GEOGRAPHY, MEDIA, AND GROUP FUNCTION

by Darrell Icenogle


Let us begin by defining "community" as any group of individuals with a a)
a common bond of acquaintance, purpose, and/or interest, and b) channels
of communication and transaction which might permit this bond to be
strengthened. Communities can be local/regional, or their memberships may
be geographically dispersed.

In the age of information and telecommunications, what factors impinge on
a community's ability to function and thrive? Certainly the strength of
the original bond--the raison d'etre of the community--may prove infirm,
over time, e.g. a hula hoop club; but our purpose here is to examine the
importance of geography and the available means of transaction and
communication.

For communities to function, avenues of communication must exist which are
informal, iterative, and sufficiently inexpensive relative to the income
range of the group and the strength of its common bond. Face-to-face
communication is the traditional glue of community. What of other media?
Has communications technology come far enough such that "geographically
dispersed community" may no longer be a contradiction of terms?

What follows is an analysis of some of the dimensions of communication and
community on which the answers may depend.


EXPLANATIONS OF SELECTED CRITERIA
=================================

ITERATION
=========

Iteration refers to the number of turns a communicator can take in a given
period of time. High iteration is very important to a number of
communications tasks. For example:

Introductions:
Two people meeting each other for the
first time will share a lot of
information very quickly to find out
what they have in common, values and
personality factors, and other things
that might determine whether there is a
basis for a continuing discussion or a
future relationship.

Negotiations:
Negotiation is a turn-taking activity,
with each side presenting its case, then
listening to the other side, and so on,
until agreement is reached. Complicated
negotiations may require a high number of
iterations.

Decision-making:
Decision-making requires a dialog between
the decision-maker and others who have
relevant facts, ideas, values, and
opinions. As these elements are
introduced, the decision-maker will
frequently question the elements
presented, seeking further details or
more rigorous argument. In a group
decision-making process, the iterativity
may be even more profound.

It is easy to see that a group or community which lacks a highly iterative
medium of communication is at a severe functional disadvantage, with such
fundamental communications processes as personal introductions,
negotiations, and group decision-making potentially compromised. Recall
that the only highly-iterative medium available to a large group is the
face-to-face meeting, though the telephone may be used reasonably well in
the form of successive diadic and small group exchanges to perform some of
these tasks, as can video conferencing (if you have a large budget!).

It is also worth mentioning that self-introductions are only ONE WAY of
achieving the goals of interest-, value-, and experience-matching. It is
often useful to circulate resumes, c.v.'s, questionnaires, and other
printed materials containing relevant information, though the information
may not be entirely what a particular individual seeks to know about
another. Also, the computer has been used with great success to perform
this task (e.g. personal descriptions, interest-matching, etc.).

VISUAL REFERENCE
================

Seeing is often believing. Many people feel distrustful of communications
that exclude body language and visual cues. Also, the ability to refer to
charts, graphs, tables, etc. is crucial to many kinds of communication and
transaction.

MATERIAL TRANSACTION
====================

Some groups may find that verbal communication is sufficient to sustain
community, while many others are based on the exchange of goods and
services. The "goods and services" may themselves involve the exchange of
textual products; then again they may not. A print medium provides for the
transportation of printed materials; the mail system provides for the
transportation of other items of limited size, with limited efficiency.
Since we don't yet have "teleporters", groups which need greater
flexibility or efficiency in tranporting material goods must rely on
f-t-f transactions. That is why we still have places of work, retail
stores, swap meets, and comic book conventions.

Again, computers can be of significant advantage to processes of material
transaction:

- Computers can connect buyer with seller, and those in need of a
service with those who perform it

- Computers can provide objective sources of information to both the
buyer (comparative prices, product/service reviews, etc.) and the seller
(comparative prices, credit reports, etc.)

- Computers can facilitate bartering systems, informal exchanges,
lend/lease arrangements, etc.

- Computers can record contracts, provide receipts, compute tax
information, etc.

- Computers can be used to organize groups for group/quantity
discounts

- Computers can deliver directly any good or service which is
reducible to text or data

- Computers can potentially expedite the production, sale, and
delivery of any goods or services that INCLUDE text or data as a
fundamental component (e.g. books, software, consulting,
education/training, etc.)

It is easy to see why the term "community" most often refers to a group of
people in a relatively small geographic region, since material transaction
("lend me your lawnmower?") is traditionally an important aspect of
community. However, in the age of the "global village", we see the term
used in non- geographic domains (e.g. "professional" communities) with new
technologies for communication and transaction.

