anonymity, group size, and proximity influence participation in CMC groups. The book states that in CMC groups members feel more anonymity towards participation (Harris, 261). This is because when you say something you do not have to think, what are my group members going to think of me now, am I going to step on any toes? Low status member contribute more often as well. This is interesting to me because how does one get to be a low status member? Most likely because they interpret their position relative to other members, if you are in a F2F group I see this happening more often than in a CMC group with people that have never actually seen
your face. As we already know, group size is helpful is the problem solving arena with a diverse range of perspectives. Groups in CMC participate in a less arguementational manner but also take longer to come to agreements than in F2F groups. proximity can influence the CMC groups because when people come from greater distance they can have less in common.
Good points, especially that last one. Proximity in CMC is important because if I am in a group of people from San Jose, we can connect over the locality of the group and culture of San Jose. If I am with ten people from ten different countries then it is more likely that we will have a lot of different viewpoints, and my humor may not go over well, or there may be language and expression barriers, and of course the time difference, if it's 1am here and 4am somewhere else they may be slower to respond if I'm online and they're asleep!
ReplyDeleteOf course this relates to the anonymity factor since if they are far away, there is a good chance I feel more anonymous and open than I would with a group of online members all from San Jose.
Most likely because they interpret their position relative to other members, if you are in a F2F group I see this happening more often than in a CMC group with people that have never actually seen
ReplyDeleteyour face. As we already know, group size is helpful is the problem solving arena with a diverse range of perspectives. Groups in CMC participate in a less arguementational manner but also take longer to come to agreements than in F2F groups. proximity can influence the CMC groups because when people come from greater distance they can have less in common.I thought this point was awesome, I realize we just took it from the book, but I like the point that the more people in the group the more perspectives we get. Also cmc is less argumental but take longer to make decisions. It's interesting, thanks for the post this week to respond to.