This document summarizes a study of intercultural communication in the virtual environment of Active Worlds. The study analyzed over 6 hours of text-based communication between 185 participants from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Key findings include:
1) The majority of participants (over 80%) were English speakers, and English dominated the communication, though some participants used other languages or mixed English with another language.
2) Topics of discussion focused heavily on greetings and establishing contact (48% of contributions), with other common topics including events in Active Worlds (26%) and real-world events (19%).
3) Introductions were mostly brief and unspecified (58%), such as a simple "Hi," though
Code switching and mixing in internet Chatting Hani Shakir
This case study examined the occurrences of
code switching and code mixing in a chatroom
based environment. In Fall 2004, the chat
room conversations of 12 non-native speakers
of English from Spanish and Indonesian backgrounds
were collected during a two month
period and analyzed to identify: 1) frequency
of code switching and code mixing for both
cultures; 2) topics that triggered code switching
and code mixing in each culture; and 3)
topics common to both cultures and topics
less likely to occur within both cultures. The
findings suggest that technology-related terms,
along with introductory terms, triggered more
instances of code switching and code mixing
regardless of the linguistic background of the
participants. Conclusions and suggestions for
further research are provided.
Code-Mixing as a Marker of Gender Identity in SMS language in Pakistaniosrjce
This research deals with the gender based code-mixing in mobile phone SMS texting in Pakistani
society. It is generally observable fact that code-mixing is used by both males and females while sending
messages through their mobile phones. This research has explored the happening of code mixing i.e. mixing of
the two varieties or two different languages, which can mark the gender differences in using text messages. In
this research paper quantitative method is used to collect and analyze the data. One thousand non-forwarded
conversational SMS were collected through random sampling of 25 males and 25 females with an equal
quantity of sample from both counter parts. The findings of the study have shown that there are gender based
differences in SMS language used in Pakistan on the basis of Code-Mixing in term of frequency, nature and
topic & purpose of conversation. The findings are generalized for all males and females citizens of Pakistan.
Automatic dialect identification is a necessary Language Technology for processing multidialect
languages in which the dialects are linguistically far from each other. Particularly, this
becomes crucial where the dialects are mutually unintelligible. Therefore, to perform
computational activities on these languages, the system needs to identify the dialect that is the
subject of the process. Kurdish language encompasses various dialects. It is written using
several different scripts. The language lacks of a standard orthography. This situation makes
the Kurdish dialectal identification more interesting and required, both form the research and
from the application perspectives. In this research, we have applied a classification method,
based on supervised machine learning, to identify the dialects of the Kurdish texts. The research
has focused on two widely spoken and most dominant Kurdish dialects, namely, Kurmanji and
Sorani. The approach could be applied to the other Kurdish dialects as well. The method is also
applicable to the languages which are similar to Kurdish in their dialectal diversity and
differences.
The current paper reviews sociolinguistics studies on code-mixing, a well-known phenomenon among speakers of dissimilar languages. Code mixing is a common phenomenon in the modern bilingual and multilingual world. The propensity of code mixing is not constrained to spoken discourse rather is apparent in the written discourse as well. Pakistan is also a multilingual country. The motive is to highlight the use of code mixing in Pakistani English literature. “Twilight in Delhi” a novel from Pakistani English literature has been selected for analysis.
Code switching and mixing in internet Chatting Hani Shakir
This case study examined the occurrences of
code switching and code mixing in a chatroom
based environment. In Fall 2004, the chat
room conversations of 12 non-native speakers
of English from Spanish and Indonesian backgrounds
were collected during a two month
period and analyzed to identify: 1) frequency
of code switching and code mixing for both
cultures; 2) topics that triggered code switching
and code mixing in each culture; and 3)
topics common to both cultures and topics
less likely to occur within both cultures. The
findings suggest that technology-related terms,
along with introductory terms, triggered more
instances of code switching and code mixing
regardless of the linguistic background of the
participants. Conclusions and suggestions for
further research are provided.
Code-Mixing as a Marker of Gender Identity in SMS language in Pakistaniosrjce
This research deals with the gender based code-mixing in mobile phone SMS texting in Pakistani
society. It is generally observable fact that code-mixing is used by both males and females while sending
messages through their mobile phones. This research has explored the happening of code mixing i.e. mixing of
the two varieties or two different languages, which can mark the gender differences in using text messages. In
this research paper quantitative method is used to collect and analyze the data. One thousand non-forwarded
conversational SMS were collected through random sampling of 25 males and 25 females with an equal
quantity of sample from both counter parts. The findings of the study have shown that there are gender based
differences in SMS language used in Pakistan on the basis of Code-Mixing in term of frequency, nature and
topic & purpose of conversation. The findings are generalized for all males and females citizens of Pakistan.
Automatic dialect identification is a necessary Language Technology for processing multidialect
languages in which the dialects are linguistically far from each other. Particularly, this
becomes crucial where the dialects are mutually unintelligible. Therefore, to perform
computational activities on these languages, the system needs to identify the dialect that is the
subject of the process. Kurdish language encompasses various dialects. It is written using
several different scripts. The language lacks of a standard orthography. This situation makes
the Kurdish dialectal identification more interesting and required, both form the research and
from the application perspectives. In this research, we have applied a classification method,
based on supervised machine learning, to identify the dialects of the Kurdish texts. The research
has focused on two widely spoken and most dominant Kurdish dialects, namely, Kurmanji and
Sorani. The approach could be applied to the other Kurdish dialects as well. The method is also
applicable to the languages which are similar to Kurdish in their dialectal diversity and
differences.
