Characteristics of Establishing Social Interaction in Computer-Mediated Communication
Characteristics of Establishing Social Interaction in Computer-Mediated Communication

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the problems concerning establishing and keeping on-line relationships, i.e. relationships formed by individuals through the virtual space of the internet, especially in chat-rooms, discussion forums or via electronic mail. The article focuses on various theories which explain communication dynamics in computer-mediated communication. On the other hand, it enumerates different examples of establishing on-line relationships. In the face of a partly different communication context (anonymity, the lack of some elements, typical of "normal", i.e. face-to-face conversation) the very relationships are formed in a slightly different way than usual face-to-face love relationships or friendships. The author is interested whether we are faced with some kind of process of passivisation of interlocutors. On-line partners can ascribe certain problems concerning on-line relationships to "limited" media (i.e. computer-mediated communication), through which their relationships are formed. They ascribe to the media the unability to support relationships in order to disguise their own unpreparedness to establish integral relationships. The author brings attention to characteristics of computer-mediated communication, which enables a very controlled 267 interaction, in which we are faced with at least a partly different context of communication than in face-to-face communication. In view of such problems, the author enumerates different factors which function as contextual elements in establishing on-line relationships.

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