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Internet communication has changed the way that people interact with one another on a large scale. Through email and various on-line groups, individuals who would never have communicated, from various sections of the state, country, and the world are able to come together and share information and ideas. In today�s computer driven society, one can purchase almost anything on-line through such services as E-Bay. Information is at our fingertips through online search engines such as Yahoo, Google, and MSN. People with similar interests can meet and share thoughts by joining one of thousands of newsgroups that exist on the internet. Topics for newsgroups know no boundaries and are seemingly limitless. It is possible that, if one person has an interest in some particular topic, there is most likely a group of people on the internet chatting in cyber-land about whatever that topic of interest might be. The question is how has this ease of communication through the internet effected how individuals interact with one another? In situations without the boundaries of face-to-face communication, such as internet chat room�s and email, to control one�s environment and with the immediateness of internet communication as factors, are people becoming more or less formal in their written communications? Without face-to-face communication the ability of one to take on another personality it simple. Ranging from the rather drastic idea of wondering if the person one is harmlessly chatting with on a topic as tame as cooking is actually �Estelle the 65 year old retired nurse� as portrayed in her on-line profile or �Bob the 35 year old psycho-stalker� who wants you to think he�s Estelle, to the simple idea of the feeling of freedom promoted through communication minus face-to-face contact, Internet based communication through email and items such as chat rooms and newsgroups have definitely added a new dimension to written communication.
For this specific assignment we were instructed to choose a newsgroup to follow, study, and evaluate. I chose a group through Google found at misc.fitness.aerobic. In the past weeks that I have followed my group, I have gotten an idea of the general topics of discussion and style of communication, including formalness of language, word usage, slang, need to stay on task, and handling of trolls, within the group and how electronic communication, as opposed to face-to-face conversation, effects this group interaction.
Those chatting at misc.fitness.aerobic, which I will hereafter refer to as The Cybergym, tended to stay on topic at almost all times. No matter when I entered The Cybergym, some discussion relating to exercise and/or nutrition was taking place. Topics included aerobic exercise, diet, aerobic music for fitness instructors, the best weight system to use, what type of exercise to do if a person wants to tone muscle as opposed to losing weight, or some topic of the like. I initially decided to monitor this group due to my own interest in fitness and diet. Looking back at some of the archived conversations, I decided this group would be an interest to me as a way of picking up information on a topic that I am always reading about in various magazines related to health and fitness. This was generally a correct assumption. Most of the participants within the group tended to be your average person who is interested in health and goes to the gym a few times a week. One portion of a conversation on cross training with a stationary bike which is a good example of a topic discussed in my group started out as follows:
Does anyone feel like they get benefit out of cross training on a stationary bike?? I read frequently about pro athletes (NBA, et al) who spend a lot of time on stationary bikes, both to build cardio fitness and to maintain it during injury rehab. My problem is that although I can work up a good sweat, I can�t seem to raise my heart rate�
All responses to this inquiry remained on topic and were generally positive and polite with advice such as increasing the resistance on the stationary bike in order to experience a higher heart rate and, therefore, more cardio benefit, to trying strength training with weights instead in order to burn more fat. Although not the most exciting response, this type of conversation is exactly what this type of newsgroup is meant for. A bit further into the conversation, however, things get less polite and prove that some people do feel they can speak more freely, even rudely, in written communication. It also proves how one can misinterpret the tone of another�s intended message due to lack of in-person communication.
As one of the responses to the question posed within the group relating to stationary bikes and what cross training benefits might exist through using one, someone listed as �Brian� stated:
I think the stationary bike is a great aerobic workout. You just have to really increase the rpm�s significantly to increase heartrate (tension isn�t that important unless your [sic] really bouncing on the seat!!). I like to pedal at 125-135 rpm for 5-7 mins. You will be dripping sweat in no time. I have no trouble maintaining 155-165 bpm for the �ride�. Just don�t do it more than a few times a week : ).
