Message is the Medium

I’m not sure that I personally agree with the idea that the medium is the message. This statement implies that the way a message is conveyed is just as important as the message itself. I disagree with this idea on a philosophical level. If the message is important enough, or if it’s meaning stands the test of time, and still has a heavy impact generation after generation, then the message itself stands apart from the medium. I mean that the message will be conveyed via many varied and different mediums over time. For example, religious ideas stem originally from manuscripts, texts, or the Bible. This message is the further expanded upon via sermons from preachers, priests, etc. Outside of religious circles, there has been a common theme among academia that teachers teach students. This started out in one-on-one learning, followed by classrooms, and now online classes and curriculums exist. All of this isn’t to say that the medium isn’t important in its own right. Often the medium used to convey a message is very important. For example, using the online class situation, the class needs to be structured in such a way that the class material will be conveyed in a pragmatic, meaningful, and understandable way. Presenting material through a lecture format may not be the best format when teaching an online course.

Online Relationships

I’ve had the occasional friend in cyberspace. They relationship dynamic is quite a bit different and in my opinion much more difficult to manage. Most of my relationships online were simple friendships with people in online games that we were both playing at the time. The chances that these friendships were strong enough to survive the distance between us, or how different the communication channels can be was very unlikely from my experiences. The difficulty for me is maintaining long distance relationships at all. The online communications tend to be a little bit more difficult to manage also as the tone of a message is often more difficult to convey with the written word alone. The use of emoticons or other visual keys to lend emphasis (e.g. *hints*) to the conversation are very prevalent. I tended to attempt to stay away from acronyms as the meaning can change based upon not only the context of the conversation but also the geographic location, and the society of the participants. For example, some of the acronyms I used were very localized to my society at the time, and while my friends were tolerant of certain misunderstandings, there was the misunderstanding to begin with. The online friendships take a lot more for me to maintain, as I have to spend much more time communicating rather than being in the same physical location. Being in the same space as your friends allows your actions to speak for you. This cannot be achieved with online relationships.

Interesting Section

The book section on mobile technology was of particular interest to me. I find that oftentimes when I’m commuting to work, I’m able to catch up on a majority of my outstanding phone calls. Prior to having this somewhat long commute, I found it sometimes difficult to find an appropriate time to dedicate towards making my phone calls. There are so many things that our society is now asking of us that it’s not surprising that the social ramifications towards communications has been adjusting recently. Making phone calls, taking phone calls, or instant messaging makes social situations very touch and go. Is it okay to pick up the phone when you’re at a meeting? The business aspect of this is additionally compounded by management having the perception that they can do whatever they want. Why this seems to be acceptable to me is very discomfiting. This combined with businesses giving employees a business mobile phone has led to the perception that the employees should be accessible at all hours of the day, evening and weekend. 

Environmental Considerations

Organizations are very closely tied to the environment. The businesses are dependent upon the local community for their employee base, and they need to take into consideration the societal influences. If the local community tends to lean towards a certain ethical, religious, or other mix then it would behoove the business from keeping that in consideration when making decisions. The relationship between the school I attend and the city it is located in also has a very tight knit effect on what kind of mentality the college will attract. If the college is looking to attract a certain type of demographic, political perspective, or cultural influence and the local community doesn’t support those types of people, then it’s obvious that the college should focus its incoming student populace on out-of-town attendees. The college has some ethical obligations to the local community. The most basic being that if the local community doesn’t appreciate how the college is managing their student population, this could lead to strained relations with businesses, police, or other community organizations. 

Etiquette

The etiquette rules in the text are pretty common knowledge concepts for the younger generations if they actually take the time to think about how their actions might be perceived. Taking into consideration those who you are communicating with, who might overhear, or see the message your sending should be almost as much of a concern as the message itself. I’ve not really been bothered too much by electronic devices. If I felt that there was someone I was interacting with who was using an electronic device inappropriately and hindering my work, or my communication, I would simply notify them of this and expect them to behave appropriately from then on. If they continued to act in a disrespectful manner, then I would ask them to leave the meeting, or excuse myself. Call waiting is one of those necessary evils for communicating in today’s society. Are there people who can abuse this? Sure, those people who typically forget that they do have someone holding on the other line, or again, who do not take into consideration the other person. If the person is going to be waiting on hold for a long period of time, communicate that with them, if they feel that it’s rude they will likely tell you this. 

