[Air-l] query re. f2f greetings

[Charles Ess]

Dear AoIRists:

On behalf of a colleague who is interested in important contrasts between
online and offline experiences, a query:

Is there literature, description, anecdotes, speculation about the following
possibilities:
Two people meet and talk f2f
1.  The next time they meet - they remember one another and/or find other
cues for recalling / establishing the identity of the Other.
2.  The next time they meet - they do not seem to remember, but it's as if
they are meeting for the first time.

and:
are there analogues for these possibilities online?
That is - are there protocols (informal or otherwise) for how people greet
newcomers, for example, in chatrooms (that might be analogous to meeting a
newcomer f2f for the first time) vis-a-vis
greeting protocols / rituals / conventions for subsequent meetings in which
3.  the dialogical partners remember one another, and /or find other cues
for recalling /establishing the identity of the Other.
4.  the dialogical partners, in a subsequent encounter, fail to remember and
must re-meet, as if for the first time?

Part of the point of this query is to see if there cues we might draw from
offline encounters and establishment of personal identity / trust in the
Other that would apply / not apply to the online world - all with a view
towards developing (a sense of) more secure networks and online
communication.

In particular: what do we do offline to establish a sense of the personal
identity of a stranger - and how far can these procedures / protocols /
rituals, etc. be replicated online?

I hope you find the questions interesting, at least!  Thanks in advance for
any suggestions and comments you may be able to offer.

Cheers,
Charles Ess
Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies
Drury University
900 N. Benton Ave.                          Voice: 417-873-7230
Springfield, MO  65802  USA            FAX: 417-873-7435

Home page:  http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html
Co-chair, CATaC: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/

Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23