships. (shrink)

The most serious candidates for common causes that fail to screen off and thus violate the causal Markov condition refer to quantum phenomena. In her seminal debate with Hausman and Woodward, Cartwright early on focussed on unfortunate non-quantum examples. Especially, Hausman and Woodward’s redescriptions of quantum cases saving the CMC remain unchallenged. This paper takes up this lose end of the discussion and aims to resolve the debate in favour of Cartwright’s position. It systematically considers redescriptions of ICC structures, including (...) those by Hausman and Woodward, and explains why these are inappropriate, when quantum mechanics is true. It first shows that all cases of purported quantum ICCs are cases of entanglement and then, using the tools of causal modelling, it provides an analysis of the quantum mechanical formalism for the case that the collapse of entangled systems is best described as a causal model with an ICC. (shrink)

In this article, we used the capability approach as normative grounding to analyse a particular faith-based intervention targeting ‘youth at the margins’ – in this instance, marginalised migrant youths from Zimbabwe living in Johannesburg, South Africa. We used Albert Street School (AS School), run by Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church, as our case study to show how this faith-based organisation, through its focus on education, created not only spaces for marginalised youths to aspire towards a better life but also practical opportunities (...) to convert their aspirations into action. Drawing on first-hand accounts of 12 Zimbabwean migrant youths who had completed schooling at AS School, as well as of representatives of both the school and the CMC, the article first sketches the Zimbabwe-South Africa migration context post 2000. A discussion then follows of AS School as a faith-based intervention which addresses the constrained capability for education amongst marginalised migrant youths. (shrink)

Inhalt: Alexander BÖHLIG: Vorwort. Der Manichäismus und das Christentum. Bemerkungen zur Metaphysik in Gnosis und Philosophie. Die Bedeutung des CMC für den Manichäismus. Mani und Platon - ein Vergleich. Wolfgang FAUTH: Manis anderes Ich. Gestalthafte Metaphysik im Kölner Mani-Kodex. Syzygos und Eikon. Edgar FRÜCHTEL: Platonismus und Christentum. Einige Bemerkungen zu Zeit und Zeitlichkeit in der Platonica Theologia des Marsilius Ficinus. Einige Bemerkungen zum Bild des Seelenwagenlenkers. Carl-A. KELLER: Gnostik, Urform christlicher Mystik. Christoph MARKSCHIES: Die Krise einer philosophischen Theologie.

This study employed a scenario-based approach whereby participants were asked to choose which communication channel they prefer in certain situations. The first aim was to determine the effect of the topic of interactions and social ties on channel choice. The second aim was to examine the underlying mechanisms in the relation between interaction topic and social ties and channel choice. A questionnaire was administered among 238 participants, who were presented five communication scenarios with topics of low and high intimacy and (...) four social ties, ranging from weak to strong. Results revealed that preference for face-to-face communication was highest, followed by audio-only computer-mediated communication and text-based CMC. Preference for FtF communication was higher when people valued feeling co-present and decreased when people valued feeling anonymous. Our results showed that communication channel choice is strategic and the choice for FtF ommunication, audio-only and text-based CMC largely depends on controllability, anonymity and co-presence. (shrink)

The paper takes a Critical Discourse Analysis angle and joins Social Media Studies and Religious Studies perspectives of Computer Mediated Communication material to examine such strategies of online interpersonal communication as may foster civic solidarity on social networks sites over local incidents with national and international media coverage. Computer mediated discourse is often underpinned by ideological antagonism especially when tackling social, political, cultural and even religious issues. Our topic choice was occasioned by an infelicitous episode – a fire in a (...) local venue hosting a rock concert that resulted in a high number of casualties and fatalities. The tragic episode triggered some polarized and highly opinionated positioning in the social media, both independent of and/or in retaliation to media sourced accounts and personal posts. We analyzed qualitatively authentic CMC material as well as edited media inputs in order to establish if and how the networked, yet generationally diverse, public achieve symbolic solidarity through reactive and correlated digi-participation where sociocultural identities become tangent to such ecclesiastic issues as became salient and were up-cycled in the local political conjecture. (shrink)

