Modern society frequently fails to achieve the goal of improved rationality and this is largely because the conditions for ideal speech do not prevail. We do not always permit everyone an equal opportunity to explain their point of view and the force of the best argument does not always prevail. Communication becomes more difficult when people cannot meet face to face, but it is also hindered when people cannot contact one another easily. There is, therefore, a trade-off between using computer-mediated media for communication and speaking to each other in person. Although meaning can never be shared to the extent that two individuals have precisely the same interpretation of a concept, and society is not based on individuals uniformly embracing identical views or values, in every day life consensus needs to be reached and truth claims, normative validity claims and aesthetic validity claims must be made, debated and eventually accepted or refuted. Collaboration on substantial tasks that require the development of concepts and reconstruction of meaning depends on effective communication. In the distributed social structures which have developed as a result of globalisation it is important that dispersed teams are able to work together. This includes collaborative learning in distance education. In the action research undertaken first year Informatics students could choose between doing team work face-to-face, or as dispersed teams communicating via e-mail or WebCT. The discussions were recorded and were analysed to identify the different types of communicative action engaged in. This was done to understand how this group collaborate so that success factors could be identified and proposals be made regarding education in the use of e-mail. It was found that the virtual (dispersed) teams studied did not succeed in collaborating. Communication ability is defined in this thesis as the skill that compensates for the inherent leanness of the medium used. A number of depictions of factors contributing to successful asynchronous collaboration are provided. Different classes of information and time, trust and communication ability assist in constructing meaning when text is communicated electronically. This led to suggestions regarding improving the communications ability of individuals. / Dissertation (PhD (Information Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Informatics / unrestricted

Background: The persistent Covid-19 pandemic tremendously challenged existing work teams as it drove spatial dispersion among colleagues and greater dependence on virtual communication tools. Consequently, teams were required to adapt proven communication practices that mediate the exchange of social information and the perception of proximity to teammates. Aim: We aim to broaden team studies’ theoretical understanding of communication behavior and proximity in the light of contextual changes by developing an empathic understanding of the contemporary phenomena. This entails identifying arisen communication behavior patterns and assessing the impact of behavioral changes on team members’ perception of proximity. Methodology: By conducting a qualitative case study, we investigated three teams of a medium-sized German fashion corporation. The iterative data collection entailed six semi-structured interviews with individuals and focus groups and complementary quantitative surveys. Findings: We posit that sudden spatial dispersion of familiar teams does not inevitable lead to greater perceived distance, but that a team’s ability to appropriate technology, so social needs are met, is decisive. Further, the new communication practices of all teams were found to maintain high levels of synchronicity and social informational value. Yet, communication quality and social exchange was partially hampered by reduced spontaneity, greater passiveness, and a loss of humor. This was found to be strongly influenced by team members’ attitudes towards used technology.

The subject of this thesis is orality in informal dialogic computer-mediated communication (henceforth CMC). This type of communication is represented by internet discussions, discussion fora, and Facebook posts. All these three genres are compared with informal spoken face-to-face dialogues. The data are covered by the Koditex corpus, which contains the CMC genres, and the Ortofon corpus of spoken language. The term orality can refer both to the realized communication form - spoken or written (so- called media orality) and to the summary of linguistic characteristics associated with the prototypical informal spoken dialogue (so-called conceptual orality). This thesis focuses only on conceptual orality, which is based on nine language features divided into the three following areas: dialogicity, spontaneity, and fulfilment of pragmatic needs of communication participants. The analyses show significant similarity between the functional use of features in both spoken and written communication. This applies primarily to the features associated with spontaneity (repetition of the same words, the presence of word fragments, typos and misspellings) and the fulfilment of pragmatic needs (discourse markers, pronoun non-dropping, iteration of graphemes). It follows that the selected CMC genres appropriately...

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Language students today have grown up with a plethora of technology tools at their fingertips, which has in some cases earned them the title of "digital native". 'Students' high use of technology outside the classroom has led teachers and researchers to believe that technology could be highly effective for language learners when used appropriately. Yet little is known about how students actually react to technology-based tools for language learning purposes. This study seeks to not only understand student attitudes toward technology in general, but also to see how those attitudes might affect student attitudes toward online language learning tools in a social media context. Using a design-based research approach, we implemented a curriculum that utilizes a social networking environment in which students could consume authentic language samples and practice using the language in a controlled environment. Through the analysis of pre and post surveys, it was discovered that age was the most significant predictor of student attitudes toward technology, but that the extent to which students use technology proves to be a more significant predictor when other variables are factored in. Furthermore, it was discovered that general attitudes toward technology do affect the ways in which students will react to a technology-based curriculum. Nevertheless, the way in which a curriculum is presented can be a stronger factor in predicting how the curriculum will be received.

