COMST 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Communication, Social Presence Theory
13 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Cues filtered out: assumption that all communication media are inferior to face-to-face in that there are missing "cues" (typically nonverbal), especially when personal identities or feelings are involved. Social presence theory: how people view one another as a result of an interaction, we can predict the level of social presence in a particular channel based on the number and types of cues available. Focus is how well a channel allows us to see others as real and "present" Media richness theory: similar to social presence theory, but focus is on the communication channel and its ability to convey information. Media range from lean to rich in terms of: Ability to communicate multiple cues: nonverbal, vocal tone. Use of natural language: slang, grammatical errors. Expected consequences of reduced cues: reduced conversation quality, greater anonymity and depersonalization, lack of social norms to guide interaction (and force us to be nice to each other)
