Computer-Mediated Communication

1. Computer-Mediated Communication Self-presentation, interpersonal perception, and signals August 2016

2. From Text to Images…Audio…Video Computer-Mediated Communication

3. Identity: “Who am I?” Identity consists of personal identity + social identity • Social identity often based on group affiliations Note the paradigm shift in conceptions of identity — Modern(Enlightenment through 20th century) • Fixed, stable, unitary Post-Modern (now) • Fluid, multiple, socially constructed • Different roles in different settings: “One wakes up as a lover, makes breakfast as a mother, and drives to work as a lawyer.”— Sherry Turkle • Different contexts make different aspects of our identity more salient: e.g., a classroom, party, church, a protest, or family dinner. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

4. Identity Theory (Sociology) Identity Theory (e.g., Stryker 1980) Individuals have “role identities”: character and the role an individual devises as an occupant of a particular social position. ‘Self’ is hierarchical ordering of identities by salience. The greater the commitment on an identity, the greater the salience of the identity. Salience of identity influences behavioral choices in a situation. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

5. When and where do you “activate” your identity? Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

6. Social Identity Theory (Psychology) CORFing!!! Social Identity Theory (e.g., Tajfel et al. 1981; Turner 1985) How group membership and “belongingness” have consequences for interpersonal and intergroup relations. As one looks for a positive sense of self, they compare their group with other groups and tend to create a favorable distinction for their own group Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

7. “Minimal Group” Paradigm Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

8. Identity and CMC selection and use Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Image courtesy of: https://irc-galleria.net/ IRC-Galleria See: Lampinen, Airi, Vilma Lehtinen and Coye Cheshire (2014). "Media Choice and Identity Work: A Case Study of Information Communication Technology Use in a Peer Community." Communication and Information Technologies Annual 2014: Doing and Being Digital: Mediated Childhoods. Shelia Cotton, Laura Robinson, Jeremy Shulz (Eds.). Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

9. Identity and the Internet • Concept of Disembodiment: identity/soul/spirit separate from physical body • CMC allows us to adopt identities independent from our bodies (and the markers they contain) • Sherry Turkle (1995): “[On the Internet] you can be whoever you want to be. You can completely redefine yourself if you want. [People] don’t look at your body and make assumptions. They don’t hear your accent and make assumptions. All they see are your words.” Image: www.economist.com Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

10. “Before, while you were sleeping, you were sleeping…you weren’t waking up to an entire other self that existed in this online space that’s being commented on.” Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

11. Self-presentation and identity • Symbolic markersexpress our identity to others —and help us make sense of it ourselves • Signals of who we are (or want to be, or want people to think we are) • Offline: clothes, hair, body modifications • Online? • Identity is socially constructed and informed by our relations with others — what they think of us, what we think of them, how we think of ourselves. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

12. A brief introduction to Symbolic Interaction “The character of interaction as it takes place between human beings.” Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) developed much of the sociological approach to Symbolic Interaction (SI) Long history of development in both philosophy and sociology • In essence: people act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them; and these meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation” Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

13. An example: George Herbert Mead’s “Looking Glass Self” • Individuals tend to act according to the view that they believe society has for them. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

14. Core Ideas of SI Human behavior is considered primarily social rather than solely as a function of individual ‘personality’. Human action must be understood as within, as well as between humans. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

15. Goffman’s approach and focus How individuals create and maintain their “social self” Dramaturgical approach: Uses theater and drama as a metaphor for how we develop and present ourselves Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

16. Frontstage and backstage Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

17. More key concepts from Goffman “Sincere” vs. “cynical” “Idealization” “Definition of the situation” “Expressions given” “Expressions given off” “Impression management” Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

18. http://media.knoxnews.com/media/img/photos/2010/08/11/090110bjheroleahy_t607.jpghttp://media.knoxnews.com/media/img/photos/2010/08/11/090110bjheroleahy_t607.jpg Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

19. What – specifically– is the “setting” in technology- mediated interaction? (And, who defines the setting)? Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

20. Expressions “given” and “given off” Goffman discusses two types of expressions: “given” vs “given off”

21. So, why exactly is SI important for CMC?

22. Signaling • Assessment signals • Handicap (costly) signals • Index signals • Conventional signals • What are some examples of signals in CMC? • On social media, online forums, on email….etc?

23. “ The online world is a wholly built environment. The architects of a virtual space — from the software designers to the site administrators — shape the community in a more profound way than do their real-world counterpart. People eat, sleep, and work in buildings; the buildings affect how happily they do these things. But the buildings do not completely control their perception of the world. In the electronic domain, the design of the environment is everything. ” — Donath