The Electronic Environment's Impact on Communication

The electronic environment alters communication. It changes the socioemotional aspects of communication, the content of messages that are sent, and the dynamics of the interactions that occur. My experiences as an online ethnographer researching communication and group dynamics on the Cinema-L discussion list suggest the following conclusions and implications regarding those changes. We must be cognizant of these implications as we increasingly rely on computer-mediated communication for professional, educational, political, and commercial uses.

Changes in Communication Style and Content

Electronic communication is written verbal communication that lacks the nonverbal aspects of face-to-face conversation. Readers of an individual message, the basic unit of online communication via a LISTSERV, derive information about the sender from message content and the sender's style of expression. Electronic messages, generally informal in nature, are often speedily composed and sent. When the network is running efficiently, readers' replies can be received almost instantly. These features contribute to the perceived similarities between e-mail and spoken language.

Daily conversation on the discussion list consists of a series of fandom positionings among users, in that often--in addition to exchanging information--contributors share opinions, aligning themselves for or against aspects of primarily mainstream cinematic offerings. List conventions, such as "SPOILER" warnings, running in-jokes, and online abbreviations (BTW, F2F, OCC) create almost a code of stylistic expression, a common participant language that can differentiate insiders from outsiders, helping to define the parameters of list community.

The list's purpose is both predefined and emergent: while its stated purpose is "the discussion of all forms of cinema," other purposes that emerge during the dialogue are to provide a forum for discussion of current events and to maintain a community of social relationships. Off-topic forays are often legitimated for discussion by framing them in the guise of cinematic conventions.

List talk spills beyond the boundaries of the list into participants' everyday lives. Many members reported sharing Cinema-L messages with non-subscribers. Almost all interviewees said they had participated in conversations with other members off-list. This piece of information suggests that the "public" list discourse may be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to analysis of list-related communication.

Questionnaires and interviews with list participants revealed many commonalities among subscribers, including a high level of education, a passionate engagement with cinema, a working knowledge of computers, relative youthfulness, and a high likelihood of participation in additional online discussion groups. The attraction of the list for these participants went beyond the stated topic of cinema: the social interactions, the ready humor, an international subscribership, and the novel environment were all sources of enjoyment.

Many users reported accessing Cinema-L through Internet connections located in their worksites; several of them were employed in professions where they spent a large portion of their day sitting in front of a computer. It is possible that some list members are coopting the technology as a site of resistance--turning to online "schmoozing" to fill social needs that may be unmet within their work environment. For others, the list provides a welcome outlet for post-cinema-viewing conversation and analysis--perhaps an attempt to restore to movie watching social elements that may be too often absent in the age of the home VCR.

Other members' appearance, while not an immediate aspect of online communication, is a source of great interest and speculation among users. What is not explicit is often inferred: in the absence of "real" information about others, it is easy to construct a "mind's-eye" picture of them by fetishizing their name, word usage patterns, or self-disclosed details such as their profession or preferred activities. The fact that we manufacture such details in their absence indicates the perceived importance of establishing physical presence in order to "know" who others "really" are. Bringing such physical baggage to the virtual frontier may be one way of attempting to tame it: it may raise some users' comfort level to impose upon the environment the aspects of conventional face-to-face communication with which we are already familiar.

However, communication online, in spite of our attempts to frame it in terms of face-to-face communication, begins at a different level than face-to-face discussion. With the physical element lacking, relationships begin at the level of words, ideas, and emotion rather than physical attraction. One could argue that online relationships in which participants have never met face-to-face progress more quickly to strong emotion, both attraction and aggression, because of this dynamic. Two list-generated relationships thus far have resulted in marriages.