This article uses the theoretical construct of Social Representations to investigate how Community Multimedia Centers – venues that offer public access to Information and Communication Technologies to underserved communities – are perceived by communities in Mozambique, and it discusses how the local population understands these venues as means to foster community empowerment and socio-economic development. In total, 113 participants took part in the study, from six CMCs in different towns of Mozambique. Participants were represented from three different social groups, according (...) to their use of the CMC: staff members, users of both CMC components – telecenter and radio – and radio-only users. The article analyses the Social Representations’ structure, using a Prototypical approach. Findings show that CMCs are seen by local communities as places at which they can receive and exchange information, and also as learning spaces, with the telecenter part focused on the delivery of ICT training and the radio component engaging with educational activities and services in a broader sense. Furthermore, CMCs are perceived as places dedicated almost exclusively to children and young people. The results of this study can help policy makers, practitioners, funding agencies and other relevant stakeholders to improve Mozambican CMCs and leverage their community empowerment potential. (shrink)

It is still a matter of controversy whether the Principle of the Common Cause can be used as a basis for sound causal inference. It is thus to be expected that its application to quantum mechanics should be a correspondingly controversial issue. Indeed the early 90’s saw a flurry of papers addressing just this issue in connection with the EPR correlations. Yet, that debate does not seem to have caught up with the most recent literature on causal inference generally, which (...) has moved on to consider the virtues of a generalised PCC inspired condition, the so called Causal Markov Condition. In this paper we argue that the CMC is an appropriate benchmark for debating possible causal explanations of the EPR correlations. But we go on to take issue with some pronouncements on EPR by defenders of the CMC. (shrink)

This article examines how weblog authors present their online gender identity, in order to establish how these modes of presentation fit into the research landscape about gender identity and computer-mediated communication. After a preliminary descriptive analysis of a sample of Dutch and Flemish weblogs, the authors conduct a qualitative content analysis of four of these `blogs'. They conclude that these weblog writers present their gender identity through narratives of `everyday life' that remain closely related to the binary gender system. However, (...) their performance of `masculinity' and `femininity' is more diffuse and heterogeneous than some theories in the field of gender and CMC would assume. In addition, the act of diary writing on weblogs can be understood as challenging the masculine connotation of the weblog as an ICT, demonstrating that the use of a technology is pivotal in shaping the ways in which technologies themselves are conceived of as `masculine' or `feminine'. (shrink)

I expand the metaphor of computing as philosophical laboratory by exploring philosophical insights gleaned from examining computer‐mediated communication (CMC) technologies in terms of the cultural values and communicative preferences they embed, as well as their interactions with the values and preferences that define diverse cultures in which the technologies are deployed. These empirically grounded data provide new insights for debates in philosophy of technology, notions of the self, and epistemology. This approach to utilizing data drawn from the cultural encounters facilitated (...) by CMC technologies further suggests more ambitious ways of making philosophical use of CMC venues as a laboratory for testing and refining basic claims and hypotheses. The approach also uncovers other grounds that should encourage philosophers to become interdisciplinarians – not only for the sake of perhaps developing new sorts of insights and even forms of knowledge but also in order to shape and contribute to a global ethic and a Socratic education needed to sustain cultural diversity as CMC envelops the globe. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore some of the influences that computer‐mediated communication has and could have on the maintenance of interpersonal relationships. In doing this, ethical dilemmas and implications that arise from the technical affordances offered to CMC participants are discussed. Relational maintenance is integral to people's everyday lives. Yet, the ethical issues involve in using CMC to support this have not been explicitly explored.Design/methodology/approachThe concept of relational maintenance will be explored independently and as it relates to (...) CMC and ethics. This paper will examine current literature and briefly discuss a pilot study relevant to these areas. The pilot study consisted of a survey distributed to undergraduate students in non‐platonic long distance and short distance relationships.FindingsThe exploration of prior literature and the findings of a pilot study support the notion that, with the increase of CMC use to maintain relationships follows the potential increase of unethical behavior in this medium. A number of ethical questions have risen that can be used to inform and direct future research.Originality/valueThis paper is original as it explores the concept of ethics from a relational maintenance perspective through electronic communication. It adds value by integrating these three areas and enhancing the understanding of this integration, while providing information of both theoretical and practical relevance. (shrink)