The current paper reviews sociolinguistics studies on code-mixing, a well-known phenomenon among speakers of dissimilar languages. Code mixing is a common phenomenon in the modern bilingual and multilingual world. The propensity of code mixing is not constrained to spoken discourse rather is apparent in the written discourse as well. Pakistan is also a multilingual country. The motive is to highlight the use of code mixing in Pakistani English literature. “Twilight in Delhi” a novel from Pakistani English literature has been selected for analysis.
GGH110 Assignment #2
Park University
Fall 2015
Exploring the “Core Components” of Culture Groups:
For this activity, you will use the Ethnologue website (www.ethnologue.com) and the Adherents website (www.adherents.com) in order to explore the two major “core components” (i.e., language and religion) of the cultures found in the place you have chosen to research this semester. Although some of the data in these resources may be relatively "old" (which really just illustrates the great need for current and sustained research in support of these languages and religions), together they represent perhaps the most comprehensive collection of information about the “core components” of the distinctive culture groups found throughout the world today.
As we have recently discussed in this course, language is often used as the most important "defining trait" of many culture groups and the primary means by which they are identified. Thus, exploring the linguistic diversity within a place is arguably the primary starting point for gaining a sense of its cultural diversity. In addition, understanding what the status is of the languages that are spoken in a place is significant because, as the Ethnologue states, “Since language is closely linked to culture, loss of language almost always is accompanied by social and cultural disruptions as well.” Finally, studying the languages of a place through a geolinguistics approach can also reveal a great deal about where a group of people came from and with whom they have been in contact. Therefore, most of this assignment will focus on finding information from Ethnologue.
Before you begin this assignment, you should take some time to become familiar with the array of information that is presented for each country and its languages on the Ethnologue website. A simple way of doing this is by going to its listing for the United States at the country index page: http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp. Can you find all of the answers to the following questions?
· How many total languages are given for the United States?
· How many languages are classified as “living”? How many are “nearly extinct”? What seems to be the basis for classifying a language as nearly extinct?
· Does the U.S. have an “official language”? If so, what is it?
· What is the language family/branch/group classification for each language?
· What is the number of people who can speak each one? Where are these speakers primarily located?
· What other linguistic trends and patterns catch your attention? Notice that you can also see language maps that show where the people who speak these languages live.
Now, go back to the county index page and find the page for the country you have chosen to study for this class. Create a PowerPoint presentation that includes the following content:
1) Slide #1:
a. Name of the country/place you are studying
b. Go to the CIA World Factbook page for the place you are studying and gather and re.
Dictionary Entries for Bangla Consonant Ended Roots in Universal Networking L...Waqas Tariq
The Universal Networking Language (UNL) deals with the communication across nations of different languages and involves with many different related discipline such as linguistics, epistemology, computer science etc. It helps to overcome the language barrier among people of different nations to solve problems emerging from current globalization trends and geopolitical interdependence. We are working to include Bangla language in the UNL system so that Bangla language can be converted to UNL expressions. As a part of this process currently we are working on Bangla Consonant Ended Verb Roots and trying to develop lexical or dictionary entries for the Consonant Ended Verb Roots. In this paper, we have presented our work by describing Bangla verb, Verb root, Verbal Inflections and then finally showed the dictionary entries for the consonant ended roots.
Adjunctive english general extenders in newspaper editorialsThompson Ewata
General extenders (GEs) perform different functions in discourse and have been studied diversely, based on scholars’ foci. Viewed as universal vague informal spoken discourse markers in some studies, this study argues that the elements are deliberate vague discourse-pragmatic elements, in newspaper editorials of nine countries with different language situations of the English Language.
GGH110 Assignment #2
Park University
Fall 2015
Exploring the “Core Components” of Culture Groups:
For this activity, you will use the Ethnologue website (www.ethnologue.com) and the Adherents website (www.adherents.com) in order to explore the two major “core components” (i.e., language and religion) of the cultures found in the place you have chosen to research this semester. Although some of the data in these resources may be relatively "old" (which really just illustrates the great need for current and sustained research in support of these languages and religions), together they represent perhaps the most comprehensive collection of information about the “core components” of the distinctive culture groups found throughout the world today.
As we have recently discussed in this course, language is often used as the most important "defining trait" of many culture groups and the primary means by which they are identified. Thus, exploring the linguistic diversity within a place is arguably the primary starting point for gaining a sense of its cultural diversity. In addition, understanding what the status is of the languages that are spoken in a place is significant because, as the Ethnologue states, “Since language is closely linked to culture, loss of language almost always is accompanied by social and cultural disruptions as well.” Finally, studying the languages of a place through a geolinguistics approach can also reveal a great deal about where a group of people came from and with whom they have been in contact. Therefore, most of this assignment will focus on finding information from Ethnologue.
Before you begin this assignment, you should take some time to become familiar with the array of information that is presented for each country and its languages on the Ethnologue website. A simple way of doing this is by going to its listing for the United States at the country index page: http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp. Can you find all of the answers to the following questions?
· How many total languages are given for the United States?
· How many languages are classified as “living”? How many are “nearly extinct”? What seems to be the basis for classifying a language as nearly extinct?
· Does the U.S. have an “official language”? If so, what is it?
· What is the language family/branch/group classification for each language?
· What is the number of people who can speak each one? Where are these speakers primarily located?
· What other linguistic trends and patterns catch your attention? Notice that you can also see language maps that show where the people who speak these languages live.
Now, go back to the county index page and find the page for the country you have chosen to study for this class. Create a PowerPoint presentation that includes the following content:
1) Slide #1:
a. Name of the country/place you are studying
b. Go to the CIA World Factbook page for the place you are studying and gather and re.
