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Communication systems: A
comparison along a set of major axes
Karrie Karahalios
Sociable
Media Group
Electronic media can alter our
perception of time and space and how we think about communication.
One common example is the telephone. It bridged the distance
gap and allowed two distant persons to converse synchronously.
In this site, I explore existing
electronic communication systems along a set of several different
axes. These axes are synchronicity, history, mass distribution,
graphics, moderation, publicity, dimension, and abstractness.
These parameters are just some
of the many by which communication systems can be studied. They
provide insight into how and why these systems have evolved and
they provide a means for comparing and contrasting these systems.
The malleability of electronic
interfaces makes gradations along these axes possible. Slight
fluctuations in these parameters greatly influence interface,
use, audience size, identity, and communication patterns. Each
of these parameters is discussed below.
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Synchronicity |
Synchronous vs. asynchronous conversation |
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History |
Ephemeral vs. persistent conversation |
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Graphics |
Textual vs. graphical systems |
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Mass
distribution |
One-to-one transmission vs. one-to-many |
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Moderation |
Moderated vs. unmoderated systems |
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Publicity |
Publicity and privacy in conversation
spaces |
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3D |
two-dimensional vs. three-dimensional
conversation spaces |
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Abstractness |
abstract vs. realistic representation
in a conversation space |
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Some trends can be seen from
this study. Archival of information and conversation is becoming
easier with the use of electronic media. More and more systems
are capable of doing so and many interfaces are including this
feature in interfaces. More work should be done on how this would
affect what people choose to say and when and if it should be
included in interfaces.
Email and Usenet interfaces have
not changed significantly since their conception. Increasing
awareness of the people within one's near community would be
an interesting feature to find in future interfaces. They bear
a lot of traffic and some of that can be used as an extra feedback
channel in the communication process.
Comparing graphics in systems
requires much user study. It is difficult to know exactly which
text and graphical systems are increasing in users.
What is of interest, especially
in the research arena, is the trend towards communication systems
that use computation to provide feedback channels that are not
normally available in more familiar conversation schemes. One
such example is MASSIVE.
It provides users with information such as: whether or not they
have met a person before, if they are staring or using the same
object. It also lets users obtain different visualizations of
the same space from near and far.
There have been many reimplementations
of the letter and telephone. It will be interesting to see how
systems evolve when we take advantage of the sensory capabilities
of electronic systems and use them to enhance the familiar. |
Bibliography
© November
2000
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