The first media I chose was facebook. Go figure. I chose this medium of communication because it is fast, much like an IM or a text, and I also chose it because it was convenient. Almost everyone has some sort of availability to a internet equipped computer and therefore has access to Facebook! That's why it is convenient. I enjoy wasting time on facebook so why not write on someone's wall/do homework while I am wasting time.
I believe that facebook supported the Media Richness Theory. With MRT you have to have a rich medium which consists of things such as multicplicity of cues, availability of feedback, message personalization, and language variety. There must be an optimal match between these things and equivocality of the communication task. I was just letting my friend know that ultimate frisbee was cancelled because of rain, which is straight and to the point. It was a less equivocal task. Since the equivocality was less the richness of the medium did not have to be great. There was no language variety and there was no personalization of the message. The less the equivocal task, the less the richness of the medium needs to be.
The second medium of communication I chose was the telephone. The telephone is alot like facebook in that it is cheap and it is convenient. There is not a lot of effort that needs to go into it. I called my parents yesterday just to see how their weekend had went. From what we talked about and the tone of their voices, the overall conversation was very clear and understandable. I let them know that I had finally found a job which was positive valence and their reaction was a boost. I could hear how glad they were in their voices and that made me happy. I think if I were able to communicate with them through video my content level would have been even higher because I would have been able to see the smiles on their faces. I believe this medium supports
O'Sullivan because it was a positive valence for myself and it most definitely gave me a "boost."
First Comment: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=4503469069426153374
Second Comment: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=7795178583799073774
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Hey Eric,
I love the way you described the reasons why you chose the two mediums you did for both tasks. It allowed me to "take a walk in your shoes" and completely understand your reasoning and attitude. I also agree with your thinking that the first example supports the Media Richness theory, and the second example supports the O'Sullivan theory.
However, I was just wondering why you chose facebook over text messaging your friends, since it was more likely that most of them carried their cell phones on their person and therefore would be able to get the message faster than if and when they checked facebook?
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