Elements of Aggression: The "Flaming" Phenomenon

Several survey respondents noted with concern that in what seems like too many cases online disagreements turn into flamefests. Indeed, Internet flaming has become institutionalized, and various users have developed their own standard "flame forms" exactly for that purpose. Flame wars can be caused by differences in content, or by stylistic or ideological differences among users. On a list that is composed of people who feel strongly about any given topic, it is likely that eventually there will be passionate differences of opinion. Fandom communities often define themselves around issues of taste; violation of what is considered "good taste" or refusal to participate in what might be considered accepted modes of cinema interpretation can lead to conflict. Differing perceptions of what is humorous can also cause dissonance, as humor is culture-bound, and often relies on subtle inflections of expression that can be lost in electronic communication. Sarcasm, for example, comes across poorly in the online environment. Use of the list for commercial activities, as well as long-lasting forays into non-cinematic topics, can violate users' sense of "what the list is for" and can lead to flame wars.

List members' perceptions of and behaviors within the electronic environment depend to a great extent upon how they respond to the anonymity of that environment. One aspect of electronic communication that was identified by respondents as different, and potentially a source of concern, was the absence of regulating feedback during discussions. The one-to-many LISTSERV communication environment emphasizes the performance-like aspects of communication that can bring out the worst in some users and lead to dissension. For some users, because posting feels too much like "performance," the environment renders them silent. For other users, anonymity makes them brave: communicating with other users whose distance makes the likelihood of real-world intervention unlikely can lead to a sense of invulnerability that leads to posturing and conflict.

Another cause of conflict is the dynamic of tension between longtime members and "newbies," or newcomers. It is considered good etiquette to listen in quietly for a short while before posting in order to learn standard list conventions and so not offend others by inadvertently violating them. Newcomers who try to tell the list how to behave will almost certainly find themselves the recipients of flames. Flame wars point up the power hierarchies inherent on the list, in that accepted members often defend one another in the face of attack, while newcomers are left to fend for themselves. A flamefest can be a crucible in which "true cinema lovers" prove their mettle. The dynamics of flaming can be disconcerting for newbies, however: a new member's first flame war may be his or her last.

In general, there seems to be the potential for a greater sense of community to develop on LISTSERVs than on Usenet newsgroups, in that people often wander in and out of newsgroups without ever subscribing and becoming "full-fledged" members of the list. One of the appeals of subscribing to a list is that you begin to develop a sense of who other members are: you begin to get a sense that you "know" them through their postings. Users who do not stay long enough to get a sense of "who others are" never have the opportunity to develop that sense of community.

Aspects of electronic communication itself contribute to the flaming problem. Many of my research volunteers commented that the primary challenge of the environment was the lack of emotional cues that would guide the reader of a particular message to an appropriate response. Some subscribers use "emoticons" in an attempt to restore to electronic communication the missing nonverbal cues that provide regulating feedback in face-to-face discussion.

The speed of sending and replying to messages in the online environment is also a factor in the flaming phenomenon. When writing and responding quickly, it is often difficult to divorce authorial intention from actual message content and tone. The truth of the matter is that it's often difficult to "hear" your online voice unless you delay sending messages until a later point in time when you can more clearly perceive how it "sounds." Unfortunately, the environment is not structured for such a strategy. In order to procure permission to use the messages quoted in this thesis, I sent copies of the original e-mail messages to their authors. A few of the authors responded (most with good humor, one or two with a trace of embarrassment) that they couldn't believe that they said that, that they couldn't believe how they sounded, or that the messages seemed as though they had been written by someone else. One user threatened a lawsuit, and denied even being a member of the list I was talking about. [31] One user asked that I be sure to point out that what he had said was meant to be humorous. The speedy pace of the dialogue, which contributes to the immediacy of the exchanges (and therefore to the high level of interactivity that some list members find so enjoyable) can thus be perceived as both a positive and a negative feature of the environment.

The Lurkers: The "Silent Majority" of the List

When I interviewed the lurkers during Phase I of my research, several of them commented that one of the reasons why they didn't participate more vocally was fear of flaming. Other reasons cited--particularly by users who accessed the network from work--were the lack of unrestricted computer access and adequate unstructured work time to compose a response. Additional barriers were time zone differences that prevented participation in the list during the more interactive aspects of the discussions: it is difficult to contribute when one feels that others have already said what one wanted to say. Gender dynamics played a role in this reluctance as well: female users were more likely to lurk than males out of fear of flaming, worries related to appearing unknowledgeable, concern about not seeming as witty as the "regulars," or sheer performance anxiety.