Dictionary Entries for Bangla Consonant Ended Roots in Universal Networking L...Waqas Tariq
The Universal Networking Language (UNL) deals with the communication across nations of different languages and involves with many different related discipline such as linguistics, epistemology, computer science etc. It helps to overcome the language barrier among people of different nations to solve problems emerging from current globalization trends and geopolitical interdependence. We are working to include Bangla language in the UNL system so that Bangla language can be converted to UNL expressions. As a part of this process currently we are working on Bangla Consonant Ended Verb Roots and trying to develop lexical or dictionary entries for the Consonant Ended Verb Roots. In this paper, we have presented our work by describing Bangla verb, Verb root, Verbal Inflections and then finally showed the dictionary entries for the consonant ended roots.
Adjunctive english general extenders in newspaper editorialsThompson Ewata
General extenders (GEs) perform different functions in discourse and have been studied diversely, based on scholars’ foci. Viewed as universal vague informal spoken discourse markers in some studies, this study argues that the elements are deliberate vague discourse-pragmatic elements, in newspaper editorials of nine countries with different language situations of the English Language.
Interview Project Paper of the 2017/1 INGLÊS: HABILIDADES INTEGRADAS II - TN4...UFMG
Interview Project Paper of the 2017/1 INGLÊS: HABILIDADES INTEGRADAS II - TN4
course taught by Professor Gladys de Sousa
Matheus de Carvalho Emediato
Oswald Stuart Nascimento Rabelo
Rodrigo Antonio Sarmento
Victor Nascimento Almeida
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
matheusemediato@hotmail.com
oswaldstuart@yahoo.com
sarmento.r@gmail.com
nutv_21@hotmail.com
July
Synonymy is an important yet intricate linguistic feature in the field of lexical semantics. Using the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as data and the software Sketch Engine (SkE) as an analyzing tool, this paper explores the collocational behavior and semantic prosodies of near synonyms in virtue of, owing to, thanks to, as a result of, due to and because of. The results show that these near synonyms differ in their collocational behavior and semantic prosodies. The pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Enchancing adoption of Open Source Libraries. A case study on Albumentations.AIVladimir Iglovikov, Ph.D.
Presented by Vladimir Iglovikov:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/iglovikov/
- https://x.com/viglovikov
- https://www.instagram.com/ternaus/
This presentation delves into the journey of Albumentations.ai, a highly successful open-source library for data augmentation.
Created out of a necessity for superior performance in Kaggle competitions, Albumentations has grown to become a widely used tool among data scientists and machine learning practitioners.
This case study covers various aspects, including:
People: The contributors and community that have supported Albumentations.
Metrics: The success indicators such as downloads, daily active users, GitHub stars, and financial contributions.
Challenges: The hurdles in monetizing open-source projects and measuring user engagement.
Development Practices: Best practices for creating, maintaining, and scaling open-source libraries, including code hygiene, CI/CD, and fast iteration.
Community Building: Strategies for making adoption easy, iterating quickly, and fostering a vibrant, engaged community.
Marketing: Both online and offline marketing tactics, focusing on real, impactful interactions and collaborations.
Mental Health: Maintaining balance and not feeling pressured by user demands.
Key insights include the importance of automation, making the adoption process seamless, and leveraging offline interactions for marketing. The presentation also emphasizes the need for continuous small improvements and building a friendly, inclusive community that contributes to the project's growth.
Vladimir Iglovikov brings his extensive experience as a Kaggle Grandmaster, ex-Staff ML Engineer at Lyft, sharing valuable lessons and practical advice for anyone looking to enhance the adoption of their open-source projects.
Explore more about Albumentations and join the community at:
GitHub: https://github.com/albumentations-team/albumentations
Website: https://albumentations.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100504475
Twitter: https://x.com/albumentations
Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
Discover how Changi Airport Group (CAG) leverages graph technologies and generative AI to revolutionize their search capabilities. This session delves into the unique search needs of CAG’s diverse passengers and customers, showcasing how graph data structures enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated search results, mitigating the risk of “hallucinations” and improving the overall customer journey.
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
Unlocking Productivity: Leveraging the Potential of Copilot in Microsoft 365, a presentation by Christoforos Vlachos, Senior Solutions Manager – Modern Workplace, Uni Systems
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Intercultural communication in a virtual environment
1. Intercultural Communication in a Virtual Environment
Jens Allwood and Ralph Schroeder
Abstract
In this paper we explore and describe aspects of intercultural communication in an Internet based
virtual environment. In spite of a massive Anglo-American dominance, the Internet share of non-
English language use and of participants from non-English speaking countries is steadily
increasing (cf Flydal). Our study is based on observing spontaneous text-based communication
in a potentially multilingual and multicultural setting, the Active Worlds multi-user VR system.
The paper examines a number of features of this communication, such as length of contributions,
languages used, origins of participants, types of introductions, topics, vocabulary and
communication management.
keywords: intercultural communication, virtual intercultural communication, virtual reality,
intercultural avatars, Intercultural ECA.
1. Purpose
In this paper we explore and describe aspects of intercultural communication in an Internet based
virtual environment. In spite of a massive Anglo-American dominance, the Internet share of non-
English language use and of participants from non-English speaking countries is steadily
increasing, cf Flydal (in this volume). Our study is based on observing spontaneous text-based
communication in a potentially multilingual and multicultural setting, the Active Worlds multi-
user VR system. The paper examines a number of features of this communication, such as length
of contributions, languages used, origins of participants, types of introductions, topics,
vocabulary and communication management.
2. Background
Active Worlds is one of a number of systems which allows interaction between users in a 3-D
computer-generated virtual environment that can be accessed via the internet (for a sample of
these systems, see http://www.ccon.org). Active Worlds consists of more than 500 interlinked
separate virtual worlds that are typically used by between 100 and 300 users at any time of day.
