Monk et al. “Measure of Processes” provides one with an outlay of ideas pertinent to understanding conversation amongst partners. The paper provides insight into how dialogue may be hindered or facilitated by perceived common ground or any system that structures conversation. CMC doesn’t provide a bevy of communication cues for individuals to rely on, so at times it may be difficult for individuals to relay everything they have to say to their partners. We’ve all experienced times when we’ve been cut off by friends while on AOL instant messenger. You may be typing a phrase that is part of a string of sentences, only to be interrupted by your partner who wants to chime in about whatever is going on inside his mind. Measure of Processes proclaimed that the conversation structure of an online dialogue is much less structured than that of a face to face conversation. Its not unusual to have multiple online conversations, a rarity in face to face interactions. Face to face interaction usually involve a sequence of topics, one after another. This leads to Monk’s hypothesis of “Topic Mention”; its difficult to recall information about the previous topic one was talking about in face to face situations compared to the ease of remembering a topic via online conversation. Monk believed that this would hold true if one observed the idea of distance between topic mentioning in CMC vs FTF. I decided to test this theory using an aim conversation and a FTF conversation.
Hypothesis: More topics covered in two minutes of online conversation than in FTF conversation ( I will use an old aim conversation and FTF conversation from a past assignment)
IM Conversation with a Friend
stillBETTAthanYa: sup
Prophecy620: wut up man
stillBETTAthanYa: ur icon is stupid
stillBETTAthanYa: lol
Prophecy620: w.e man
Prophecy620: whats godo wit u
Prophecy620: do u know if yo parents got the card i sent a while back)
stillBETTAthanYa: o yea they got it
stillBETTAthanYa: they said thanks but u didnt need to send a gift
stillBETTAthanYa: all good
Prophecy620: ight
stillBETTAthanYa: how is school
Prophecy620: crazyy
Prophecy620: dis semester is hard
Prophecy620: wit 5 calsses n a discussion
stillBETTAthanYa: discussion?
Prophecy620: its paort o a history class
Prophecy620: the calsses r hard though
Prophecy620: my 4000 class is probably the easist rite now
Prophecy620: how many classes u taking this semester
stillBETTAthanYa: I have eight
Prophecy620: got damn
stillBETTAthanYa: craziness
Prophecy620: hell yea
stillBETTAthanYa: three evening classes
Prophecy620: least u aint workin 32 hours a week
stillBETTAthanYa: your working 32 hours for radioshack?
stillBETTAthanYa: or for class?
Prophecy620: radioshack
Prophecy620: i was during skool
Prophecy620: now its 26 i cut it down
Prophecy620: i was full time
stillBETTAthanYa: tough stuff
stillBETTAthanYa: I work but only for about five hours a week
stillBETTAthanYa: do homework mostly
Prophecy620: dats it
Prophecy620: oo ight
Prophecy620: so its not dat bad then
stillBETTAthanYa: yea
Prophecy620: but still 8 classes
stillBETTAthanYa: i usually do homework for 4 and a half of those hours
stillBETTAthanYa: not all are hard work
Prophecy620: i think u nee to have that cleared by the dean dont you
stillBETTAthanYa: yup
stillBETTAthanYa: had to have its signed
Prophecy620: wow
Prophecy620: u killin yo self kene
Prophecy620: how u do good in all the classes
stillBETTAthanYa: i'll handle it
Prophecy620: ight bet
Prophecy620: im waitin for jay 2 give me a date on the wedding
Prophecy620: so i can get the tickets to fly back
stillBETTAthanYa: cool
stillBETTAthanYa: should be nice
stillBETTAthanYa: u hear the chargers fired schottenheimer?
Prophecy 620: Yup
Topics covered: four
FTF Conversation
Kene: What’s Up Matt?
Matt: I’m doing fine
Kene: How is Priscilla?
Matt: Priscilla the dog or Priscilla my cousin?
Kene: Your dog, you know I don’t like your cousin.
Matt: She’s doing fine, finally house trained
Kene: Ok that’s cool. How many classes do you have this semester?
Matt: I got 6, 18 credits. Trying to get up to speed for Bio
Kene: Ok. Well I’ve gotta go. Get at me later.
Matt: Yea, I will. Saturday 10pm still on?
Kene: Yea, I’ll be ready for the madden tournament. Say hi to the dog for me.
Matt: Will do. Later.
Topics covered: Two
It makes sense that more topics would be covered in an online conversation than in a FTF conversation. CMC is often recorded and its easy to keep track of information this is being exchanged between partners. FTF conversations consists of less topics because its hard to keep track of all the information that has been exchanged. Understanding this notion can allow one to determine what type of messages are best exchanged over which mediums.
3 comments:
I think its true that more topics are covered in CMC vs FtF conversations. It would be interesting however to look at the differences in depth vs breadth of conversations... Although more topics may be covered in CMC I imagine that they might be discussed in less depth than in a typical FtF conversation.
This was a pretty interesting topic to study! I definitely agree that I seem to cover a lot more topics and ground during CMC conversations than in FtF conversations. However, I am not sure that your reasoning is completely sound. Maybe the reason more topics are covered in the CMC that you chose (AIM) is that it is not a continuous channel. As messages are sent back and forth, there is a pause between each message, and this pause may allow for easier transition into different topics. Just as an anecdote, my sisters watch this show Gilmore Girls where everyone is extremely witty and switches topics extremely fast and I once made the comment that I hated the show because people only talked like that on AIM.
I would agree that I tend to cover more topics while participating in CMC compared to FtF. In CMC it is far more likely for the conversation to wander to other topics without much of a segway, while it is much less common for the same to happen in FtF. I would agree with Anshu's comment as well. While more topics may be discussed in CMC they are not discussed with as much breadth or detail. I think an interesting corollary to what you've done would be to look at the number of adjacency pairs devoted to each discussion topic. In doing so you might be able to evaluate or at least get some sense of the amount of depth occurring in these conversations.
Post a Comment