ICS 131: Social Analysis of Computerization

Lecture 16:

Email, IM & Blogging

Announcements

• Student survey in last fifteen minutes of class.

• Papers due today, after the survey.

Key Idea

• The channel of communication has a significant impact on the content that is conveyed. By opening up new channels of communication, computational systems affect the content that is conveyed.

Communication Media

• Language spoken face-to-face

• Text written on paper

• Telephone

• Web page

• Email

• Blog

• IM

Language spoken face-to-face

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Text written on paper

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

• Subtle?

Telephone

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Text Message

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Web page

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Email

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Blog

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

MySpace page

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

IM

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Other media

• Single- or multi-channel?

• Immediate?

• Archived?

• Emotional?

• Personal?

• Subtle?

Marshall McLuhan

• "The medium is the message" because it is the "medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action." (Understanding Media, 1964, p. 9)

How do you decide which channel to choose?

• What are the important factors to students?

• What are the important factors to other groups of people?

Behaviors

• Is the choice of medium defined by the attributes of the medium, by social norms, by both, or by some other factor?

CCing and BCCing

• Derived from the practice of making a “Carbon Copy” - putting a sheet of carbon paper into a typewriter between two sheets of paper.

• Why CC someone?

• Why BCC someone?

Instant Messaging

• How often do you instant message?

• How many buddies?

Emoticons

• Benefits?

• Drawbacks?

Abbreviations

• lol

• imo, imho

• bfn

• l8r

• Others?

Permanence

• Benefits?

• Drawbacks?

NY Times

• Interns? No Bloggers Need Apply - 5/25/06, Anna Bahney

Topic for Discussion

• Today’s reading on blogs offered five motivations that cause people to blog. For each of these motivations, please describe a feature of how blogs are designed or used that helps make it possible.

• Motivations:– Document my life– Commentary– Catharsis– Muse– Community Forum

Today’s discussants are...

…come on down front!

LARSON, CHRISTOPHER THOMASMU, NANTRAN, CHARLIEWILKINSON, DAVID HIROSHIWU, KEVIN KAIANGUIANO, ALFRED ALFONSOAUSTGEN, CAMERON D.FUJITA, JUSTIN TSUTOMULA PIERRE, BLAKE M.LUZWICK, JAMES ROBERTOLIVARES, JAMES PATRICK ROBLES

Next class

• Gaming

If there’s time:Marvin Minsky

• One of the founders of Artificial Intelligence

• “Does anyone have any questions?”

• About the nature of intelligence or any other topics beyond those we’ve been discussing today.

Survey

• Suzanne Schaefer