Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The present experiment examined how the lack of individuating information affects message elaboration and conformity to group norms in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC). Participants made decisions about choice dilemma scenarios and exchanged their arguments with three ostensible partners via computer. Consistent with the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE), those who had exchanged personal profiles with their partners were better able to differentiate between strong and weak arguments and were more likely to make conformity decisions based on the message content than those who had not. On the other hand, those with no identity cues were more likely to factor in group identification for their conformity decisions. Results suggest that less systematic message processing and greater reliance on normative considerations account for how deindividuation moderates the effects of argument strength on group conformity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: For the past years, there have been a growing number of online communities and more and more people are getting involved in one or more online communities. Among many research and studies on online community, however, there is few examining online community with theoretical frameworks and many are descriptive. As online community is ubiquitous and becoming reality rather than remaining as hype, new concepts and understanding of this new social formation is imperative. The purpose of this paper is to provide such concepts and understanding by exploring central concepts of community and social aspects of CMC. Fundamental elements of online community are assessed to see whether it contains the elements of community and how CMC affect those elements.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: The Internet provides a magnificent engine for information seeking for just about everything, from replacement parts and obscure facts to interpersonal information. That the Internet provides modes for initiating and managing relationships is a fact (see Duck, 2008). More and more new applications come into being for the primary purpose of gathering and sharing personal information to friends and acquaintances, to discover and appraise possible social partners, and to maintain relationships. As a result of these new applications, people are able to gather not just more, but different kinds of information about others than the Internet, or other conversational means, formerly allowed. Not long ago, the interpersonal information people exchanged online was verbal (typed), and under the relatively complete control of the sender: What you said about yourself, explicitly or implicitly, was reflected in your email, your discussion-board postings, or your chat room comments. The early World Wide Web added more modalities—photos and linking—and although control remained with the page author, the effects of additional visual information produced complex effects on impressions and relations. As the Internet has developed, more information about people becomes available through involuntary sources—database archives of past behavioral traces and third-party comments—that further complicate issues of control and the impact of information. The manner in which people use these archives and socially-shared commenting systems can be understood conceptually by mapping their actions and online resources to a model of Internet information seeking strategies. This manuscript examines recent models, findings, and promising new research directions related to the way people seek and share interpersonal information via the Internet. It will attempt to illuminate that social information-seeking phenomena (seeking personal, interpersonal, and descriptive information about other people) via the Internet sometimes results in counter-intuitive effects on basic impressions and evaluations of others. These ironic effects of more information, particularly the influence of photos, raise challenges for traditional models of computer-mediated communication, and add interesting new boundaries to the model of hyperpersonal communication in online settings. This manuscript further examines a recent model of online information seeking that expands the traditional typology of information seeking strategies, and encompasses new applications like search engines, databases, and social networking sites. Finally, it examines new concepts and new directions in research premised on the notion that the Internet now often presents multiple information sources—information by target people and information about target people left by others—and how these developments, too, may affect social information seeking and social information processing on the Internet.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The existing theories about the interpersonal interaction in computer-mediated communication (CMC) were categorized into three perspectives (impersonal, personal and hyperpersonal interaction), and evaluated. One of the main critiques about the previous studies based on those perspectives, however, was that they have only focused on quantitative elements such as the amount, time and rate of message exchanged in the interpersonal CMC. Based on such critique, this study performed qualitative research of the university students¡¯ diverse instant messaging (IM) usage behaviors and attitudes. As hyperpersonal interaction perspective predicted, students had high degree of interpersonal interaction through IM. However, the degree of the interpersonal interaction experienced by students varied depending on how they perceived and used IM, from considering IM as a casual communication channel to using it as a relationship management or filtering tool. This study found that the degree of the interpersonal interaction in CMC is determined by diverse factors such as users¡¯ motives, communication types, or the degree of users¡¯ participations in communication, rather than only by the characteristics of the communication medium.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study investigates the effects of social cues in collaborations with computer mediated communication systems. A distinction is made between cues that provide information about the individual (personal identity cues) and cues that convey information about group membership (social identity cues). Results show that personal cues affect impression formation in that they reduce ambiguity. However, effects of personal cues on work satisfaction and subjective performance are moderated by social identity cues. Participants who are identified with a social group do not require personal cues when the partner is an ingroup member. High identifiers expressed perceiving a higher shared identity with an ingroup partner when personal cues were absent, and this could be the process underlying the results. Implications for the use of CMC in inter- and intra-group settings (organizational as well as private) are discussed.