The Play of Internet Communication

1. The Play of Internet Communication Chapter 5 Shedletsky & Aitken Human Communication on the Internet

2. A STARTING POINT • The Internet can magnify, elaborate, and enhance certain elements of human communication; • Play is one of those elements; • Play applies to all functions of the Internet, from entertainment to news, instruction and persuasion;

3. The Internet and Our Minds • The Web encourages us to think, use our imaginations; • New technology, the Web high on that list, facilitates our imaginative and playful thinking; • The Internet facilitates our pretending;

4. How the Internet can Intensify Communication (Inter)Play • Interplay is used to mean an interaction, which can be transformative, entertaining, interesting, or light-hearted; • Interplay is used to include play, to include the idea of feelings of pleasure as a motivator;

5. Postulates of Play on the Internet • Internet play is for itself. It serves internal goals; • Internet play co-exists inside and outside the scope of ordinary life; • Internet play operates without fixed boundaries of time and space, although the play may operate within Internet rules; • Internet play is pliable. The Internet play can completely absorb the player or take on a life of its own;

6. Play and Identity • Turkle (1995) writes about play as integral to the construction of identity on the Internet; • Play can have real effects on people in their real lives;

7. How Does Play Function on the Internet • Seven types of play in Internet communication: • Imaginative play like a child • Identity role-playing • Interplay with the self or other • Play like actors in a play • Games for destruction • Playful work • The fun of something new

8. Seven Types of Play in Internet Communication • Imaginative play like a child • Circulating humor, jokes, having fun, playing games; • Identity role-playing • Experimentation with the self, pretending, extending • Interplay with the self or other • Internet users approach their communication activity with a sense of playfulness • Users seek ways to use the Internet that are pleasureable

9. Seven Types of Play in Internet Communication • Play like theater • Creation of an imaginary space in which people can pretend; • Games for destruction • Destructive activities on the Internet, such as gossip, transmission of viruses, stalking, violent videogames and terrorism;

10. Seven Types of Play in Internet Communication • Playful work • The Internet intensifies the juxtaposition of play and work; • Teachers use popular culture to make serious academic points;

11. Seven Types of Play in Internet Communication • The fun of something new • Computer users experience a mix of frustration and fun; • Perhaps overcoming the frustration is what is so satisfying;

12. Play vs. Lying • Lying • Intending to communicate claims and the belief that the sender believes in what he/she is saying; • Playing • Intending for the receiver to believe that the sender does not believe in the claims he/she is making, that in fact they want the receiver to understand what is implied by this falsehood;

13. Play of Computer Games • The effect of playing computer video games: • Results are mixed; • People are playing many types of games online: • Casino games, fantasy football, trivia, solitaire, and others;

14. Playful Metaphors • Discussion groups use metaphors to refer to activities they prefer not to state explicitly or activities they imagine; • The Internet itself is characterized in metaphorical terms, e.g., the information superhighway; • Metaphor, along with other elements of language, intensifies imagination and creativity, adding to the characteristic of play on the Internet;

15. Internet and Communication Principles • Internet communication is a process; • Adapting to the Internet will increase communication effectiveness; • Communication is irreversible; • Internet meanings are in people; • No one can experience totally effective communication on the Internet;

16. Some Paradoxes of Human Interplay on the Internet