Despite the adoption of computer mediated communication in the workplace and throughout our society, aspects of human face-to-face interaction are still a significant and important component of effective communication practice.
Computer mediated communication can be defined as communications that occur via computer-mediated formats such as instant messaging, e-mail, discussion boards and computer-based social networks (Wikipedia.org, 2009). While e-mail has been in use since the early 1990s in most major corporations, nearly eliminating the practice of formal memo writing, some corporations are turning to CMC tools like Microsoft’s Sharepoint, designed for project team collaboration, in an effort to increase productivity of teams that may include staff spread across a large geographical area. Virtual office space, Skype, Gotomeeting.com, are among a suite of tools developed to facilitate group collaboration and project sharing without the need to be located in the same place.
However, a study published in 2001, found that informal, face-to-face interactions were not only prevalent in a computer mediated communication environment, but also critical to the achievement of a team’s collaborative work. The computer was a tool for information, but informal, face-to-face discussions that involved the project were noted by researchers, who found that, “Much communication, and in particular interactions that involved computer-generated information, was handled in informal, spontaneous gatherings of workers rather than in formal meetings or by other formal methods” (Mangrum, Fairley & Wieder, 2001, p. 316). Despite the technology, the human interaction seemed to help move the project forward.
Meanwhile, many educators are advocating for the expansion of opportunities for students to utilize computer mediated communication in a learning environment. According to Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital, schools should encourage the use of social networking sites and seek opportunities for children to apply their knowledge. Tapscott addressed the issue while speaking at the World Future Society’s annual meeting, WorldFuture 2009: Innovation and Creativity in a Complex World, held in Chicago July 17-19.
“Social networking enables young people to learn in more collaborative ways and to become more engaged in tasks: They feel that working and learning are the same thing, and they get more out of it when it’s social, entertaining, and fun” (Wagner, Docksai & Cohen, 2009, p. 52).
The social aspect of learning appears important, according to researchers exploring how college students connected in a virtual environment were able to collaboratively solve a statistics problem. The researchers found that video conferencing that allowed for eye contact between the student pairs created an advantages for successful problem solving with the statistics simulation presented to the students. (Mangrum, Fairley & Wieder, 2001)
With each introduction of communication technology – from the development of an alphabet to written language to the Gutenburg press, to the telegraph to the Internet – mankind’s ability to generate new ideas has grown exponentially. That means the world of today, while dramatically different from the world of 10 years ago, is surely different from the world that school children will find upon adulthood. We think differently than our primary oral ancestors, as knowledge is stored in print and creativity and problem solving is substituted for memorization (Ong, 1982).
While we may think differently thanks to technology, the involvement with social others is key to learning and problem solving. A study of how children navigated and problem solved situations in Toon Town, a virtual on-line world, found that conversations with others was a tremendously important part of learning. “What children learn independently, they know differently when shared adult talk recasts knowledge and skills” (Hagstrom & White, 2006).
Communication theorist Neil Postman believed that the introduction of technology brings with it a Faustian trade-off. For every benefit technology can offer, it also brings with it side effects (Postman, 1998). Perhaps the fears of an over computed, socially isolated generation of children coming of age in a Blade Runner-esque world are overwrought. It appears instead that what Ong observed about knowledge in primary oral cultures remains true despite the proliferation of computers and computer mediated communication.
“Knowledge is hard to come by and precious, and society regards highly those wise old men and women who specialize in conserving it, who know and can tell the stories of the days of old” (Ong, 1982).
Information today is not hard to come by. It is available in the palm of our hands in the form of our iPhones wirelessly connected to Wikipedia. Knowledge, however, still seems to develop from interaction with others – the remnants of orality – whether mediated by computers or not.
References
Hagstrom, F., & White, M. (2006, October 1). Task and task mastery: The importance of socially shared talk during computer-based problem solving. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 20(7-8), 591-598. Retrieved from http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=23893943&site=ehost-live
Mangrum, F. G., Fairley, M. S., & Wieder, D. L. (2001, July). Informal problem solving in the technology-mediated work place. Journal of Business Communication, 38(3), 315-336. Retrieved from http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=20032345&site=ehost-live
Naidu, E. (2009, November 18). Teaching tools of the future, Job Shop. The Argus (Cape Town). Retrieved from http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1902749811&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=10553&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.
Postman, N. (1998, March 27). Five things we need to know about technological change. In The new technologies and the human person: Communicating the faith in the new millennium., Denver, Colo.
Scanlon, E., Blake, C., Joiner, R., & O’Shea, T. (2005, July). Technologically mediated complex problem-solving on a statisticcs task. Learning, Media and Technology, 30(2), 165-183. Retrieved from http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=20032345&site=ehost-live
Wagner, C. G., Docksai, R., & Cohen, A. M. (2009, December 1). Innovation and creativity in a complex world. The Futurist, 43(6), 7. Retrieved from http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1876235941&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=10553&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Wikipedia.org. (2009). Computer mediated communication. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication
