|
“When a computer network connects people, it is a social network.
Just as a computer network is a set of machines connected by a set of cables, a social network is a set of people connected by a set of socially meaningful relationships” (Barry Wellman, “An Electronic Group is Virtually a Social Network”)
“It’s (computer mediated communication) disguise is the notion of interaction. CMC claims to be an interactive medium, but that is true only in terms of the computer itself, the computer
being a non-interactive machine. When I am engaged in CMC, in point of fact I am actually engaging a computer” (Thomas Loughlin, “Virtual Relationships: The Solitary World of CMC”).
So is
it possible to establish a community through computer- mediated communication? Is it possible for computer-mediated communication to be interpersonal? What are the social and communication implications
of new technologies? These and other questions set up the controversies on this issue.
|