The response above is seemingly harmless and non-offensive. However, the response of an individual listed as �Bill R.� shows how one person�s interpretation of the tone or intent of another�s written communication can be completely different than someone else�s interpretation of the same statement. Bill R. states as follows:
Wow I�m impressed! I certainly hope nobody tries this more than �a few times a week� because god knows they might end up crippled, after doing a grueling, intense, loooooooooooong workout like that! You must be a real he-man there pal! Mountain of he-man muscle. I�m tired just writing about it. Fuckin� numbnuts�
Needless to say, one could easily find him or herself wondering what Bill R�s� problem was with �Mark�s� response�and possibly if Bill R. had taken too many creatine based dietary supplements and had created some sort of testosterone driven issue which he needs to join another newsgroup to discuss. Regardless of what one�s assumption might be with regard to �Bill R�s� response, it is easy to see how written communication through email lends itself to easy, quick, sometimes over-reactive responses because of miscommunication due to the absence of face-to-face relations.
Research into written communication has proven that a person tends to feel that he or she can be more open when writing to a person as opposed to face-to-face communication. One can assume this idea comes from the ability to seem anonymous in written communication. Even if a person is well acquainted with the individual whom he or she is writing to, the absence of having to deal with physically being present for an individual�s reaction to one�s written comments allows for a sort of freedom that does not exist in spoken communication. Proving this point is an essay by Michael Spooner and Kathleen Yancy titled, Postings on a Genre of Email. In this essay, the issue of email communication between teachers and students is discussed when attempting to prove the point that written communication tends to allow individuals to speak more freely, or even to sort of develop a persona used only in written communication. When discussing a situation wherein a teacher is communicating with students online and in the classroom and the difference between these two communications, Spooner and Yancy state, �They write me, they cc to me�They all greet each other as in a letter, and they all close: �See ya!s� and �Laters��They share news. Kim writes addressing me more as a friend than a teacher�Through the opaque window of email, she sees teacher as person. We begin to see each other a little differently, a little more fully� (Spooner and Yancy 257). As the language and tone within the teacher and student example by Spooner and Yancy was very casual, so was the language of those who posted messages within The Cybergym.
The Cybergym language was very informal. One thing that I took particular notice of was the fact that grammar and punctuation definitely took a backseat in all of the postings within the newsgroup. Most people who posted messages did not use much punctuation at all and many times did not capitalize anywhere within the posting. Things such as exclamation points and question marks tended to be used excessively. The individuals within the group also used emoticons, such as smiley faces, quite a bit. An example of this informal language usage, in addition to within the text that has already been quoted within this paper, from a posting by an individual knows as �Tornado� is as follows:
i�m looking to download any type of music from Aerobics to Step to Lee Mills programs, does anybody have anything, it would be much appreciated.
One with basic grammar and punctuation skills could easily spot the various issues with the statement above. Just to state two of the obvious problems, the first letter of the sentence should be capitalized and this one sentence should be separated into two sentences starting with the word �does�. To someone who is not an English major, these issues are probably non-problematic, however, looking at the quoted sentence above causes someone such as myself to cringe. Although my own writing is far from perfect, sloppy sentences such as the one quoted above cause me to reflect on the importance of grammar and punctuation in any written communication. Being an individual who communicates by email on a regular basis, it is clear to see that the immediateness and need for speed promoted by online communication, while online communication is admittedly wonderful and useful in countless ways, promotes the lack of regard for proper written communication. Another language related thing that online communication promotes is jargon specific to certain groups.
Although The Cybergym did have some of its own jargon, or words specific to exercise and fitness related topics and probably only known by those within the group and/or familiar with topics relating to health and fitness, it was not too jargon specific. Generally speaking, most of the health and fitness related words dealt with actual items used in working out, such as Total Gym, Bowflex, Soloflex, cross training, and the like. Although phrases such as these are specifically related to exercise, the average person could probably understand and participate in most of the conversations without feeling like an outsider. Every one in a while, a topic regarding proper heart rate or rate of speed of a specific cardio exercise would come up that could possibly throw off someone completely unaccustomed to the topic. In these conversations, heart rate would simply be referred to as �HR� or cardio rate would be referred to as �RPM�, meaning rate per minute, or �BPM�, meaning beats per minute. An example of such a posting by an individual listed as �Tony� reads as follows:
�As a contrast, when I go for long/slow runs, I have trouble keeping my HR as low as it should be. I have to use fairly low tension on the bike due to patellar tendonitis, but go at a high speed (90+ RPM) as I can.
