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Usenet, otherwise know
as newgroups, is a form of communication in which subjects are broken into categories and
participants can read and post messages to the entire group. The structure of the
Usenet newsgroups differs greatly from chatrooms. First, Usnet is open to all of the
public, and remains available to the public for an extended period of time. This feature
has effects on the style and formality of the writing. Each message posted to the
newsgroups I have studied have taken on the form resembling a letter "To whom it may
concern:". Studying these posts led me to believe that the users are more
concerned about the appearance and reaction of the people who read their specific message. Posts to the usenet newsgroups tend to have a short generalized greeting to those they believe will be reading their message. The wide range of people who read the newsgroup post affects those who post to them. The asynchronous postings to the Usenet allow each member to compose their message in their own time frame and allow the user to perfect the appearance of their post before sending. Usnet messages are in chronological order and not grouped according to content. I have found this aspect of the newsgroup somewhat frustrating. One cannot follow a string of postings without weeding through a lot of junk postings (another few topics that are of no interest to me). When people respond to another person's post, a direct quoting of the original post is usually found. This helps aquaint the other users and the originator of the post to the exact words to which they are responding. Warning, if you use the Usenet newsgroups to try to find research on a particular subject, you must be aware of the validity of the message. I have found several posts in the newsgroups containing individuals searching for information about subjects for reports and research projects. The individuals responding to your message may or may not have accurate information on the subject. One should not rely upon the second hand information given. Many times web sites are given out on the newsgroups for other people to visit. In my observation, most are an individual's home page. If you are given an Internet address to check out, make a decision on its validity. The best resources to use are well-known and documented resource centers. Greetings, Good-byes, and clarity of speech
differ greatly between Usenet and the chatrooms. Ranked as the following from most formal
and grammatically correct to the most personal: Usenet, Interactive game chat, Public
forum (meet the public type chat room), chats that are met on a daily basis (with a
centralized group), and the private chat rooms (in which family and close friends can
speak without being interrupted). Though familiarity in itself does not make a
community, I believe the greater familiarity among the people included, the more
community-like it becomes. The question of whether it is a community is yet to be
found. In my opinion, these types of communication help us to have more open
relationships. In the Star Trek the Next Generation example from Sherry Turkle's
last chapter, Picard had a virtual experience as Caiman from Catahn, where he learned to
play the Ressiccan flute and encountered a love he never had the chance to have in his
real life. The experience he had in Virtual reality enabled him to find love in his real
life. Likewise, such virtual experiences may have the same effect on people through
computer mediated communication. |
This document was created April 26, 1998 and last modified on .
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Please send comments and suggestions to shermarc@miamioh.edu