Changes in the Composition of the List over Time

The longitudinal aspects of my research were quite telling in that it appears as though the composition of at least this corner of the Internet has changed over the past several years. The group of Phase II research volunteers consisted of a higher number of females and international list members. There was a decrease in the average age of volunteers, and an increase in the number of users reporting a home Internet connection. At the same time, the Phase II volunteers reported spending slightly less time than Phase I volunteers reading list messages, in spite of an almost 40% increase in the average number of daily messages and an almost 70% increase in the number of subscribers. While several of the Phase I volunteers indicated that they read all of the daily messages, only one Phase II respondent reported reading them all; the others screening messages by author or topic. These data, when put together, suggest that there may be a certain optimum list size for a user to feel that he or she "knows" other subscribers. Beyond that volume, it may be more difficult to maintain a sense of community. Research volunteers' comments suggested that there may be elements of a standard cycle in list membership, as well: they indicated that reading all of the messages or posting often was something they had done in an earlier phase of list participation before lapsing into a more selective or reserved mode.

During Phase I of my research, male members were much more vocal on the list than were female members: males participated more actively in the daily discussion, sent more messages per day, and were consistently more likely to be "top poster" for the day by being the user who posted the most messages to the LISTSERV. While the percentage of female subscribers has remained relatively constant over time, female participation on the Cinema-L list has increased considerably. Between April 1993 and April 1996, postings by females increased from 23% to 47% of list volume and the average number of women posting each day increased from 10 to 28. Survey respondents reported a similar shift in other discussion spaces on the Internet, as well. Some percentage of the increase in female participation may be attributable to the development of an increasingly user-friendly graphic interface (Web browsers, search engines, etc.), a plethora of media attention to the Internet, and the increasingly important role that electronic skills are playing in the job market. It is also possible that workplaces are investing more of their resources in technology: there are simply more computers in the workplace today than there were even a few years ago. Improved access to technology among female workers might account for a portion of that increase: perhaps more females are moving into positions where they are afforded more unstructured time and more autonomy in regards to the uses they make of technology. Additionally, for users who do not have unrestricted access to a computer in the workplace, increasingly affordable home Internet connections might provide an avenue for a higher level of access, and an environment that facilitates increasingly unstructured uses of technology for recreational purposes.

Theoretical Explorations: Gender, Community, Communication, Art

For many women, within the current dichotomous construction of male/intellect vs. female/emotion, computers (the epitome of pure electronic "thought") have become a cultural symbol of what a woman is not. Much literature is available to document our cultural preconceptions of "gender-appropriate" technologies--washing and cleaning and cooking machines for women; fighting and building and thinking machines for men. Postmodern feminists offer the perspective that gender, like computers, has a technology. Some feminist writers urge us to consider the ways in which the postmodern environment suggests new cultural alignments that call into question existing stereotypes regarding gender and technology. It is essential that we challenge our own preconceptions and make an effort to ensure that all voices are represented in the continuing dialogue regarding how we will use our "thinking machines" to the betterment of our ever-changing, increasingly technological world. One of the most intriguing aspects of the virtual environment is the ability to construct an identity of our own choosing. If we as individuals reject boundaries imposed by predefined conceptions of self, and decide instead to select an identity of our own choosing, who and what might we become?

Aspects of technology addressed by interview respondents and by on-list conversations included its implications for communication, community, and art. When asked to describe "what electronic communication was like," many of the list members replied that being on the list was like attending an online cocktail party; others responded that it was like a debate, a classroom discussion, a dinner party, or talk radio--a combination of communication and entertainment. One difference that was noted between electronic and face-to-face communication is that often people say things in the online environment that they might not say face-to-face. Those individuals who respond most positively to the environment are those who appreciate having time to compose a well-thought-out response in a private environment where the user has a greater sense of control over the communication experience. The electronic environment privileges those who are able to clearly and adequately express themselves through written communication, who do not require a great deal of immediate validating feedback, who are fast typists, who have a sufficiency of time in which to compose a response, and who enjoy role playing in an environment where to a great extent people's perception of you is governed by how you describe yourself.

