what a fascinating idea!!! what about the written vs. spoken dimension in
addition to the (perceived) individual vs. group dimension? also wonder if
there is something unique about email/computer as opposed to face to face
or phone or written (as in snail mail) ......
At 04:34 PM 9/7/99 -0500, G. Marc Turner wrote:
>I'm currently tossing around an idea for a study of aggression in computer
>mediated environments (mainly listservs, but also realtime chat
>environments, newsgroups, etc.), but have no training in this issue.
>
>There seems to be a tendency for those on listservs to take comments as
>more personal attacks on-line than if the same comment was made in a
>conversion or discussion (for example: an email sent to 10 people will
>generate more extreme responses than if the same content had been said to a
>group of 10 people face-to-face.) One of my hunches is that since the email
>appears to only one person at a time, it becomes more personal. As such, it
>carries with it a greater threat since it seems to attack the individual
>personally rather than being presented as a topic for discussion. This also
>holds for responses that are sent back to the group on the topic. As a
>consequence, what begins as a mild discussion can quickly escalate into
>personal attacks between members of the list community. A side line to this
>is that those not directly involved in the exchange, but exposed to it by
>being members of the community, will also view the messages as more direct
>attacks than they are intended. Also, I'm not sure if this is really more
>common in an on-line environment than it is in face-to-face exchanges, but
>I'm guessing that it is.
>
>I delved into this type of thing a few years ago, but haven't kept up with
>the CMC literature for some time now. As a result, the ideas are still
>fuzzy in my head at the moment, but I would welcome any suggestions on
>readings in this area or comments on the issue.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>- Marc
>
>G. Marc Turner, MEd
>Lecturer & Head of Computer Operations
>Department of Psychology
>Southwest Texas State University
>San Marcos, TX 78666
>phone: (512)245-2526
>email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or ...
