so I am sitting in a programme committee meeting using Eddie Kohler's excellent Hotcrp conference management software - this is used for writing reviews, putting in comments to other PC members and writign discussion notes between PC members during the processs - but it occurs to me that I am blogging it using the same form entry stuff in blogger.com, and I am posting stuff in facebook using a similar form and in facebook status updates in a similar form - these are all completely different activities yet if one comes to one activity from another, one might mix up the kind of frame of mind one shoudl be in - for example, people posting status update on facebook are very similar in their approach to people tweeting on twitter (lots of bitchin - a bit like youtube comments:) whereas reviewing a paper is a serious activity giving rational for a score/rank and communicating feedbakc to authors (maybe to fix the paper if accepted, or to improve for submissio nelsewhere - and comments to the PC or discussion notes to other PC members are not for publication, but also should be considered at least, rather than subjective/emotive/assertive...
so how would one provide the right "illocutionary act" mindset to an input form (and its display once edit is finished) graphically? fonts, colours, what?
3 comments:
Surely unnecessary? We could make the appropriate context switch for paper. We used the same (more or less) type paper for writing equations, writing shopping lists and writing notes saying "no milk today". Why would a text input form on a computer be more mentally taxing to make this switch of frame of mind?
that kind of begs the question
people do write differently in SMS, Twitter, e-mail and word processors - so why? I dunno....but people have done studies of content (certainly comparing online comms with traditional letters, as well as looking at txt and emoticons etc...
anyhow, maybe you're right and I'm too academic:)
I wonder if it is not connected to the medium but instaed an evolved culture for certain groups for a certain medium. When I started using BBS n the late 80s there was a text-like abbreviated slang used which had certain rules. My peer group tended to use that for online comms (IM/blog equivalents). When txt spk developed separately then my peer group dropped the abbreviated slang and it quickly became "uncool" for online comms even though the medium had not chnaged -- I think it was a subconscious means of differentiation. Most people I know write telegraphese on SMS but most avoid txt spk specifics.
I don't think I write too differently on twitter and on SMS -- then I use the same interface for both so that is a point to you.
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