There are also some multi-user systems of this type which allow voice-communication, but at
present these are still only used by very few users due to the technical problems of carrying both
voice and 3-D images via the internet. There are also systems which are purely text-based -
"MUDs" - in which users describe their appearance and the spaces they "move" in, in words.
There has been some research on communication on these text-based systems (for a comparison
of text-based versus the graphical system described here, see Becker and Mark, 1998) but,
2. language might play a different role in text-based as opposed to (graphical) VR systems because
the mode of interaction between participants is different.
Having made the statement that multi-user VR systems and purely text-based MUD's are
different in terms of interaction between participants, it should be added immediately that the
participants in Active Worlds do not make much use of the gestures of their avatar embodiments
(they have the capability to smile, frown, wave, jump and the like). They also tend to stand fairly
immobile while they are having conversations. In other words, communication is mainly by
means of text. This means that among the interesting things to investigate are:
1. How, or in what instances, are text exchanges typically complemented by the expressive
capabilities of avatar embodiments in Active Worlds?
2. What difference do the spatial movement of avatars and the spatial setting make to the text-
exchanges in Active Worlds, particularly in comparison with text-based MUD's on one side, and
with face-to-face conversations in the real world on the other?
In this paper, we shall only comment briefly on these questions (though again, see Becker and
Mark, 1998). Instead, we shall focus on a different and equally interesting feature of the Active
Worlds system , namely, that it brings together users from many different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds. There are some worlds that reflect these differences in cultural background
('Russia', 'France', etc.). Here we will examine the main world within the system, Alpha World,
since this is the most popular world within the system and also because this world (and 'AWGate',
where newcomers enter) are common spaces which are frequented by all users.
Active Worlds is a place to socialise. There are virtual worlds within this system, for example,
for educational purposes, for product display and advertising, for gambling, and for holding
religious services. The main purpose, however, is socialising for its own sake - in other words,
entertainment.
3. Method
3.1 Data
The study consisted in recording and analyzing a 6 hour and 29 minute long VR chat session
from " Alpha World". The session was selected arbitrarily and continually logged during this
period, which was from approximately noon until 18.00 Greenwich Mean Time. The details of
the size of the material can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1. Size of Analyzed Material
Duration 6 hours, 29 min.
No. of contributions 3 092
No. of word tokens 15 453
No. of word types 3 970
3. No. of participants 185
As we can see, 185 persons participated in the session, yielding a total of 3 092 contributions
(utterances) or 15 453 word tokens and 3 970 word types. The material was analyzed both
manually and automatically. Below we will first mention the types of analysis which have been
done and then describe the results of these analyses.
3.2 Types of Analysis
The following types of analysis have been undertaken:
1. Participant's share of interaction
2. Participant's origins and languages used
3. Share of non-English contributions
4. Topics
5. Types of introductions
6. Types of expression and vocabulary
7. Communication management
- summons
- feedback
- turntaking
- sequences
- own communication management
4. Results of the Analyses
4.1 Participants' share of the session
In Table 2 we summarize some data on the participants' share of the session.
Table 2. Participants' shares of interaction
Contribution/participant 16.7
Words/participant 83.5
Word types/participant 21.5
Words/contribution 4.9
Table 2 shows that participants made on average 16.7 contributions each. The set of
contributions from one person on average contained totally 83,5 word tokens and 21.5 word
types and were of a length of 4.9 words per utterance. In other words, the contributions are fairly
short. However, just presenting average figures is misleading since the distribution of utterances
and words is skewed. In Table 3, we present some data which shows this.
Table 3. Contributions per participant
No. of participants = 185, No. of contributions: 3 092
4. No. of contributions No. of participants %
1
2
3
4
5
38
23
11
12
9
3
21
12
6
6
5
2
We see that as many as 21% of the participants made only one contribution and then got out of
the interaction, 12% made only two contributions, etc. In fact, 50% of the participants made less
than 5 contributions. So even if the average is 16.7 contributions, the median is 5 contributions.
Only 3 participants made over 100 contributions in the session. Thus, we have a situation where
a majority of participants participate in the session only for a short time and then leave, while a
very small minority participate for an extended period of time.
4.2 Participant origins
Participants in the session do not have to identify themselves in any way. However, they all
choose a name which is mostly not their own but a pseudonym. Sometimes they state their
geographical or linguistic origin, but mostly they do not. In Table 4, we show the geographical
and linguistic background of the participants as far as it was possible to determine these. Since
the participants using Spanish came from several countries (some not identifiable), for Spanish,
language rather than country is given.
Table 4 Participant origins
(No. of participants = 185)
Origin No. of participants
1. Unknowm 128 (69%)
2. English speaking counrty 27 (15%)
USA 17
Australia 5
New Zealand 2
Canada 1
England 1
Ireland 1
3. Non-English speaking country 30 (16%)
5. Spanish 8 Germany 1
Sweden 4 Finland 1
Brazil 3 France 1
Holland 3 Israel 1
Norway 2 Hong Kong 1
Italy 2 Belgium 1
Kirgistan 1
All the unknown participants were using English in their contributions and since their English
was mostly native like, it is fair to hypothesize that a majority of them had English as a first
language, but it is impossible to be certain about this since we do not know the origins of the
participants. Together with the participants who were identifiably from an English-speaking
country, this gives a very clear majority of English speakers (probably over 80%).
4.3 Share of non-English contributions
If we pursue the analysis of what language is used in the contributions of the participants from
non-English speaking countries, we find the following picture (Table 5).