Telecommuting

Being a programmer I’m always curious about how people utilize technology to improve their lives. The section in the book about Organizational Technology was very interesting to me. I have had intermittent success with telecommuting for my primary job at an established company. Typically, I’ve found with well-established management styles in the western states that management frowns upon the idea of telecommuting. Personally, I feel that this primarily stems from either not trusting your employees to do their work without direct constant supervision, which in itself if loaded with fallacies. Additionally, I believe that this also stems from our environment, where there typically aren’t very many good reasons why an employee is unable to make it into a shared workplace. I have this perspective from having my direct supervisor located in the mid-west as well as on the east coast. Apart from the west coast, there are more severe weather conditions that physically prevent people from commuting safely into work, and they are very much more open-minded about the concept of telecommuting. It is very much an unfortunate condition of telecommuting however, that it is currently reasonably difficult for non-technical people to coordinate meetings, teams, or project work over these distances. On the other hand, for technical people, this limitation is very minute.

Relationships: Romantic or otherwise...

I had to spend a lot of time thinking about how best to write this posting as I don’t want to come across as being too judgmental or hyper-critical. The filters that I tend to use when evaluating people as romantic partners tend to consist of the following: I have to be attracted to them physically and mentally; I have to be able to spend a lot of time with them; I have to have a reasonable amount of physical contact on a regular basis; and I have to be able to envision a future with this person. There is a point of clarification I want to make about those previous items. By attractiveness, I do not mean the typical physical beauty. I mean that my body must be chemically or emotionally stimulated by the person. There is some degree of physical beauty that factors in, as there always is, but I often feel the need to clarify the difference in my perspective between attractiveness and physical beauty. Reading Duck’s theory did make sense, although there were points that I felt it was a bit broad sweeping in its descriptions. I had to take some time to think about it applying to all relationships, rather than the friendships or romantic relationships, before this started to make more sense. I would find it hard to believe that someone has not eliminated someone based upon a sociological or pre-interaction cue and then reconsider them. This is part of human nature. We all pre-judge to some degree and those judgments color our perspectives whether this is done on a conscious or a sub-conscious level.

Communication Patterns

Personally, I feel that the submissive symmetry pattern would be the most difficult to change. This pattern gives me the impression that both people would have a difficult time not only identifying that they are constantly in control, but also in identifying when it is appropriate to be in control, and when not to be in control of a situation or conversation. Using the example in the book of deciding where to eat, I would imagine that most of these conversations end in a less than exciting dining experience when a place is simply chosen out of frustration and not through any real desire to have that type of food, or go to a favorite restaurant. Perhaps the most damaging to a relationship is the competitive symmetry system. I could see this pattern working well where the boundaries of competitiveness are clearly understood by both parties. Otherwise, I could see this pattern leading to a constant flux of dominance or superiority by one party while the other party constantly feels undervalued, or submissive and weak. Regarding the pattern most damaging to the self-esteem of the individuals, however, I feel that it is the submissive symmetry where both parties struggle to relinquish control. The context of a relationship is important in this example, as part of the defining elements to a relationship is that to some degree there is a care towards the other’s opinions, thoughts, and emotions. If both parties are struggling with themselves, as well as constantly attempting to satisfy the other’s needs, this could lead to some very difficult relationship terrain to navigate through.

Chapter 6 Interesting Concept

Becoming a more esponsible Communicator

My fiancé and I spend a lot of time talking, analyzing and discussing how we communicate. I think to a certain extent this is partly due to being enrolled in this class, but either way, doing this has greatly helped with our relationship. The section of the book that talks about becoming a more responsible communicator really brought into focus and helped to clarify the overall goals that my fiancé and I have been striving for. When emotions and tensions are high, I’ve found that I’m not often the best at communicating. Being able to help review what I’m about to say has helped immeasurably. But oftentimes, I found myself wondering how best to evaluate what it was that I wanted to say, and how to adjust what my initial thoughts are into a more meaningful message. The questions in the four-way test were very interesting to read. Is it the truth? This one can often be colored by personal perspective, or impressions. Is it fair to all concerned? Sometimes it might not be, and that’s okay, as long as you think about it and understand that. Will is build goodwill and better friendships? In a conversation with someone you’re in a relationship with, I believe this should almost always be a priority. Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Again, perhaps not, but understanding whether it is or not will be very helpful. All in all, I found that I read this part of the chapter very quickly because it applied very well to my current ways of communicating.