Computers, Phones and the Internet: Domesticating Information Technology

Ch.20. Rhythms and Ties: Toward a Pragmatics of Technologically Mediated Sociability. Christian Licoppe and Zbigniew Smoreda

ABSTRACT:

Mediated interpersonal communications (from paper letters to various forms of electronic communication) provide new topics for social networks research. Personal networks not only shape but are shaped by technological means for communication. In this paper we analyze mediated sociability resulting from the dynamic interplay between the structure of social networks, the various types of exchanges supported by social bonds (made up of a succession of embodied gestures and language acts) and the range of available technological resources to sustain such exchanges. Each of these components of mediated sociability acts both as a constraint on and a resource for the practices involved in the management of sociability. Based on several empirical studies, we discuss in more detail the rhythms or time patterns of mediated exchange, contrasting an intermittent and a continuous regime for mediated sociability. In the former regime, ICTs are used to bridge over distance. The corresponding relational economy is structured by an inverse relationship between geographical distance and frequency of mediated exchanges, and a direct one between geographical distance and the size of mediated exchanges. In the latter regime, privileged correspondents continuously meet and exchange phone calls, emails and SMS. In this seamless web of mediated communication that make up the very fabric of connected presence, communication as a gesture or token of attention may be more meaningful than what is said or written

Back to table of contents for Computers, Phones and the Internet