Table 5. Language used by participants from non-English speaking countries. The use in the
table of adjectival or nominal form depends on whether only a geographic or a linguistic and/or
geographical identification was made of the participants
1 Only English (10) Germany (2)
Spanish (1)
Dutch (2)
Kirgistan (1)
France (1)
Belgium (1)
Israel (1)
Hong Kong (1)
2. Mixed English and another
language (16)
Spanish (5)
Dutch (1)
Brazil (3)
Portuguese)
Swedish (3)
Finnish (1)
Norwegian
(1)
Italian (2)
3. Only non-English (4) Spanish (2)
Swedish (1)
Norwegian (1)
The table shows that a third (33%) of the participants from non-English speaking countries use
only English in their contributions. 16 participants (53%) use a mixture of English and another
language while 4 participants (13%) use only another language. If we combine these results with
the results presented in Table 4, we find that 165 (or 89%) of the 185 participants use only
6. English. 181 participants (or 98%) are using only English or English and another language. Only
4 participants (2%) are not using English at all. This means that although the setting is
potentially open to all languages and cultures, the de facto dominance of English is very strong.
We have also done a more detailed analysis of the contributions of those participants who used
several languages. The results of this analysis can be seen in Table 6.
Table 6. How much is English in mixed contributions?
16 participants making 221 contributions.
Language Contri-
bution
Non-
English
Dom. Language
1. Spanish 1 4
2. Spanish 4 32
3. Spanish 7 27
4. Spanish 11 11
5. Spanish 2
25
2
74
Spanish
6. Brazil 2 2
7. Brazil 2 7
8. Brazil 2
6
7
16
Portuguese
9. Holland 10 1 English
10. Finland 1 1
11. Swedish 2 13
12. Swedish 6 12
13. Swedish 127
135
11
36
English +
2 lang. less
14. Norwegian 9 1 English
7. +German
15. Italy 15 1
16. Italy 20
35
6
7
English
TOTAL 221 135
The results show that only Spanish and Portuguese speakers let their own language dominate
when using several languages. In the case of the Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Italian
speakers, English is allowed to dominate. In one case, a Swedish participant attempts to give the
others a Swedish language lesson. A Norwegian participant makes an attempt to use German.
The fact that this is the only attempt of this type draws our attention not only to the dominance of
English but also to the dominance of English as a second language. The persons who are not
using English seem mostly to be using those languages as first languages. When they are using
other languages than their first language, the language they use, except in one case, is English.
If we investigate the properties of the contributions coming from participants from non-English
speaking countries, we find that the contributions are mostly very short and not very many. Both
of these facts are compatible with having difficulties in using English as a second language.
Insufficient linguistic competence, therefore, might be one of the factors behind short
participation in interaction. We also find that the contributions very often have a contact function
consisting of a greeting or, a query about whether others speak one's language. A more general
overview of the topics covered in the exchanges is found in the next section.
4.4 Topics
In Table 7, we present the results of carrying out an analysis of the topics referred to in the
contributions. For 1962 contributions the results were the following:
Table 7. Topics in a VR chat session
(1962 contributions)
Topic No. of contributions %
1. Greetings 349 8
2. Farewells 159 3
3. Announce being back 12
4. Asking for contact or help in Active Worlds 17 1
5. Being witty – seeking attention 63 3
8. 6. Seeking a specific person 72 4
7. Age & sex (Q & A) 74 4
8. Domicile & language 119 6
9. State of health in Real world 23 1
10. Events, objects, persons, Active Worlds 508 26
11. Events, objects in Real World 378 19
12. Sex (jokes, invitations, rejections) 25 1
13. Religion 26 1
14. Contact in Real World 104 5
15. Immigr. officer & unidentif. Addressee 33 2
Greetings and farewells account for 26% of all contributions. This goes well with the fact that
many persons only come for short visits. Greetings are more common than farewells. Perhaps
this is so, since establishing contact is an unavoidable precondition of participation in a session,
whereas preparing for maintenance of contact through leave taking is only important if contact
really has been established.
Contact making in other ways than through greetings, e.g. announcement of being back, asking
for contact or help in Active Worlds, being witty or seeking attention, seeking a specific person,
asking about the sex and age of other persons and announcing your own domicile and language
account for another 22% of all contributions. Totally, thus, 48% of all contributions are devoted
to the establishing of contact (40%) or maintenance of contact through farewells (8%).
When it comes to the contributions which do not have a primary contact function, 26% concern
events, objects, persons in the virtual environment itself (Active Worlds), while 19% concern
events, objects and persons in the real world. Two special topics are noticeably present in some
exchanges - sex (1%) and religion (1%). But as we see both are a comparatively minor concern.
5% of the contributions are devoted to discussing contact in the real world, either because the
parties have already met in real life or because they are exploring the possibility of doing so in
the future. Finally, 2% of the contributions come from a non-human programmed immigration
officer.
4.5 Types of Introductions
Since over 50% of the participants only participate in the session very briefly, introductions are a
major feature of interactions in AlphaWorld. We therefore examined participants' introductions.
Looking at the 180 first contributions the results were as follows:
Table 8. Introductions in AlphaWorld.
180 contributions
9. Type of introduction Frequency
1. Unspecified
Hi to everyone 81
Exclamation to gain attention 19
"Is anyone out there?" 5
105 = 58%
2. Specified
Hi to specific person 31
"Hi X – where are you from" 23
"Is X there" 4
Implicit direct response to ongoing conversation 7
+ "who are you" 1
66 = 35%
3. Interest in language or country
Does anyone speak X/
Is anyone from X 8
I am from country X 3
"Hi X – where are you from" 23
34 = 11%
The table shows that 58% of the introductions were either an unspecified hi to anyone that might
observe it, an exclamation to gain attention, or the phrase "is anyone out there". All of these
types of introductions can be used when you are a newcomer or unsure about whether you know
anyone. Many of the participants in Alpha World presumably fit into these categories of
description. 35% of the introductions are slightly different in being more specific. Of these more
specified introductions, some are compatible with having previous knowledge of Alpha World,
such as saying hi to a specific person, asking for a specific person or giving a direct response to
an ongoing conversation. Others are more open ended, such as asking a person where he/she is
from or who he/she is.