When I asked my volunteers to indicate whether or not they thought technology would help to bring about improved global relations, most responded with a qualified "no." They were all but unanimous in attributing both agency and responsibility for the world's fate--for better or worse--to people and not to machines. While several of the volunteers were hopeful that advances in communication technology could provide an opportunity for people who choose to do so to link to one another, they responded quite clearly that machinery will not automatically solve the world's problems. However, the environment does help to expand our perceptions of a global community.

Some theoreticians have voiced a concern that technology is "bad" for people in that it squelches meditative thinking and promotes calculative thinking instead. More than a few of them have predicted that technology is leading us down an inevitable path toward destruction. Other prognosticators predict an age of increasing prosperity and global connectedness brought about by technology. Our art reflects our ambivalence: the technological apocalypse is showcased, for example, in many recent and current cinematic releases; at the same time, technological gadgetry has made possible the special effects wizardry that contributes to some of what many viewers find appealing about modern cinema. The close relationship between technological developments and cinematic developments was noted by individual list participants, who enjoyed some of what technology has done to movies while disdaining other aspects. Whether or not communication, community, and art have been improved by technology is certainly a topic worthy of debate. That they have been changed by it, there is no doubt.

The Need for Additional Research

This thesis has presented evidence to support my underlying premise that the online environment changes communication style, content, and patterns of interpersonal interaction. Within the electronic environment, there is the potential for many diverse viewpoints to be represented: a rich international dialogue takes place on matters artistic, social, technological, and commercial every day. However, there are many individuals who will never have the opportunity to fully participate in that environment because of resource and access limitations. One of the problematic aspects of computer technology is that "getting connected" requires a fairly substantial up-front investment of resources in computer, software, modem, and online services; for this reason, the very important issues of differential economic privilege and limited access must enter into our critical examinations and explorations of the appropriate uses of technology. Additionally, there are myriads of privacy issues that need to be researched so that the integrity of the individual can be protected.

We must begin to address access issues and additional sociological considerations that influence user comfort and behavior in the online environment, as well. There is a need to conduct research on the ways in which our different interactional styles--influenced by gender, age, nationality, and a host of other user characteristics--have an impact in online communication. Such an understanding will help us to more thoughtfully plan and implement technologies in ways that benefit rather than oppress those whom the technology was designed to serve. Other questions that must be further researched include the impact of electronic technologies on our perceptions of time and space, and on our sense of selves and our social relations.

The word community has appeared many times throughout this thesis--sometimes used by myself as researcher, other times used by my volunteers--to describe the group cohesiveness, interactions, and behaviors that occur on the Cinema-L list. Many traditional definitions of community center around kinship ties, face-to-face activities, and geographic definitions of "place." (See, for example, Nelson, Ramsey, and Verner 1960; Parsons 1960; and Poplin 1979.) Research presented in this thesis documents the need to reconsider, and perhaps expand, our definitions of community to include groups of people who engage in many of the activities we associate with communities--but in an environment where there are no kinship ties, no (or few) face-to-face activities, and no geographic boundaries.

