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Diversity in On-Line Discussions 181

tections afforded in those traditional face-to-face channels of com-
munication. In fact, some Net-watchers have observed that stripped
of the social courtesies and contextual factors of traditional commu-
nication channels, this emerging communication environment is
likely to be a less hospitable one than face-to-face (Adams, 1996).
Consequently, more than replicating traditional imbalances in com-
munication practice, this new environment also may not be comfort-
able for non-white, non-Americans, or females owing to its lack of
contextual factors. In other words, the Internet may by nature be
most conducive to the low-context culture of Western male society.
To this point, it is worth noticing that the African-American
women participated more in class than on-line. In fact, one of the
African-American women never joined the list (though it was re-
quired) and two only sent one message each. However, those women
regularly come to class and two of them participated actively in class
discussion. One of the observers remarked that it was if they felt
“protected” in the classroom situation. This disparity in mediated
communication environments has clear implications, then, as an in-
creasing amount of business, educational and even personal com-
munication is mediated.
While the lack of non-verbal cues is worthy of further examina-
tion, an even larger question emerges: is this technology actually
fashioned after the values and perspectives of those who have cre-
ated it (Rakow 1988; Spender 1995)? In the case of networked com-
munication systems, the technology appears to be based on the
dominant masculine value systems of Western society. In addition,
there is different access to the creation of the technology as well; and
the result has been the creation of a place were social practices ex-
tend the asymmetrical construction of power (Rakow 1988). Rakow
states that key task, then, is to gain an understanding of how power
is exercised through the technology.
With the growing use of computers, video games, and the Net,
we may have a generation of children emerging within where
everyone is equally comfortable in that environment. Also, the
technology is changing rapidly, with dramatic increases in channel
capacity, allowing for more and different cues to be included in the
communication process. However, as the Net becomes “tiered,” only
some individuals will have access to this greater speed and broad-
band capacity, and the implications for those already underrepre-
sented in those networked environments are enormous. Will they
have the “left-over” old Net, or will they have the Super New Net
that will allow them to have instant images, sound . . . maybe even
touch and smell?