Computer‐mediated communication and the question of culture

Abstract

There is a controversy surrounding the existence of a culture created by the people who use computers to communicate. Those who deny its existence argue that emotional contact is only possible within the face‐to‐face setting, and that computer‐mediated communication does not allow enough commonalty to form a culture. Through an analysis of computer‐mediated communication transcripts collected from Bitnet‐Relay, a synchronous computer system, it is argued that cultures are both possible and prevalent among communities connected only by the computer as the preferred mode of communication.