contemplating digital orality

Schutz, Alfred. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.

An aspect of Schutz’ discussion of face-to-face (FtF) communication and the structure of the social world that is highly relevant to the online video conversation (OVC) is that of the direct social observation. This idea has to do with the situation in which an individual is aware of another yet knows that awareness is not mutual; the observer knows the observed is unaware of him or her. This creates a special sort of Thou-orientation that the observer gains toward the observed person. Read the rest of this entry »

Schutz, Alfred. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.

Continuing the discussion of We-relationships from the last post, Schutz states that We-relationships can have many differences based on the way in which a participant is experienced by the other participant(s), such as being experienced with different degrees of immediacy, intensity, and intimacy or from a different point of view.

These distinctions apply equally to orientation relationships and to social interactions, determining in each of them the directness with which the partners “know” each other. …It is not only the object, therefore, that is experienced with greater or lesser directness; it is the relationship itself… (168).

In this way, one can consider the on-screen nature of the OVC as a different way in which one participant experiences the other. It is, by many definitions, a low level of immediacy in that the response rate is not immediate. The intensity, if I understand Schutz’ use of the term here, is relative to the conversation situation (topic, length, purpose, etc.). The intimacy level could be seen as relatively low in that the participants are not in the same room. However, it is in some ways more intimate in that the videos are generally experienced alone, yet there may be a feeling of simulation to some extent of a live interpersonal conversation. Read the rest of this entry »

Schutz, Alfred. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.

The We-relationship occurs when two participants are aware of each other and interact for whatever brief a period of time. If I am standing next to you at a concert, for example, I can see you and be aware of your physical presence. While I cannot know your subjective experience or exactly what you are thinking about the performance we are witnessing, I do know that we are in the same environment, experiencing the same input. In this way, we can both say that “we” have seen that concert. Read the rest of this entry »

Schutz, Alfred. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.

The Face-to-Face Situation and the Thou-Orientation

In this section, Schutz breaks down what really defines and constitutes the Face-to-Face (FtF) interaction as well as the thou-orientation and the we-relationship. This 1967 text could not have considered online video communication; however, it seems a communication method that is really outside the definitions that Schutz details. Read the rest of this entry »

Nowak, K. L., Watt, J., Walther, J. B., Pascal, C., Hill, S., & Lynch, M. (2004/01/01/). Contrasting time mode and sensory modality in the performance of computer mediated groups using asynchronous videoconferencing. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Place of Publication: Los Alamitos, CA, USA; Big Island, HI, USA. Country of Publication: USA.

A foundational issue to my dissertation research is the question of what real differences there are between Face to Face (FtF) communication and various media, specifically video communication. This issue can be viewed from various perspectives, such as comprehension and retention, enjoyment, social bonding, ease of use, willingness to participate, etc. I frequently struggle with trying to avoid falling into the trap of perceiving one communication medium as inherently superior or inferior and instead attempt to look toward identifying what the real differences are and how they affect our communication choices and perceptions. However, identifying a given method’s superiority, or even a hierarchical inferiority-to-superiority structure of communication media is a common approach (e.g. theories of media richness, media synchronicity, and media naturalness). Generally, it is seen that Read the rest of this entry »