Continuing our list of dimensions important to communication and community:

GAMESMANSHIP
============

Face-to-face communication, particularly in a group setting, is subject to
manipulation by those most adept at "playing the game." This game consists
of complex protocols and interpersonal skills that determine who gets a
turn to speak, how long a speaker is permitted to continue, and how much
weight is given to what is said. This game sometimes facilitates, but
often impedes, satisfactory communications outcomes.

Certainly this medium is also subject to gamesmanship and manipulation,
but it is a DIFFERENT GAME involving different skills and protocols,
offering new opportunities to be heard to those who are less adept in
face-to-face situations e.g. time or length limit; a statement can be
edited to improve its force or clarity; a person's sex, race, physical
handicap, etc. may have no bearing; and everyone's print is the same size.

ASYNCHRONOUS
============

Any medium which permits communication without requiring the participants
to be present at a particular time is said to be "asynchronous."
Asynchronicity can be a powerful tool in solving scheduling problems.
Also, because participants choose their own times to communicate, they are
more likely to have their minds fully on the communications process,
speaking more clearly and listening more attentively.

OVERLOAD
========

Overload simply refers to a communications log-jam, where the information
is coming in at a rate faster than it is being processed. There are two
principal reasons for overload:

1. The rate of reception is too high.

2. The rate of processing is too low.

One often hears that, in the information age, there is "too much"
information. This is nonsense. The existence of information can only be
beneficial. If the information is coming in faster than our ability to
process it, we must look at our processing mechanism.

Any processing mechanism which requires that an individual READ all or a
major part of the information to determine its subject, purpose, and/or
priority, is inefficient. Any mechanism which "pre-sorts" incoming
information according to its subject, purpose, and/or priority can
substantially alleviate or eliminate problems of information overload.

Mail and electronic mail are subject to overload since they funnel all
communications through a single channel (the "in basket"), as does the
telephone. Receiving-end screening mechanisms are themselves subject to
overload.

Computer conferencing, on the other hand, forces or encourages the sender
to categorize a communication by purpose, subject, and/or priority, and
permits the receiver to receive only information which meets related
criteria. That which is determined to be important can be separated from
that which is not in an efficient manner.

Data bases containing text and information (of which the computer
conference is but one example) may offer even greater capabilities to
search a large body of information for that which is relevant to a tightly
defined set of criteria.

*******

The following chart attempts to differentiate a number of media which are
commonly used or proposed in business and education on the basis of the
above criteria:

MEDIUM STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

Face-to High iteration, maximum No record, scheduling,
-face visual reference and turn-taking, inexact,
("f-t-f") material transaction, gamesmanship
personal, no special
skills

Telephone Inexpensive, high No record, scheduling,
(One-to- iteration, personal, turn-taking, inexact, no
one) low intimidation, no visual reference, no
special skills material transaction,
limited participation,
overload

Conference Relatively inexpensive, No record, scheduling,
Call medium iteration, turn taking, inexact, no
multiple participants, visual reference,
no special skills misunderstandings, no
material transaction

Memo/ Precise, personal, Low iteration, slow,
letter leaves record, inefficient, in-basket
visual reference, overload, typing skills
asynchronous, some
material transaction,
multiple participants

Voice Personal, asynchronous, Poor record, inexact, no
Mail medium iteration, no visual reference, no
special skills material transaction

Video Medium iteration, visual Expensive, scheduling,
Conference reference turn-taking, games-
manship, no material
transaction, intimidation

Electronic More iterative and Less iterative and slower
Mail efficient than mail, than phone, not suitable
personal, leaves record, for extended group
some visual reference, in-basket overload,
some material typing/computer skills
communication, multiple
participants

Computer More iterative and Less iterative and slower
Conference efficient than mail, than phone, overload,
asynchronous, suitable intimidation,
for extended group typing/computer skills
communication, leaves skills, less material
best record, precise, transaction than f-t-f
can't be lost, some
visual reference

OTHER CHANNELS
==============

In a local or regional geographic setting, group f-t-f meetings are
certainly more feasible than if participants are geographically dispersed.
Also, under special circumstances, broadcast media such as television,
ITFS, community access TV, and radio might be used at low to moderate
expense to facilitate group function, whereas these channels are
prohibitively expensive for most geographically dispersed groups.

----- Author's note: Darrell Icenogle is best known for his work on
telecom software first used in the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute's
online executive training program. The program (called ONION and then
PASSKEY) automatically signs you on to a conferencing system, collects all
your notes and messages, appends the material to the appropriate file,
sends material you have composed and addressed offline to all the right
places, and signs you off again. He also has extensive conferencing
training experience and is currently working with Jessica and Jeffrey
Lipnack Stamps and Bob McAndrews on the new International Commons system
(617-965-3340).