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This piece in the Washington Post, summarizes research by Jeffrey Cole from UCLA examining the impact of the Internet on interpersonal relationships. He argues that the Internet creates new forum for interpersonal contact. You can also download a copy of the entire report from the UCLA Center for Communications Policy. The report is entitled "Surveying the Digital Future." The report is available in .PDF format.
UCLA Center for Communications Policy
Research reports from the Center focus on the impact of Internet use on interpersonal relationships. The most recent report examines how people used the Internet in the aftermath of the September 11 events.
Pew Internet and American Life Project
A series of studies conducted by the Pew Organization reflect the use if the Internet in interpersonal communications. Of special note are the studies of Teenage Live Online, Online Communities and Wired Seniors. The full text of each of these can be downloaded as a .pdf file.
A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet
Reports based on U.S. Census data for 2000 and interim studies conducted by the Census Bureau examine increased use of the Internet in a wide range of contexts.
Study Takes a Look Social Consequences of Net Use
This is Stanford Online Report by Kathleen O'Toole summarizing the methodology and findings of the study conducted by Norman Nie of the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society and Lutz Erbring of the Free University of Berlin about the social implications of Internet use. As Internet use grows, Americans report they spend less time with friends and family, shopping in stores or watching television, and more time working for their employers at home -- without cutting back their hours in the office. A full text of the Study of the Social Consequences of the Internet is available as a .PDF document.
Ten Years After the Birth of the Internet, How Do Americans Use the Internet in their Daily Lives?
A second study by Norman Nie and the Standford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society surveys demographic and social factors of Internet usage with special reference to the amounts of time people spend communicating online.
Virtual-Communities, Virtual Settlements & Cyber-Archeaology: A Theoretical Outline
Do we create a sense of community through online interactions? This is the question taken up by Quinten Jones in this essay.
Howard Rheingold is a pioneer in the development of virtual communities and author of the book, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Of special note on his home page is the text and link to an RealAudio file of a speech that he presented on the BBC entitled Community Development in the Cybersociety of the Future.
E-Government: The Next American Revolution
This study examined use of the Internet and other technologies for expanding the reach and availability of e-government. The report is available as a PDF file.
Advisory Committee Congressional Internet Caucus
This page provides links to reports about a wide range of issues dealing with the use of the Internet in govrernment.
A survey conducted by the Pew Organization with its project entitled Pew Internet and American Life Project found how important being online is to teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17. The report indicates that teens spend a significant amount of time online and value the use of the Internet as a means of communicating in relationships with friends, family and at school. The study coined the term "instant messaging generation" to describe teen users who relate to one another online. A full text is available in .pdf format.
Daniel Chandler from the University of Whales offers this page of essays and links on computer mediated communication.
Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?
This research, reported in the Journal of Developmental Psychology, examined the social and psychological impact of the Internet on 169 people in 73 households during their first 1 to 2 years on-line using longitudinal data to examine the effects of the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being.
The Final Showdown Between In-Person and Cyberspace Relationships
Subtitled, "Can I hold you in Cyberspace?", this is an article by John Suler from his online book the Psychologoy of Cyberspace. In this article, Suler examines in person relationships and cyberspace relationships with particular reference to the presence and absence of nonverbal channels of communication.
This page provides the details about a study conducted by Sophia W. McDowell that examined turning points in romantic relationships by looking at face-to-face interactions and relationships in which communication occured over the Internet. The study drew on a model of turning points developed by Baxter and Bullis.
Developing Personal and Emotional Relationships Via Computer-Mediated Communication
This is an article published online in CMC Magazine by by Brittney G. Chenault. If explores questions about how meaningful interpersonal relationships can be developed on the Internet.
The decline of conversation: with everybody wired, we are starved for face-to-face conversation. Jeff Minerd. The Futurist, Feb 1999 v33 i2 p18(2).
The widespread use of Internet and other high-technology communications systems risks increasing people's sense of isolation instead of drawing them together. Telecommunications cannot make up for the intimacy generated by non-verbal cues in face-to-face conversations. InfoTrac
Internet and Face-to-Face Communication: Not Functional Alternatives. Lisa M. Flaherty, Kevin J. Pearce and Rebecca B. Rubin. Communication Quarterly, Summer 1998 v46 i3 p250(1).
This empirical study examined whether users of online Internet communication perceived it to be a functional alternative to face-to-face communication. The findings indicated that use of the Internet as a communication channel is not perceived as a functional alternative to face-to-face communication. Computer mediated communication apprehension (CMCA) was linked to differences for communication motives. Subjects with high apprehension communicated on the Internet for inclusion and escape; they also used the Internet for social interaction, control, time-shifting, and habit motives. Low CMCAs communicated on the Internet for pleasure, affection, information, and entertainment, and communicated face-to-face for escape, time-shifting, and out of habit. People high in CMCA seem to use face-to-face channels as a distraction from the computer, whereas people low in CMCA use face-to-face channels because they enjoy it. InfoTrac.
Organizations and e-mail usage. Roberta H. Krapels and Frederik K. Moss. Business Communication Quarterly, Sep 1997 v60 n3 p117(7).
A survey shows that more than 23 million employees are online with e-mail capability and such statistics is expected to rise by the year 2000. Some of the office software packages include messaging system with their word processing, spreadsheet, and database programs. The increasing demand in electronic communication raise the possibility of outmoding e-mail in terms of teaching communication issues from a business perspective. InfoTrac.
Get rid of formal business meetings. Richard Nemec. Communication World, Dec 1997 v15 n1 p10(2).
Face-to-face meetings are anachronistic in an age when electronic mail, PC networks and other more efficient means of communication are available. InfoTrac
cultural context | self | relational development | listening & perception | messages | relationships
Copyright, 2000-05 by Terrence A. Doyle, Ph. D. Feedback to tdoyle@nvcc.edu