MySpace is a type of "social networking" website where people meet, socialize, and create friendships. The way MySpace members, particularly younger individuals, interact online underscores the changing nature of mass media. Media system dependency states that individuals become reliant on media in their daily life because of fundamental human goals. This reliance, termed a dependency, leads to repeated use. Media system dependency was applied in the current study to explain how and why individuals became habitual MySpace users. To attain results a survey was administered to a convenience sampling of 401 adult undergraduates at the University of Central Florida. Members reported MySpace dependency had a moderate correlation to MySpace use, and they actively used the website an average of 1.3 hours of use per day. Results indicated members use MySpace to primarily satisfy play and interaction orientation dependencies. MySpace use was found to have a correlation with number of MySpace friends. "Number of friends created" in turn had a correlation with MySpace dependency, as people returned to interact with their friends. Individual factors were also found to be a source of influence in MySpace dependency. These individual factors were demographics, psychological factors related to use of the Internet, and psychological factors related to use of MySpace. Factors related to MySpace, extroversion and self-disclosure, were positively correlated with intensity of dependency. The influence of factors related to the Internet was partly supported; computer self-efficacy was not significantly related to MySpace dependency, while computer anxiety was significantly related to MySpace dependency. Speed of connection to the Internet and available time to use the Internet were not related to MySpace dependency. Additionally, significant differences were found between genders in overall dependency, extroversion, self-disclosure, computer anxiety, and computer self-efficacy. These findings provide evidence that MySpace members were little, if at all, constrained by factors related to use of the Internet, but were attracted to the websites for similar reasons as real-life relationships. Finally, MySpace is just one of the large number of online resources that are predominantly social, such as email, message boards, and online chat. This study found that through a "technology cluster" MySpace members use these other social innovations more frequently than non-members. However, members also used significantly more non-social innovations, which may indicate that MySpace members are part of a larger technology cluster than anticipated or perhaps are in the same category of innovation adopter.

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which selected communication tools used by teachers who teach online are positively perceived by their students in improving feelings of self-efficacy and motivation, and which tools may be perceived to be significantly more effective than the others. Students from the Florida Virtual School, a leader in online course delivery for grades 6-12, were surveyed to find their perceptions about how their teachers' use of email, Instant Messaging, chat, the telephone, discussion area, whiteboard, and assignment feedback affected their motivation and success in an online high school course. Correlations were done to discover if there were any significant relationships between variables that relate to teacher interaction and motivation. In addition, distributions of student responses to survey questions about digital communication tools and demographics were examined. It was found that there is a high degree of correlation between frequency of teachers' use of digital communication tools and student's perception of their level of motivation. It was also found that the digital communication tools most frequently used by teachers in communicating with their students were email, the telephone, and assignment feedback, and that the students found these same tools the most helpful in their learning. In addition, no significant demographic differences were found in students' perception of teacher's use of tools to enhance learning and motivation in their courses except in the number of previous online courses taken. These findings can help direct online high school teachers in their selection of digital tools used to communicate with their students.

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This paper aimed to examine the use of emojis and emoticons in Twitter data. Therefore, the study utilized Twitter data on how emojis and emoticons were used in English in the Curators of Sweden project by Swedish individuals. Moreover, considering the fast and technology-filled world humans live in, new terms and concepts have emerged, such as CMC, a computer-mediated communication, namely, a form of communication or information conveyed through a digital and virtual mechanism, known in the postmodern world today as social media. Furthermore, the study showcased how individuals of both sexes use emojis and emoticons provided on Twitter to express themselves as a new form of virtual emotional language while also considering gender differences. The results of the study indicate that emojis and emoticons have been used extensively in Twitter data and play a huge role in expressing feelings and emotions in Twitter communication. While emojis and emoticons were used more frequently by females than males. The findings of this paper indicated the importance of ample space that social media, namely Twitter and its set of provided emojis and emoticons, occupy in lives. Thus, modern communication tools manifested in the virtual language emojis and emoticons, which in their role supported emotional communication. / nej

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