CIS2 Final Project: Computers and Education
From Scratchpad
Computers and Education
Electronic communication technologies have become ubiquitous in our society. Written and spoken languages continuously flow through the cellular phone network, the email system and the Web. In the process, people have developed new ways of expression, such as, "Internet-Talk" in popular instant messaging systems. Language has evolved to include many new additions to allow for easier, faster communication and for improved usability of the technology (instant messaging and creation of Internet-talk, for example). As the penetration of these communication technologies in the society becomes deeper, the need for increased speed and usability will keep driving changes in language even further. The aim of this paper is to discuss communication technology's impact on written and spoken language.
Introduction
Communication technologies influence the way we speak and write. Language, both written and spoken depends heavily on technology for its transmission (Lee, 2005). The language is influenced by and dependent on the specific technology used for transmission. For example, when teenagers communicate using instant messaging service, Internet talk - a ‘genre’ of English, becomes the language for transmission. Similarly, e-mail, mobile phone text messaging, or simply talking on the phone, seeks the use of terminology or alternate forms of expression dependant upon the technology being used. So, to better understand the issue of communication technologies and its impact on language, this paper will address society’s need to engage in constant communication, Internet communication, and the influence of communication technologies in daily life.
Constant communication
As communication technologies become smaller and more affordable, the desire and need to stay in constant communication is becoming more and more prevalent. For example, based on the way business is conducted today, intelligent communication solutions are helping business better connect people and processes across locations and business lines. Similarly, communication technologies are empowering people to communicate when and where desired. Although this may seem like a good thing, the adaptation to new technology changes language dramatically. Since there is a need to communicate faster and to convey more in each message, written language ends up becoming “compressed” by acronyms, and in some cases substituted with images (Hansson and Bunt-Kokhuis, 2004). This is especially true in mobile communication since most cell phones and PDAs have small screens and keypads. The awkwardness of typing a whole sentence on a mobile phone following proper English conventions is rather tedious, not to mention strenuous on your finger(s). The MacMillan English Dictionary lists “BlackBerry Thumb”, described as “an injury to the thumb caused by repeatedly pressing the keypad on a BlackBerry”, as the 9th most popular new word of the year 2005 (Macmillan, 2005). This type of strain leads to people using abbreviations and acronyms to save time, energy, and it produces the same result as writing using proper English conventions. Due to the obvious efficiency that of acronyms and other abbreviations, users are able to communicate faster.
Non verbal communication
Many mobile communication technologies today have built in text and picture messaging support. By using images to communicate users have the choice of substituting words or phrases with images as a way to speed up communication and reflect emotion.. In mobile communication, pictures can say more than words and be very emotive (Wakefield, 2005). It is interesting to remind us of cave men using pictures as a form of non-verbal communication. And today several thousand years later, there has been a sharp increase in visual communication, just compare a newspaper from the nineteenth century with one today (Hansson and Bunt-Kokhuis, 2004). So given all this, visual communication in the form of pictures and symbols help users of mobile communication technologies communicate faster, and at times convey more information than text.
Internet communication
Internet is a hub for different communication technologies all residing under one roof. Instant messaging, blogging, e-mail, and VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) are amongst some of the most widely used communication technologies available on the Internet. Irrespective of whether these technologies are used in an informal or formal environment, the language used to communicate using many of these technologies leads to different terminology and alternate forms of expression. To determine how written/spoken language is affected, some of the popular Internet communication technologies will be analyzed.
>> Blogging
Blogging (writing weblogs) has started to become a widely used tool in informal communication. Teenagers are using weblogs to present an online identity and to express their ideas, experiences, and feelings using an adapted language (Huffaker and Calvert, 2005)”. While these ‘traits’ may not hold true for all users, weblogs are similar to personal journals where written words and symbols convey thoughts and feelings. So, as blogging becomes increasingly popular, users will seek to stray from normal English writing conventions and develop more appropriate forms of expression.
>> Video conferencing:
Video conferencing has given people the opportunity to meet one another from two different locations via a real time video feed. Users have the ability to, “express understanding or agreement, forecast responses, enhance verbal descriptions, give purely nonverbal information, express attitudes through posture and facial expression, and manage extended pauses” (Issacs and Tang, 1994). There is no need to incorporate symbols to convey emotion or make any extra gestures, which makes this technology the closet to face-to-face communication.