A third category of the introductions (11%) directly topicalize language or geographical origin.
Some examples are Does anyone speak X, Is anyone from Y, I am from country X, Hi W - where
are you from?
4.6 Types of expression and vocabulary
10. Two very noticeable traits of the contributions in the sample are the very frequent occurrence of
smileys or emoticons, and also the very frequent occurrence of unconventional abbreviations. In
Table 9 we present the most highly frequent smileys and abbreviations.
Table 9 Highly frequent smileys and abbreviations. (Total corpus 15 453 words).
The rank number gives the rank in the total corpus
Rank Expression Frequency
14
19
22
42
56
71
89
137
U (you)
lol =LoL (laughing out loud)
:-)
:)
ya (you)
r (are)
ur (you are)
(ya (see you)
114
89
81
61
42
34
27
17
Over and above the smileys and abbreviations presented in the table, there are very many others
with a lower frequency. The presence of these means of expression, which are a typical feature
of written language in more interactive use, also point to the fact that the capabilities for
movement and gesture of the avatars are not really being made use of.
A second quantitative feature of the corpus is that 87 of the 100 most frequent expressions are
syncategorematic or function words. This is not really remarkable but a feature which is shared
with most other corpora of spoken or written language. The function words here, like in other
types of language use, are simply indispensable for constructing complex contributions.
A third more interesting quantitative observation is that the words you (you (310) + U (114) + ya
(42) = 466) and I (403) are the most frequent words in the corpus. This is a very marked feature
and means that these interactions are more than normally focussed on the speaker (writer) and
especially the listener (reader).
A fourth quantitative observation is that in line with the prevalence for greetings found in the
analysis of topics above, we find that words of greeting are much more than normally frequent.
The ranks and frequencies of the four most common words of greeting are presented in Table 10.
Table 10 Greetings
11. (15 453 words)
Rank Word Frequency
6
40
43
64
hi
hello
hey
bye
244
63
60
40
4.7 Communication Management
A fundamental feature of human communication and interaction is that it needs to be managed
by the persons who participate in the interaction. To enable them to do this, all languages have
evolved a set of mechanisms to take care of basic management functions. Below we list some of
these functions and present observations on how they are realized in the Active Worlds setting.
Summons
In order to start a communicative interaction we need to be able to catch the attention of a
potential interlocutor. This can be done through various types of summons like greetings, use of
names or vocative forms. As we have seen, this is a very striking feature of the Active Worlds
setting. Greetings are more than normally frequent. Also the use of names is more common than
in ordinary spoken language. This is probably due to the difficulty in Active Worlds of knowing
who is being addressed. Physical contiguity and eye contact do not make this clear sufficiently
the way it would have been in ordinary face-to-face conversation.
Feedback
Communicators have to let each other know whether what has been communicated has been
perceived and understood. They also have to let each other know if they wish to continue the
interaction and how they are reacting to what their interlocutors are trying to achieve (cf
Allwood,1987 and Allwood, Nivre & Ahlsén 1992).
In spite of the fact that there is need for feedback, the rate for feedback words is lower than in
ordinary spoken interaction. We are unsure of a plausible explanation for this. Either there is
actually a lesser need for feedback in this setting which seems unlikely, or else feedback signals
are given in some other way. A third possibility is that the medium does not allow a convenient
use of feedback signals and that they are left out for this reason.
Turn management
12. Communicators also have to find a way of sharing floor space. This is done by some form of a
turntaking system (cf Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson, 1975). In such a system we expect to find
signals for
- assigning a turn to another speaker
- keeping the turn if one has not finished
- interrupting and taking the turn from another speaker
- accepting the turn
First, we note that the turn management in Active Worlds is not controlled by a chairman or the
like. The participants themselves regulate their turns and the contributions appear in the order in
which they have been submitted (it may be possible that a faster Internet connection may confer
an advantage on the participant using this connection, but this is difficult to gauge).
Looking at these functions, we have found that turn assignment and summoning is a very
prevalent feature of the interaction we have studied. However, keeping a turn when it is not
finished is difficult since it depends on the ability of keeping up a high speed of writing.
Interruption is not really possible given that simultaneous contributions are not allowed by the
medium. Accepting the turn can usually be done even if there might be a problem when other
contributions appear before your own.
Sequencing
In many types of communication, it is useful or important to break the interaction up into parts.
We need to do one thing before we do another (cf Sacks and Schegloff, 1993).
One type of communicative action needs to precede another. For example, giving an answer
usually presupposes that a question has been asked. The parts or phases of a sequence of
interaction may be of different lengths, going from a single communicative act to several
communicative acts constituting what might be called a subactivity.
A problem concerning sequencing in Active Worlds is that other participants may insert their
contributions in between contributions which functionally belong together. This means that
sequencing in Active Worlds often leads to a need for redundance in the form of repetition or
paraphrase in order to ensure comprehension of what sequence is being continued.
Own Communication Management
"Own Communication Management" refers to mechanisms whereby a speaker can manage
his/her own speech. Two important functional needs of own communication management are
"choice" and "change". "Choice" is connected to the need to choose the right expressions and to
planning your contribution. In spoken interaction this can be accomplished for example by
13. hesitation sounds or pausing. "Change" is connected to the need to change your contribution for
various reasons, such as mistakes or changes of mind, etc.
