Text, audio, visual...what is next ?

I have spent many hours reading through the Pyschology
of Cyberspace articles.......and yet I came away with a
sense of something missing.

There is alot of discussion about MUDS or Email and it is in
part recognizable......but also very limited compared to
what I know. I spent the first two years on the net on a
Telnet talker which is very similar to a MUD but without the
character role aspect. On the Telnet talkers.....you go on
as who you are or who you want to be but not playing a part
in any overall theme or game. I guess they are more like
IRC and yet having the ability to portray an impression by
having the option to create a room discription.

From there I went to Freetel which is an audio/text program.
Using a microphone I could talk to anyone in the world - for
free, share laughter, tears, pain and happiness listen to
music or TV with them. I could read favorite passages out
of a book to someone, listen to them talk about their lives,
hear the wind or the rain.....hear them share secrets and
fears...and yet still remain anonymous while doing so. But
the "hearing" aspects gives a dimension to the net that no
text based program could ever emulate. You could hear when
someone was annoyed at you, or angry, or happy......it
bought about a more humanizing aspect to internet
interactions........and yet one where you had to be even
more careful about what you voiced out-loud. For two years
I used Freetel, I learnt to speak words of greeting in other
languages, and learnt in an odd sense....what it is like to
be blind and live in a world of hearing only. It is quite
amazing just what we do hear when that is our only sense
working.

Then about 18 months ago, I moved on to using a video
program. The video quality is stunning...to see someone
blink, yawn, smile, to watch emotions pass over peoples
faces........to see them get up and move around a room...
.....meet their families, their pets...see where they live..
....all in living color........it is like stepping through
the looking glass into someone else's world......and having
them step into yours. The video picture is normally a quarter
of the screen ....with the option of making it full screen
as well) Added to this....is that you also have both text
and audio communication going as well. The senses are
expanded greatly....can you for example imagine my delight
...in having a friend turn his camera to look out the
window and to see the rolling green hills of Scotland
appear before me on screen.......and his surprise when I
turned my camera to outside to show the arid land desert
of Australia that I live in. Amazing yes......but sadly the
problems that go along with this form of medium are
intensified ten fold.

In this medium....we have moved from just having the
pictures in imagination to actually having the imagination
visually in front of us....of seeing what a person looks
like within the first few seconds...and not having to wait
while a photo is sent. This program is made up of a number
of servers, 3 are g-rated for families to use....and nine
are x-rated. The balance of the servers speaks volumne.
And yet even here......with the added impact of seeing
faces......the boundaries are still missing. The abuse both
visually, audibly and written can be quite overwhelming....
....

This form of internet medium is adding new dimensions.
If we thought that people found it difficult to cope with
a partner having a cyber affair on a an old fashioned
text talk program or by email...........well imagine what
it is like now !!!!!!! For even though we are now showing
more of the real self in this medium, it only takes to
change your name to again become 'unrecognisable'.

My reason for writing to this forum is to inquire whether
any research has been or is being done on the
interactions of people in these new forms of online
communication. As yet I have been unable to find any
literature written about it.......which seems strange....
given the potential this form of communication has for
improving or destroying relationships and redefining our
the very levels at which we do communicate in this medium.

Siam

Replies:

Re:Text, audio, visual...what is next ?, by John Suler, 4/29/99

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright ©1996-1999 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.