Too much information: Video conferencing for professional communication

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study examines how video conferencing is living up to its potential as a substitute for face‐to‐face communication among remote professionals. We interviewed mobile knowledge workers to better understand how video conferencing is used in professional settings. The laws of media provided our theoretical framework. We found that video conferencing enhances the face; retrieves gesture and setting; obsolesces telephone and face‐to‐face communication, although imperfectly; and reverses into facelessness when sights and sounds from the background become distracting. The telephone may become more obsolete when problems like low bandwidth are resolved. Professionals would benefit from conferencing on devices on which their faces appear larger, and distracting background is less visible. Novel, in this work, are the consequences of video conferencing working too well.