Search results for "Computer-Mediated Communication"

A Linguistic Analysis of the Online Debate on Vaccines and Use of Fora as Information Stations and Confirmation Niche

2017

This study looks at the communication between users concerning health risks, with the aim of exploring their use of fora and assessing whether participants establish a niche with like-minded users during these exchanges. By integrating a corpus linguistic approach with content analysis and multiple studies on computer mediated health discourse, this study analyses the intense attention paid to the correlation between the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism, as an example of elaboration of the message and risk of emotive amplification, with fora working as echo chambers. Results include: a) a qualitative analysis of the content of posts and their qualification, b) a focus on the t…

Argumentation in Secondary School Students' Structured and Unstructured Chat Discussions

2012

Joint construction of new knowledge demands that persons can express their statements in a convincing way and explore other people's arguments constructively. For this reason, more knowledge on different means to support collaborative argumentation is needed. This study clarifies whether structured interaction supports students' critical and elaborative argumentation. The study compares the quality of secondary school students' argumentation during structured and unstructured chat interaction. The data consist of 16 dyadic chat discussions: 8 discussions concerned vivisection and 8 gender equality. Half of the discussions were carried out through structured chat, and the other half through…

Using Slack for computer-mediated communication to support higher education students’ peer interactions during Master’s thesis seminar

2018

Our study contributes to the research on computer-mediated communication in higher education by experimenting a modern communication tool called Slack. In particular, we consider using Slack to support students’ peer interactions during Master’s thesis work. For this purpose, we designed a case study that was executed in a Master’s thesis seminar course. During the course, all out-of-class communication was carried out by using Slack, instead of e-mails or learning management systems. After the course, we used a questionnaire to investigate how the students perceived Slack for asking for assistance, their intention to use Slack, and Slack’s ease of use. Furthermore, the questionnaire asked …

From Multiple Perspectives to Shared Understanding: A small group in an online learning environment

2008

The aim of this study was to explore how learners operating in a small group reach shared understanding as they work out joint research questions and build a theoretical framework and to identify the resources and tools they used in the process. The learners' own interpretations of their group activities and learning were also taken into account. The data, consisting of group discussions and the documents produced by the group, were subjected to a qualitative content analysis. The group members employed a variety of resources and tools to exchange their individual perspectives and achieve shared understanding. Summaries of relevant literature laid a foundation for the group's theoretical di…

Loafing in the digital age: The role of computer mediated communication in the relation between perceived loafing and group affective outcomes

2014

Virtual work has become an increasingly central practice for the organization of the 21st century. While effective virtual workgroups can create synergies that boost innovation and performance, ineffective workgroups become a great burden for organizations. Empirical research has shown that some negative behaviors, such as social loafing, negatively influence a group's affective outcomes, in both collocated (face-to-face) and virtual workgroups. In this study, we explore if working through low fidelity computer mediated communication (CMC) increases the negative impact of perceived loafing over cohesion and work satisfaction. On this rationale, we conducted a laboratory study with 44 groups…

Computer Mediated Communication and Collaboration in a Virtual Learning Environment Based on a Multi-agent System with Wasp-Like Behavior

2008

In this paper is presented a model for an adaptive multi-agent system for dynamic routing of the grants' activities from a learning environment, based on the adaptive wasp colonies behavior. The agents use wasp task allocation behavior, combined with a model of wasp dominance hierarchy formation. The model we introduced allows the assignment of activities in a grant, taking into account the specialization of students, their experience and the complexity of activities already taken. An adaptive method allows students to enter in the Grant system for the first time. The system is changing dynamic, because both the type of activities and the students involved in the system change. Our approach…

The first cyber summit - Clinton-Yeltsin Helsinki Summit 1997 : providing content for short time news events using Internet technologies

1997

Communication à caractère émotionnel dans l'espace virtuel : questions quantitatives sur un corpus tchaté

2015

The enormous development of new communicative technologies, among which electronic communication plays a prominent role, is one of the main characteristics of life today. Nowadays, computer-mediated communication has become so common and easy that it is no longer possible for us to ignore it. Although the communication in chat rooms is never produced face-to-face, it could preserve some of the characteristics of real communication. This type of communication, in the absence of sense contact and para-verbal features, adds another scale of features to the "spoken" theme that are largely able to replicate spontaneous oral communication. It is advisable to make it clear that these features may …

A cross-cultural investigation of email communication in Peninsular Spanish and British English. The role of (in)formality and (in)directness

2013

This paper examines the email discursive practices of particular speakers of two different languages, namely Peninsular Spanish and British English. More specifically, our study focuses on (in)formality and (in)directness therein, for these lie at the heart of considerable scholarly debate regarding, respectively (i) the general stylistic drift towards orality and informality in technology-mediated communication, and (ii) the degree of communicative (in)directness – within broader politeness orientations – of speakers of different languages, specifically an orientation towards directness in Peninsular Spanish vis-à-vis indirectness in British English. The aim of this paper is thus to invest…

Openings and closings in Spanish email conversations

2011

Abstract Despite the increasing interest scholarly research has shown in the study of computer-mediated communication, there is still a need to investigate the empirical validity of assumed homogeneity of language usage over the net and focus on the social diversity and variation that characterizes any communication. With this in mind, the present paper is an investigation into the stylistic choices that a particular group of email users made when engaged in a specific activity type. More specifically, it explores the variation in the discourse practices employed to open and close emails in conversation alongside the institutional power of participants and the interactional position of each…