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From: anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.social
Subject: Electronic Relationships
Message-ID: <140@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 9-Aug-86 12:26:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.140
Posted: Sat Aug  9 12:26:37 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Aug-86 06:04:53 EDT
Distribution: na
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 34

A recent posting referred to meeting face-to-face a person
one had previously known only by wire, and being taken aback
by the correspondent's reserve.
   I think this is a key factor. A person addressing the screen
(as it were) can be significantly different from the same person
addressing your face. Obviously, you *see* one another, and you
have many nonverbal clues that complement your interchange. The
electronic exchange is nearly *all* verbal, and your self-image
is less a factor, as long as you are articulate enough.
   I recently struck up an electronic "friendship" (although it
is too early to call it that, in my view), and I find that I
have very lively images of what that person might be like in
the flesh. My images are very positive, based exclusively (so
far) on the quality of the messages we have exchanged. But it
could easily be that *something* would override those positive
images if we actually met.
   One of my working hypotheses is that in electronically-
mediated relationships, "person" should be understood as
"persona" (by contrast, in direct relationships, person is
more than persona). I am more than one persona, and perhaps a
different one (no, not schizophrenic) with each recipient.
   For the purpose of discussion, I wonder about:
1.  Are people more interesting in their electronic
    manifestations than in their "real" ones (at least often
    enough to mean something)?
2.  What are the specific advantages of the electronic form?
3.  Its specific (nonobvious) disadvantages?
-- 

==UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz,  =========================Jess Anderson======
|    akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson   1210 W. Dayton    |
| ARPA:                    anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu   Madison, Wi 53706 |
| BITNET:                            anderson@wiscmacc   608/263-6988      |
==If there is no other, there is no I.===================(Chuang Tsu)=======