In the VR session, own communication management is difficult to observe. Pauses can be
observed only if other speakers do not intervene. Other turnkeeping devices do not really occur.
Changes are not observable, since contributions arrive in lumps rather than on-line word by word
which means that they are pre-edited before they are contributed,
5 Discussion
5.1 Participants' share of the session
The finding that most participants' contributions to the session are few and short needs to be put
in the context that AlphaWorld, together with 'AWGate' where the new users enter the system, is
one of the most central places within the Active Worlds system. It is the world that almost
always has the largest number of users, and 'Ground Zero', the place where our logging took
place, is the area where new users to this world first arrive, and which therefore acts as kind of
central square. 'Ground Zero' is at the major crossroads within the most built-up area of Active
Worlds and it is ringed by billboards with advertising and announcements.
Even so, observation suggests that the behaviour of participants at 'Ground Zero' within
AlphaWorld is not untypical of behaviour throughout the whole Active Worlds system. Users of
the system tend to move around, leaving a few participants to dominate the 'conversation' in a
particular place. It is clear that the number of contributions per participant and the distribution of
contributions among participants also has to do with the nature of the contributions; namely that
a large proportion of contributions are greetings and brief communication management
utterances (see below).
The average number of words per contribution (4.9) is also related to the fact that greetings are
the most common type of contribution. In addition, it is possible to speculate that the number of
words per contribution may be a re ult of the size of the ,text window combined with the nature
of turntaking in Active Worlds. The text window allows approximately 50 keystrokes per line
which, in turn, is approximately 10-15 words. Although it is possible to change the size of the
text window on the screen, it is unlikely that this affects the number of keystrokes or words per
line. If we combine this with the fact that almost all contributions are 'one-liners', then the
shortness of participants' contributions is not surprising. It remains to be investigated whether or
to what extent 'one-liner' or short contributions are characteristic of text-based forms of
(synchronous) computer-mediated-communication, or if there are settings in which contributions
are more lengthy, as in 'real' world conversations.
5.2 Participant Origins
The dominance of English speakers in Active Worlds is not surprising. The use of the intemet is
most widespread in advanced industrial societies, with the United States foremost among them.
And again, like the internet, Active Worlds is not bound to location but rather a single network
that operates throughout the day. There therefore an ebb and flow of participants from different
14. countries in Active Worlds, depending on the time of day. Despite the dominance of participants
from English-speaking countries, it is clear that Active Worlds is a cosmopolitan place, with
participants from a wide range of countries. (We should mention again that we do not know the
origins of participants or their backgrounds, but they are likely to be more diverse than is often
supposed. In an interview between Schroeder and the developers of the Active Worlds system in
Newburyport, Mass., on October 18, 1999, they mentioned that according to a marketing survey,
51% of users were from the US., 39% were female and 83% were more than 25 years old.)
5.3 Share of non-English contributions
Again, the near-absence of participants contributing only in non-English language needs to be in
the context that 'Ground Zero' is a kind of central thoroughfare. The Active Worlds system has
also come to contain worlds that are oriented towards nonEnglish speakers, such as Russia,
Germany, Japan and the like. There are currently more than a dozen such worlds, and in some of
them, one will often find that the language toward which the world is oriented tends to
predominate. In Russia, for example, the characters of the Russian alphabet can most often be
found in the text window, which prohibits participation by non-Russian speakers. In central or
cosmopolitan spaces like 'Ground Zero' and 'Gate', however, English dominates. The 'real' world
analogy here is with the predominance of English at international conferences and the like.
The dominance of English in central places in Active Worlds means that, again, as in the 'real'
world, the inability to 'speak' English puts people at a disadvantage (here it is important to note
that there may be differences among participants' abilities in spoken and written English). This
form of stratification of the population of Active Worlds can be placed in the context that there
are other forms of stratification in this system, for example between 'tourists' and 'citizens',
between 'insiders' and 'outsiders' and between those with greater and lesser skills or familiarity in
using the system's features (see Schroeder 1997).
5.4 Topics
The reasons for the large share of conversations devoted to greetings, farewell and contact has
already been mentioned above. It can be noted that this finding fits with observations made by
Becker and Mark (1998) in their study of Active Worlds, Onlive Traveller (a system which uses
voice communication) and LambdaMO (a text-only MUD or multi-user dungeon). Becker and
Mark found that the social conventions for greeting and leaving (among others) in these systems
follow the conventions in the 1 real' world. Where our findings may depart from Becker and
Mark is that they observed that 'in all three environments, avatars rarely leave without saying
goodbye'(1 998: 5 1). It seems odd that our results should show that farewells are infrequent
(8%) compared with establishing contact (40%) - if farewells and greetings follow the
conventions of the 'real' world, and if, for Becker and Mark, there is no difference between the
commonness of greetings and farewells, then there should be a greater balance between farewells
and greetings. This area deserves further investigation. Becker and Mark also found an average
of four conversation turns for Active Worlds participants (1998: 5 1), which is strikingly
different from our average of 16.7 contributions and can perhaps be compared with our median
of 5 contributions per participant.
15. Apart from this, the minor role of sex as a topic (1 %) is notable in view of popular conceptions
of intemet uses. As regards religion (1 %), it should be noted again that *Ground Zero' is a
particular kind of meeting place. There are worlds and places that are oriented towards special
topics or interests within the Active Worlds system. One world, for example, is oriented to
religion and holds regular church services, and here most of the conversation is devoted to
religious topics (for an analysis of religion in this type of virtual world, see Schroeder, Heather
and Lee, 1998).
5.5 Types of Introductions
The introductions Active Worlds reflect the rapidly shifting population of this system.
