Barry Wellman says, in “From Neighborhood to Network, “ that :CMC has increased the frequency and intensity of overall contact. Rather than replacing face-to-face contact, CMC adds to it, filling gaps between the fuller range of information and emotion in interpersonal encounters.” Discuss this idea in terms of your experience in our networked classroom, blogging discussions, and website building. Do you agree with Wellman? In what particular ways does CMC affect your experience of learning in our course?
posted by la professore at 7:54 AM
4 Comments:
For this particular case I do have to agree with Barry Weltman, just by our blogging discussions and website building. In today's society there are some many new ways of having contact with people without having the actual face-to-face contact. During our blogging discussions we are either to able talk as a group, or individually if we please. He is right in this sense that new gaps have been filled. For our website building, we have created ways for individuals to keep in contact throughout the entire process.
TO HALYCON:
I agree with what you have to say, CMC, just like all other things, does have its pros and cons. A lot of people definetley find it easier to interact over the internet to someone they may not feel as comfortable with talking in person, while at the same time it can become frusterating if that person is not online to talk to. It is hard to say if the pros out-weigh the cons, or vise vera, but overall CMC is a way of interacting with people whether in be in person or over the computer.
Wellman makes a very good point in his article but I will have to disagree with him on this subject. He tells us that CMC does not replace face-to-face contact. Well, it does not replace it necessarily but I do think that CMC takes away from real human association. For instance, with our class we only meet once a week instead of twice because it is a hybrid course. This one fact shows how the internet takes away from our real life interactions. Another example comes from my personnel life. My sister loves to log onto face book or another site called urban chat and then talk for hours. She rarely leaves the apartment unless I make her. For her, the computer has replaced her social interactions. Of course, I must give Wellman his dues. In my daily life, the internet,computers, and other types of media have made face-to-face contact easier. I guess my point would be, the argument over CMC cannot be used in general. It must be applied to individual circumstance.
I think it's rather fascinating to label online connectivity "community." I don’t agree with Wellman altogether, I think online communities are developing more spatially than socially, but that’s an arguable interpretation. Wellman goes on to say that “By the 1970s (or earlier), neighborhoods rarely bounded communities in the developed world”. The term ‘rarely’ would have to be an experienced conclusion; I’ve experienced neighbors as community. Apparently people are connecting online that would not have ‘met’ otherwise, but for example: ‘rarely’ do online couples work out successfully. Within the spatial context, the social is altered, honesty becomes even more flexible as personality boundaries are only limited to imagination; without face-to-face, why not be somebody you’re not.
The spatial context I’m referring to is like being shot to the moon in a rocket and falling out, drifting astronauts bumping into each other behind survival gear. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong, but without the face-to-face it’s an odd socialization, though making some sense in this extremely busy & overpopulated world. CMC is there to explore, create, get in touch – escape & feel connected all at once. I’m sure it’s the generation differences, the social scene changing as technology rips through everything we’ve ever known; having computerized so much; why not computerize our sense of the social. Yes, filling in the gaps – but then isn’t that a spatial concept?
I’ve been having a difficult time blogging, maybe it’s merely a time factor. Admittedly I like it though, I like being able to read everybody’s writing, I like doing the assignments online – I also very much enjoy meeting in class too, putting faces to the names. Building a website together is very bonding: being open to new ideas & learning/sharing new techniques. It has given me an opportunity to be & feel more connected to all the students in the class. It’s interesting to note that we can bond even though we have our diversities, perhaps because we create a common thread by interacting both in the class & in outer space.
As much as CMC could be ‘tying’ us together, I think it also separates us into even smaller communities, dividing us. The Conservatives, Christians, Gays, Liberals, have all created their own exclusive online communities and the space between them widens as the division becomes more precise. Indeed, as most of you have stated, the pro’s & cons are many.
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