Message size constraints on discourse planning in synchronous computer-mediated communication

Author(s): Condon, S. L.

Journal/Book: Behav Res Method Instrum Comp. 1998; 30: 1710 Fortview Rd, Austin, TX 78704. Psychonomic Soc Inc. 255-263.

Abstract: Three groups of 20 dyads planned the MTV Music Video Awards Show over computers. The groups varied in whether they could send 4-line, 10-line, or 18-line messages, in part to examine whether increased planning efficiency in computer-mediated communication reflects communication strategies associated with constraints on message size. The results demonstrate that increased efficiency is not a function of such design features as the maximum message that may be sent. However, the subjects in the 4-line condition sent shorter messages to one another, were less likely to engage in a strategy of making multiple suggestions that required a single assent, and were more likely to differ in the relative proportion of their contributions to the discourse. The subjects in the 10-line condition had shorter maximum messages (and proportionately more disfluencies) than did those in the 18-line condition, despite the finding that the maximum messages of the latter would have also fit within 10 lines. Thus, the results also support a claim that size of the text window may result in different discourse management strategies and may influence an initial discourse-planning stage.

Note: Article Cech CG, Univ SW Louisiana, Dept Psychol, Lafayette,LA 70504 USA

Keyword(s): FACE-TO-FACE; DECISION-MAKING

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