Participants enter the world and try to establish who is there and where they are from. This is in
keeping with the 'cocktail party' atmosphere and style of the conversation, especially, again, at
the thoroughfare of 'Ground Zero'.
5.6 Types of expression and vocabulary
The use of smileys and emoticons is common in email and text-based MUD's and should
therefore come as no surprise here. What is noteworthy, however, is that participants do not
make use of the gestures and expressions that their avatars are capable of - the screen features
commands for 'wave', 'dance', 'happy', and the like. Observation indicates that these commands
are hardly ever used. When they are used, it tends to be in the context of 'fooling around' or
exploring the capabilities of the system, rather than for communication purposes as such.
5.7 Communication Management
The most noteworthy feature of communication management in Active Worlds is that
much effort is devoted to the contact aspect of communication. Several reasons can be
given for this:
- the 'reduced social cues (Short, Williams and Christie, 1976) explanation, whereby
communication via electronic media does not allow the same range of expressivity as face-to-
face communication, ie. eye contact, facial expression, 'body language', touch, and the like
- the difficulty of establishing and keeping track of who is taking part in the
conversation (it should be noted that although the participant's name and their
contribution is displayed above the head of their avatar, it can often be difficult to
keep track of all the participants in a 3-1) space on a flat screen)
- the rapid turnover between participants. Here it is necessary again to point to the fact that
'Ground Zero' is a central space. In more remote parts of the Active Worlds system with fewer
16. avatars present, or in cases when only two participants are present, it is easier to manage a
conversation. At 'Ground Zero', however, with participants constantly coming and going and
typically 6-12 participants present at any time, communication management is much more
difficult.
When we examine the content of the communication, we therefore often find that
conversations seem disjointed, the flow of the conversation is often interrupted, and -
as is common in text-based conversations that do not have special rules or designated
roles for turn management - there are often two or more conversations going on
simultaneously which interrupt each other (that is, there are different conversations between
pairs or groups of participants that are interspersed with those of other pairs or groups) with little
possibility of imposing any order on this 'chaos' or 'babel' or free-for-all.
6. Summary and Conclusions
We have analysed some of the main features of a session in Active Worlds and found a number
of noteworthy characteristics:
- the dominance of the English language in a setting of participants with diverse
linguistic backgrounds
- most participants make only a few contributions. Only a few exhibit extended
participation with many contributions.
- the contributions are relatively short with much emphasis on greeting and
identifying yourself and other participants
- considerable effort expended on communication management, with conversations nevertheless
lacking the 'orderliness' of comparable conversations in the real' world
In multi-user virtual spaces that are accessed from all over the world, English is the lingua franca,
with the exception that separate virtual worlds are being created that cater to speakers of other
languages. It will be interesting to keep track of the balance between Anglophone
cosmopolitanism or imperialism (depending on one's point of view) as against 'cyber-
provincialism' or resistance to this linguistic dominance in this novel setting. Those who do not
speak English or who have difficulties using English will be at a disadvantage in the areas of
Active Worlds (currently most areas)
where English is dominant.
17. These findings suggest a number of areas for further study:
- compare 'Ground Zero' with communication in other settings in Active Worlds, and perhaps
especially conversations between two participants
- compare conversations that consist of 'socialising for its own sake' with
conversations that are oriented to different tasks
- compare conversations in Active Worlds with other forms of computer-mediated
communication, including other text-and-image systems, text-only MUD's, and VR systems with
voice capability (such as OnliveTraveller)
- compare Active Worlds systematically with 'real' world conversations
The main purpose of communication in Active Worlds is socialising, and in the setting of
( 'Ground Zero', this requires a vast amount of introducing participants to each other and
establishing their place in the conservation. In text-only MUD's, participants expend a lot of
effort not only introducing themselves and getting a 'sense of the place', but also describing their
appearance and character. In Active Worlds, the emphasis is not on describing your appearance
and locating other participants in the virtual space, but rather on contact aspects of
communication management in a situation where several simultaneous conversations are going
on.
7. References
(We would like to thank the anonymous referees for helpful comments on this paper)
Allwood, J. 1987. "Om det svenska systemet för språklig återkoppling" in P. Linell, V.
Adelswärd, T. Nilsson, & P.A. Pettersson (Eds.) Svenskans Beskrivning 16, Vol.1. (SIC 21a) ,
University of Linköping, Tema Kommunikation
Allwood. J., Nivre, J. & Ahlsén, E. 1992. "On the Semantics and Pragmatics of Linguistic
Feedback" in Journal of Semantics, also in Gothenburg Papers in Theoretical Linguistics, 64,
University of Göteborg, Dept of Linguistics.
Becker, G., and Mark. G. 1998. 'Social Conventions in Collaborative virtual environments' in
Proceedings: Collaborative Virtual Environments CVE '98. Manchester 17h - 19th June, pp. 47-
55.
Flydal, E. 1998. Språkmangfold og Cyberspace: Hva er det? Hva blir det? Og hvem skal sørge
for det?, Unpublished manuscript, Telenor, FOU, Oslo
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E.A. & Jefferson, G. 1974. A simplest systematics for the organization of
turn-taking for conversation. Language 50: 696-735.
18. Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. 1973. Opening up closing. Semiotica 8, 289-327.
Schroeder, R. 1997. 'Networked worlds: Social Interaction in Multi-User Virtual Reality
Technology'., Sociological Research Online, 2(4). .
Schroeder, R. Heather, N. and Lee, R. 1998. 'The Sacred and the Virtual: Religion in Multi-User
Virtual Reality', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 4(2) .
Short, J., Williams, E., and Christie, B. 1976. The Social Psychology of Telecommunications,
London: John Wiley and Sons.