Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-crg!rutgers!sri-unix!hplabs!hplabsc!taylor From: taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) Newsgroups: mod.comp-soc Subject: Re: Computer Networks and Literacy Message-ID: <908@hplabsc.UUCP> Date: Mon, 1-Dec-86 16:14:42 EST Article-I.D.: hplabsc.908 Posted: Mon Dec 1 16:14:42 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 2-Dec-86 20:04:26 EST Reply-To: hlr@well.UUCP (Howard Rheingold) Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories Lines: 24 Approved: taylor@hplabs Reference: <882@hplabsc.UUCP> This article is from hplabs!well!hlr (Howard Rheingold) and was received on Wed Nov 26 12:12:23 1986 Steve North comments; >computer networks bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator. >..a narrow-bandwidth, impoverished medium like glorified electronic mail >when you can meet face to face? There are instances in which one might choose to use a narrow-bandwidth bandwidth medium like glorified electronic mail, for precisely the reasons you cite as disadvantages: Sometimes it is valuable to allow the meek, mild, generally quiet members of the group to speak up, flammage and all. And sometimes it is valuable to keep the Chairman of the Department in his place, without blasting his Presence all over everybody. An interesting article by Sara Kiesler, sociologist at Carnegie-Mellon, appeared in the January-February issue of _Harvard Business Review_ on the subject of "The Hidden Messages of Computer Networks." Kiesler conducted some experiments and noted the differences in decision-making styles between face-to-face meetings and online meetings of the same groups of people. The object is to use an appropriate communication medium for the task at hand. A key sentence from Kiesler's article: "The real payoffs, as well as the social issues, will come from the way the technologies loosen up communication."