Evolution of Media
1 INTRODUCTION
Empirical research on electronic communication (e-communication) behavior has been taking place since the 1970s, leading to the build up of a large body of evidence, which several researchers have tried to summarize through theories. These theories (for comprehensive reviews, see Carlson and Davis 1998; Teeni 2001) have emphasized the role that several factors have on behavior toward e-communication tools, notably: communication medium (e.g., degree of nonverbal cues available), collaborative task
(e.g., level of equivocality and complexity), social environment (e.g., level of peer pressure for or against the use of a particular e-communication tool), and learned information processing schemas (e.g., degree of skill in connection with the use of a certain e-communication tool).
Surprisingly, though, virtually no e-communication theory looked at the role that biology or, more specifically, our biological communication apparatus, may have on behavior toward e-communication tools. The goal of this paper is to try to fill this gap by looking at how we evolved our biological communication apparatus, which seems to be designed primarily for face-to-face communication (i.e., synchronous and colocated communication employing facial expressions, body language, and oral speech), and providing a theory-based discussion of what should happen when we selectively suppress face-to-face communication elements (e.g., colocation, the ability to employ facial expressions, etc.) through e-communication technologies. Our discussion
Kock/Evolution and Media Naturalness
374 2002 Twenty-Third International Conference on Information Systems involves the development of a new theoretical hypothesis, referred to here as the media naturalness hypothesis, which argues that, other things being equal, a decrease in the degree of naturalness of a communication medium (or its degree of similarity to the face-to-face medium) leads to the following effects in
Empirical research on electronic communication (e-communication) behavior has been taking place since the 1970s, leading to the build up of a large body of evidence, which several researchers have tried to summarize through theories. These theories (for comprehensive reviews, see Carlson and Davis 1998; Teeni 2001) have emphasized the role that several factors have on behavior toward e-communication tools, notably: communication medium (e.g., degree of nonverbal cues available), collaborative task
(e.g., level of equivocality and complexity), social environment (e.g., level of peer pressure for or against the use of a particular e-communication tool), and learned information processing schemas (e.g., degree of skill in connection with the use of a certain e-communication tool).
Surprisingly, though, virtually no e-communication theory looked at the role that biology or, more specifically, our biological communication apparatus, may have on behavior toward e-communication tools. The goal of this paper is to try to fill this gap by looking at how we evolved our biological communication apparatus, which seems to be designed primarily for face-to-face communication (i.e., synchronous and colocated communication employing facial expressions, body language, and oral speech), and providing a theory-based discussion of what should happen when we selectively suppress face-to-face communication elements (e.g., colocation, the ability to employ facial expressions, etc.) through e-communication technologies. Our discussion
Kock/Evolution and Media Naturalness
374 2002 Twenty-Third International Conference on Information Systems involves the development of a new theoretical hypothesis, referred to here as the media naturalness hypothesis, which argues that, other things being equal, a decrease in the degree of naturalness of a communication medium (or its degree of similarity to the face-to-face medium) leads to the following effects in