Although an individual not accustomed to fitness related jargon may have a bit of trouble initially when reading a posting such as the one above, the terms are fairly easy to decipher.
One of the major issues that everyone who participated in the group seemed to have a problem with was the occasional troll. As most individuals know, the troll is that annoying cyber-jerk who has his or her fun going from chat to chat entering a conversation, making a rude or off-topic comment or, god forbid, trying to sell something, just for the mere joy of causing a raucous and getting a rise out of the group and then leaving. Within The Cybergym the troll that I saw most often was the evil salesperson. The salesperson troll can almost be equated with the telemarketer. The feeling of irritation that rises when one answers the phone, hears the one second pause, and then is asked if he or she has a cracked or chipped windshield is known by most everyone who owns a telephone. It�s the irritation of a waste of time. That was the same general feeling that was present within The Cybergym toward trolls. An example of one such troll is as follows:
I�m Herve, I�m French and I would like to greet everyone in this group. I would love to share this great info with those who want to Burn the Fat, Build Lean Muscle Mass, Increase Physical Performance while Gaining Energy and Mental Alertness�How about a little Mocha? Matronix is a delicious chocolate drink that provides you with a pleasant burst of energy while increasing your body�s metabolism to help you lose weight�
The presence of �Herve� within the group was not well taken. As a matter of fact, although Herve posted a few more messages within the chat, he was generally ignored. No one acknowledged �Herve�s� existence until approximately five posting into the chat when �Bill R.� and �Mark� who had actually had �words� with one another approximately one week prior on the chat noted within this paper, banded together and drove �Herve� out of the group. That exchange went as follows: Mark said, �Get out troll�. Backing up Mark, Bill R. said, �Yeah, no kidding asshole. Why don�t you come up with a slightly more clever way to sell your crap?�
The reaction by �Mark� and �Bill R.� as noted above was the general welcome and dismissal given to anyone deemed a troll within the group.
Having followed this group for over a month, misc.fitness.aerobic turned out to generally be a dud. Although the group did stay on topic and most of its participants were the average person with an interest in fitness and working out, it tended to be more of an ego stroking forum for a certain few individuals who liked to control the conversation. Nothing particularly interesting was ever really discussed within the group. The health and fitness discussion was very surface and non-revealing. New members were not widely accepted to the group and, many times, questions that were considered amateur or uninteresting by the controlling few were dismissed or even responded to in a sarcastic tone. Sarcasm seemed to be present in many responses which causes one to wonder how many of the sarcastic responses were prompted by initial misinterpretation of one person�s tone due to lack of spoken communication.
In today�s computer driven society it is a fact that information and communication are at our fingertips. While electronic communication is irreplaceable in its ability to allow families, friends, and people with similar interests to come together without the need for face-to-face communication or the slowness of regular mail, miscommunication is always now a real concern. The ability to develop a written communication based persona is easy and something that everyone must keep in mind when conversing within chat rooms and newsgroups. It is true that if one person has an interest in some particular topic, there is most likely a group of people on the internet chatting in cyber-land about whatever that topic of interest might be. The fact of the matter is, regardless of any drawbacks that might be of concern when considering electronic based communication, the swiftness and immediacy of email and all on-line communication is irreplaceable in our speed based society. Internet based communication through email and things such as chat rooms and newsgroups have added a new and irreplaceable dimension to written communication.
Brian. �Cross training on a stationary bike; heart rate� Online Posting. 10 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 11 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.
Brian. �Burn The Fat�How about a little mocha??� Online Posting. 18 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 21 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr+&ie+UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.
Herve. �Burn The Fat�How about a little mocha??� Online Posting. 18 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 21 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.
Mtn. �Cross training on a stationary bike; heart rate� Online Posting. 10 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 11 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.
Rogers, Bill. �Cross training on a stationary bike; heart rate� Online Posting. 10 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 11 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.
Rogers, Bill. �Burn The Fat�How about a little mocha??� Online Posting. 18 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 21 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.
Spooner, Michael and Kathleen Yancy. �Postings on a Genre of Email� CCC. 47.2, May 1996 (252- 278).
Tony. �Cross training on a stationary bike; heart rate� Online Posting. 10 Feb. 2003. Google Online Newsgroup. 11 Feb. 2003. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.fitness.aerobic>.