Mary Rousseau breaks down the word community into its etymological Latin constituents: com, meaning "with" or "together," and unus, meaning "one": "A community, it seems, is both one and many--a unified multitude or a multiple unity of some sort. Community is a 'many turned into one without ceasing to be many.' Such a concept is a paradox" (Rousseau 1991, 3). Considering in particular these two paradoxical elements of the term, the one-to-many environment one encounters online is a unique "place" to conduct further research into participants' evolving notions of community. For example, it is apparent that core and long-term members of the Cinema-L list do consider themselves to be members of a community, albeit a placeless one. Self-report indicates that list members care a great deal about what one another think, look forward to interactions on the list, sometimes base activities on other members' recommendations, and even develop friendships, romances, and fandom "cliques" within the larger group. Do participants within other electronic communication environments--MUDs, MOOs, online chat rooms, for example--perceive themselves to be members of communities as well? And if so, what are the implications for the larger social order when people begin to perceive their ties to individuals they may have never met face-to-face as important, valuable, and influential to the formation of a sense of self, opinions, and interpersonal relationships? While online communities--with their humor, their banter, and their bickering--may resemble an ongoing cocktail party or radio call-in show more than they resemble Dewey's cherished concept of the "Great Community," they are perhaps more "real" in the sense that they showcase both the best and the worst of the roles that we all are capable of playing, in our simultaneous identities as "one" and "together."

For researchers and others who are interested in facilitating a social order that is perhaps more enlightened than the one we enjoy now, or more peaceful, or more responsible, or more egalitarian, the most useful and interesting question might be to ask how we might use the capabilities of the electronic environment for the betterment of the world that we live in today. For instance, as citizens of a democracy and members of both national and international communities, we might examine the ways in which electronic forums could improve our joint problem-solving capabilities in a world of dwindling resources. Douglas Schuler, in his book New Community Networks, has asked questions about how groups of people--some in geographic proximity to one another, others not--are using or might use the networked environment to develop or enhance a sense of community and belonging (Schuler 1996). These and other important questions are in need of further research.

While some of the findings of this thesis are generalizable to other forms of electronic communication, each individual LISTSERV and every electronic technology has its own characteristics that are a function of both its technical aspects and its users. For example, online chats using real-time technologies such as MUDs and MOOs have their own conventions and challenges. One of the more positive aspects of the list noted by subscribers was that the technical conventions of the LISTSERV itself helped to structure the sense of community that developed--because interactions among the group took place over a period of time, among users who generally signed their names, and whose postings contained information about message origins, including the sender's e-mail address. In contrast, in some online communication spaces, it is possible to converse at length with others whose true identity, age, gender, and nationality one may never know. The decentered aspects of the virtual environment that exists in such a communication space go far beyond that explored in this thesis, and are worthy of in-depth scholarly examination.

This thesis has examined in detail the ways in which LISTSERV technology influences communication and fandom interpretation of media texts. The Internet could also serve as a rich resource for further exploration in this vein: while the Cinema-L list is oriented toward analysis and discourse related to cinema, there are a host of additional online discussion spaces where other media texts are discussed and debated. There are online communities that center around almost any conceivable topic, and these communities offer a gold mine of research possibilities.

Ideologies regarding communication technologies were briefly explored in this thesis. The popular media provide a wealth of material related to our burgeoning cultural interest in electronic communication technologies which has not yet been widely critically addressed. For example, only a few scholarly pieces include content analysis of the gendered language and imagery of technology that are featured in popular media sources. There is a need to conduct additional research on the complex interaction between media consumption and incidental learning. Feminist scholars who are experts in communication, educational theory, and psychology should examine the ways in which the media influence our technological attitudes and ideologies: in particular, there is a need to explore the ways in which women's understanding of "appropriate uses" of and adaptive behavior related to technology can be shaped, supported, or undermined by the images they see of women interacting (or not interacting, as the case may be) with assorted technologies in advertisements and in the popular media in general.

In short, within our global environment, we must creatively--with full consciousness of the implications--direct the application of our technological resources, whether for the purposes of information gathering and analysis in the worksite, or education, or entertainment, or global communication. We must put our collective heads together to thoughtfully strategize on the best and most appropriate uses of the new technologies, as well as the procedures for implementing those uses in a manner that will maximize the common good. While there are many aspects of electronic communication that need to be researched, it is clear from this study alone that LISTSERV communication creates a fast-paced, highly social environment that privileges members of certain groups while silencing others, emboldens some users to the point of aggression, and expands the geographical range of potential interactions.