>> Instant messaging
Instant messaging has become one of the most widely used Internet communication technologies to date. It involves immediate communication between two users who are online at the same time. Instant messaging has led to increased use of slang, abbreviations and acronyms, referred to as ‘Internet-Talk’. The character limit imposed by instant messengers are the probable cause for slang (Bijoy, 2003). AOL instant messenger has a limit of 512 characters, MSN has about 400 characters and Yahoo! allows 675 characters per message. Additionally, users are also using emotive symbols to reflect human expressions so that the recipient knows how the sender reacts or feels. This feature along with several others allows instant messaging to be an alternative to standard phone conversations, where users type short messages to each other rather than talk on the phone.
>> VoIP
VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) is an Internet communication technology that takes “… analog audio signals, like the kind you hear when you talk on the phone, and [turns] them into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet” (Valdes, 2005). This technology allows users to make free phone calls by bypassing the telephone company since voice conversations are transmitted over a data network. Furthermore, this technology is fairly new and is becoming increasingly popular due to its cost incentives and since it works very similar to a normal telephone. As for VOIP and the implications on spoken language, no notable studies have been conducted on VOIP, however it is safe to say that consumers are probably going to use this technology to engage in even lengthier conversations since it is free. Currently there several major phone carriers are either starting or looking into marketing this technology.
>> Email
Ever since the birth of the Internet, email has been a very effective and popular electronic communication technology. Due to its speed and broadcasting ability,it is fundamentally different from paper-based communication. Also, since email allows for a fast turn-over time, it is a lot more conversational than traditional paper-based media (Sherwood, 1994). “Emoticons” – which are “a series of keyed characters used especially in e-mail to indicate an emotion” (dictionary.com), were created because users had difficulty expressing human emotion through text. From a language standpoint, emoticons represent a change in written language where symbols are used in writing to convey human emotion.
Influence of communication technologies in daily life
Having discussed the impact of various communication technologies on the written or spoken word, we must next consider some of the more direct implications of communication technologies in our daily lives and how they impact language.
>> Effects of instant messaging in school
Since instant messaging involves the use of abbreviations and acronyms of common English words, middle and high school teachers are, increasingly seeing a breezy form of internet English jump from e-mail into schoolwork (Lee, 2005). The reason for this ‘carry-over’ is that since instant messaging has become immensely popular amongst teenagers, the language used there has become their lingua franca. Abbreviations such as, “u, r, ur, b4, wuz, cus, 2” are slowly replacing the original English words they are derived from, and are now becoming second nature to students who engage in using ‘shortcuts’ while conversing over the internet. Additionally, the use of emotive symbols in instant messaging environments to stress human expression are being used by students in their writing, It is not uncommon to see students put a smiley in the middle of their text (Lee, 2005). So, given that students are becoming more and more relaxed on their usage of abbreviations, acronyms, and emotive symbols, the challenge for educators to accept this new style of English.
>> Video Conferencing Collaboration (Business world)
Video conferencing has been vital to the success of business relationships and work-related projects. Since this technology enables people to collaborate and from two different locations, companies now do not have to waste, thousands of dollars in travel costs and losing hundreds of valuable hours in productivity every year. Furthermore, since “tangible elements of human presence, body language and eye contact are all active components of the meeting” (German, 2005), this technology really does not require users to modify spoken or written language. All in all, video conferencing is a cost-effective, easy, and the closest to face-to-face communication (based upon current communication technologies available).
>> Internet terminology
The Internet has led to the creation of several new words. These words are usually short in length and represent a function of a program, or device. Out of a handful of words, ‘email’ for example represents a program that functions to send or receive electronic mail, ‘IM’ represents an instant message, and ‘P2P’ peer-to-peer occurs when there are two computers and they share files from each others drives. Now even though these words may seem appropriate, it seems that single-syllable adjectives are among originality’s worst enemies (Sarah, 1998). Combining e-, which is short for “electronic” with other words like business, to form e-business, and combining form i- as in iBook, iPod, iMac, and iTunes , just shows how much Internet terminology is influencing our lives.
[edit] conclusion
As communication technology gets smaller and more affordable, the need for abbreviations, acronyms, emotive symbols, will increase and impact language both written and spoken. New communication technologies, maybe similar to old technology in-terms of communication style, but on the whole users are prone to developing a style based on the use of the technology. This in turn will lead to new ‘genres’ of language which may become popular, as in the case of Internet-talk. Whether language change is good or bad, it is for society to decide, but the fact remains that language will constantly be impacted by new communication technology.
[edit] references in MLA format
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Wakefield, Jane (2003). "Photo messaging tries to rival txt”. BBC News/Technology, February 13 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2753133.stm (accessed on March 27, 2006)
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