Exercise 1: Electronic versus face-to-face communication

SeeStorm Messenger is a chat room that can be found on C-Net's www.chat.com and allows for conversations to occur over the Internet. You can talk with friends, family members, and acquaintances without the expense of a long-distance telephone call. Your voice-to-voice interaction is also enhanced with 3D characters (you can choose to be a movie star, a sports legend, or a well-known politician).

After you have used SeeStorm Messenger or a similar chat room, compare it with communication that occurs in person. What nonverbal cues are you missing when you communicate online? Do you have additional cues online that you do not have in face-to-face communication? Which do you prefer? Why?

Exercise 2: Emoticons

Internet emoticons were discussed in this chapter. Internet users use many standard emoticons. Perhaps you have some unique symbols you use to communicate with close friends and family. Analyze some of the e-mail messages you have received to determine how often your friends, family, and acquaintances use emoticons in general. What can you conclude about emoticons in these messages? How many of them are standard (generally understood and used by multiple people)? Did you find any that are unique to the two of you? What is the purpose of using emoticons? Does the purpose change when you use specialized or idiosyncratic emoticons with just one other person? Explain.