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(i) In role expectations, e.g. concerning power, respect, politeness,
and in the manner in which power or politeness is expressed.
(ii) In the sequences opening or closing an activity, e.g. in sequences
of greeting, introduction and leave taking.
(iii) In turn management and feedback.
(iv) In what is seen as the purpose of a given activity, especially
concerning non-explicit purposes.
(v) In environmental features like the occurrence of (and attitudes
to) cleanliness, dirt, noise and silence. In connection with the
environment, it is also interesting to consider natural factors,
like the climate or topography that can have an influence on
culture and communication.
Investigations of how culture and social activity influence
communication should therefore, if possible, be combined. Otherwise
there is a clear risk that behavior attributable to an activity difference
is attributed to a cultural difference and vice versa.
10. Face-to-face Communication and
Communication Technology
What happens when we introduce communicative technology into
face-to-face communication? (Allwood and Ahlsén, 2012.) Today, there
are many types of communication technology, for example, writing,
radio, TV, electronic audio-video communication (Skype, Youtube etc.),
email, chat, Facebook and mobile communication devices of many
types. Some of these support human-human communication, while
others involve communication with a virtual agent (games, tutoring
systems), a robot or bot. Many new devices for picking up information
have been developed: e.g. sensors for GPS, galvanic skin responses,
heart beat and brain activity (for example, Zhang et al., 2006).
Two questions that will be with us for a while and periodically
need to be asked again are: What is missing and what are the
consequences of new communication and information technology for
communication?
As an example of the effects of communication technology, let us
consider the extent to which communication involves synchronization
in time and space. See Table 6, below.
The table shows how communication technology has enabled us
to bypass the constraint of co-presence in time and space, which is a
feature of face-to-face communication. But there is a price to pay for
this. Some features of face-to-face communication are lost. So far, lack
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