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more prone to misunderstandings than face-to-face communication and require more articulation work for communicating extra knowledge that conveys feelings and the context of communication (e.g., in the form of emoticons). Communicating emotions explicitly (to “emote”) in text form is a strategy for overcoming contextual limitations of CMC. Text-based CMC can result both in a neglect of the body and an increased attention to the body (Döring 2003, 287). Expressive communication: Due to the potential anonymity and a lack of nonverbal expression in text-based VCs, the Habermasian claims to validity of truthfulness (correspondence of intention and statements) and normative rightness (clarification of and agreement on the normative context of communication) are often harder to achieve online than offline. Online communication hence is easier than offline communication, it shifts into a more expressive and affective mode, and it is more prone to violating normative rules of communication (e.g., in flame wars). In order to avoid such problems, moral rules develop in cyberspace and in VCs (netiquette, chatiquette). Speed: Relationships can become intense more quickly online than offline in a positive and a negative sense because anonymity and the lack of visual cues encourage projection (Turkle 1997, 206sq.). People feel more courageous online than offline because they can more easily end a conversation, they feel that there are potentially less consequences for action in a symbolic than in a physical space, and they have more time for thinking before answering and arguing. The lack of physical presence and visual context queues and the invisibility of the communication partners might lower inhibitions. There are lower inhibition thresholds online than offline, and one arrives at private topics more quickly (Döring 2003, 457). Online communication in some respect seems to accelerate social contact and social relationships, which also means that online contacts are not only quickly created but can also be quickly abandoned. Anonymity allows masking handicaps and accentuating certain individual characteristics, which might lower inhibition (Döring 2003, 460). VCs are generally easier to join and to leave, which will result in more dynamic and continuous membership evolution (McLaughlin, Osborne, and Smith 1995). Sociality: Communication in VCs is a social activity, but it is in most cases carried out physically alone in front of a screen. Max Weber argued that “action is social, in so far, by virtue of the subjective meaning attached to it by the acting individual (or individuals), it takes account of the behaviour of others and is thereby orientated in its course” (Weber 1947, 88). Online communication of one individual is oriented on the messages typed/communicated by others; hence, it is always a social activity. That the individuals are not physically copresent and sit alone in front of a screen doesn’t mean that online communication isn’t social. Reflection: In a VC, other than in an offline community where people meet face-to-face, one can postpone reactions and take more time for reflection before giving answers to questions.
VCs are not necessarily global,Douglas Schuler (1996) has coined the term community networks for computer-mediated communication that encourages communication and participation in local communities. Examples are the Free-Nets in the United States and the Seattle Community Network.
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