Since
CMC is more interactive and less formal than an essay or research paper,
it is not uncommon to find novel ways to express emotions that you wouldn’t
find in formal expository writing.
In the
hands of the “experienced CMC user, CMC is just as rich a communication
event as the telephone and face-to-face, just different” (Rourke,
Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 2001, p. 54). These findings seem
to fly in the face of other education literature that “suggests
that CMC does not have the capacity to support social and affective
interaction” (p. 53). Rourke et al cite a study that found “27%
of the total message content [as found by transcript analysis] consisted
of expressions of feelings, self-introduction, jokes, compliments, greetings
and closures (p. 54).
The indicator
for Rourke et al transcript analysis for the affective category and
the “expression of emotions” is: “Conventional expressions
of emotion, or unconventional expressions of emotion, includes repetitious
punctuation, conspicuous capitalization, emoticons” (p. 61). The
margins of this web page are full of various emoticons.
Add to
above list the unconventional combination of letters to form sounds.
For example, "Grrrr" is a growl.
For Fahy
(2002) in his “Transcipt Analysis Tool”, “scaffolding/engaging”
statements include “phatic communion” or any statement whose
sole purpose is the building of connection less substance (including
emoticons and the above ‘Grrr’) (p.2).
Fahy’s
scaffolding/engaging statements include text versions of warm verbalizations.
For example, “Hey Bro hanging out there in Hawaii, surf’s
up have fun!”
Reference:
Fahy, P.
(2002). The Athabasca University CDE Text Analysis Tool (TAT). (Unpublished).
(Dr. Pat Fahy can be contacted through HYPERLINK "http://cde.athabascau.ca".
Rourke,
L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing
social presence in asynchronous text-based computer conferencing. Journal
of Distance Education, 14(21), 50-71.
