I have read most of the posts for today. I suppose I should reply to Alan, but the links did not excite me, and I did not want to start off being controversial with someone else’s efforts.
As I have titled this comment, my question for the class is whether you have experienced blogging as effective and good communication. As background, I have two daughters who are now in their twenties. They both now use their cell phones primarily to text their friends. I have observed that as they have increasingly replaced voice communication with texting, they stay mad at their friends a lot more. I see the problem as twofold–they text too much because it is quick and easy, and they write things that they would not otherwise say to their friends.
I believe that the best human communication is always person-to-person. Last night provided an example of why I believe in conversation. Professor Cohen at one point gave us the standard line that no question is too stupid to ask. I believe that each one of us processes that communication based on our non-verbal communication with the teacher. The line, “no question is too stupid to ask,” could mean feel free to interrupt me at anytime with your questions. It could also mean Professor Cohen is happy to answer our questions but only at appropriate times. It could also mean that Professor Cohen would prefer that our simplistic questions be asked in private so as not to waste class time. Of course, it could have also meant that Professor Cohen invited all questions but really does not want to deal with them. In this case, his statement would have been made only because he thought it was the appropriate thing to say. I believe that each of us decided on a meaning of Professor Cohen’s words by watching for non-verbal communication.
It seems to me that blogging can place too much emphasis on the words written with no understanding of the author’s intentions. E-mail has had this problem for over a decade, and I found in my work experience it often caused undue misunderstandings. I look forward to your responses.
Curtis Vaughn