In their daily use of social media, most people cannot maintain consistency in every message they present, leading observers to experience a feeling of inconsistency. Building on computer-mediated interpersonal theories [i.e., attribution theory, warranting theory, and authenticity model of computer-mediated communication ], this study aims to explore how people interpret and reconcile perceived inconsistent expressions on social media. Through thematic analysis of data obtained from six focus groups, two main themes were extracted: the origin of perceived inconsistency on social media (...) and the strategies for reconciling perceived inconsistency. Specifically, three forms of perceived inconsistent information were identified: those within the same account; those between public and private accounts; and those between online and offline settings. Additionally, three types of reconciliation strategies were distilled from participants’ narratives: relying on authentic representation; engaging in perspective-taking to compensate for situational factors; and inferring inner motives behind acting inconsistently. With these two themes, this study proposes a two-stage model of processing inconsistency in CMC. This model suggests that several factors–including perceived authenticity, social categorical cues, and relationship or familiarity between observers and a presenter–are involved in perceiving inconsistent information and determine the outcomes of interpersonal evaluations. These findings enhance our understanding of online interpersonal perceptions. (shrink)

Cet article synthétise les acquis et développements issus de projets de recherche menés depuis 2013 à propos de l’analyse d’un type particulier de données CMC (Computer-mediated communication) : les tweets politiques. Après une caractérisation de ce genre de discours, et des problématiques soulevées, l’article développe les enjeux de l’exploration des corpus de ce genre ; l’appréhension et la constitution de ces données sociales en corpus ; la production de résultats scientifiques, et la mise en place de différents types d’exploration de (...) corpus. Les méthodes de constitution de corpus, la standardisation et la mise au format TEI, l’utilisation d’outils d’analyse des données textuelles, et le développement de plateformes, sont ainsi présentés, comme différents points d’une même recherche qui vise à caractériser et comprendre une pratique sociale avec une méthode scientifique et une portée citoyenne. L’exploration de corpus peut ainsi passer par des nouvelles productions de ressources, outils, interfaces, dont l’interactivité, l’hypertextualité, et l’ouverture, garantissent la validité des corpus, et la possibilité d’y accéder de manière contextuelle, et outillée. (shrink)

I approach the philosophical analyses of the phenomenon of trust vis-à-vis online communication beginning with an overview from within the framework of computer-mediated communication (CMC) of concerns and paradigmatic failures of trust in the history of online communication. I turn to the more directly philosophical analyses of trust online by first offering an introductory taxonomy of diverse accounts of trust that have emerged over the past decade or so. In the face of important objections to the possibility of establishing and (...) fostering trust in online environments—objections that emerge especially from the perspective of virtue ethics and phenomenological approaches to how we know and navigate the world as _embodied_ beings—I then take up three major arguments in recent work in favor of the possibilities of trust online, followed by three _vicious circles_ that run counter to more optimistic views. I close with a summary of some additional reasons for optimism regarding trust online, followed by a final question that emerges out of recent CMC research on social networking sites that poses, I argue, fundamental challenges indeed to how we understand and may foster and experience trust online. (shrink)

The text develops reflections about the appropriation of the Internet by common people, distinguishing the pragmatic possibilities of the language in the organization of social nets and in the speakers’ congregation. Two empiric cases are emphasized to discuss the aesthetic and ethical dimensions in the interactions, as well as to point communicative competences requested to the persons.