Page 184 - Culture Technology Communication

Diversity in On-Line Discussions 167

The Study

This research goes beyond the question of availability and technical
proficiency to examine cultural and gender differences in communi-
cation patterns, and how these differences specifically affect who ac-
tually controls and directs these on-line discussions.
Listservs are only one form of on-line communication and are
used for maintaining e-mail-based distribution lists on the Internet.
Anyone who can send and receive Internet e-mail can access a list-
serv depending on its owner’s permission. To subscribe to the list-
serv a potential user needs only to send an e-mail message to the
listservs system. The listserv studied here was set up for graduate
and undergraduate students enrolled in a global telecommunica-
tions course at a major urban university in the United States. Other
purposes of this implementation were also to explore the feasibility
of listservs for enhancing the live classroom experience—with the
possibility of using this technology as one component of a distance
learning environment—as well as to evaluate more closely the char-
acteristics and effectiveness of the group discussion process using
this technology.
This listserv was intended to create an open dialogue on topics
related to the class. Given previous research (Balka 1993; Herring
1993), however, showing the tendency of a small group of individu-
als to dominate listserv discussions, the instructor established
“netiquette” or guidelines for communication behavior in the dis-
cussion. These guidelines included no flaming (or personal attacks),
no shouting (the use of all capital letters), no personal messages,
and no really long messages.
Topics were generally raised by the students and were related to
the course material in global telecommunications. In addition, the
graduate students were given the further responsibility of keeping
meaningful discussion going on the listserv. The topics addressed the
impact of technology around the world from social as well as politi-
cal and economic perspectives, and issues of cultural diversity and
gender featured prominently in many of the discussions.
Twenty-two people, consisting of graduate and upper-division
undergraduate students, the course instructor and a guest instruc-
tor, participated in the listserv discussion for four months. The par-
ticipants represented a broad range of ages from twenty to fifty,
though most were twenty to thirty years of age. The class met in-
person once per week and participated in the listserv discussion
throughout the week. There were nine males and thirteen females