[Air-l] question about interview language for online/offline distinction

[Annette Markham]

> I want to make a distinction between being online, OL, and what -
> paradoxically, online, is often referred to as Real Life, or RL. Of course,
> RL is problematic because for lots of people who spend much time on the Net,
> OL is very real, embodied, important, and connected to other forms of
> interaction that are either not digitally mediated, or mediated differently
> (cell phones etc...)

RL and IRL seem to be much more popular terms for people who were
chatting in the early and mid-'90s.  I don't know what others think
about this or if anyone has written about it, but my students never
recognize it.  They don't use these terms to describe their
experiences because their entry technologies are, among other things,
much more mobile.  Anyway, the terms RL and IRL are still used, but I
question, like you, to what extent these are useful terms anymore.  I
notice that when interviewees use terms like this, they seem to be
using them because they are learned terms or because it's an easy
convention to adopt, not because the terms are particularly accurate
or meaningful descriptions of actual experience.

> Annette, I noticed, in her interviews, uses online versus offline. 

The interviews I'm referring to were conducted in the mid-'90s, so
they reflect a dated terminology.  Doing interviews now, I use
different terminology.  I actually try to avoid making the distinction
at all, but the binary thinking (online/offline) slips into my
language.  It made sense at the time to use online/offline....First: 
the distinction of online versus offline was part of my original (and
somewhat faulty) research question; and Second: That terminology was
really typical at the time (1995-97).

> 
> Back to the terminology question - when asking say, about identity in
> different spaces - offline online, RL OL
> 
> Is there a different, better binary to invoke to make this distinction?
> 
There are many things being used by researchers and maybe in the next
few days, we'll see some interesting terminology.

For me the terms are not as important as the questions raised by their
continued use.   We DO tend to make distinctions, because there are
some interesting differences in communication patterns online versus
offline.  But the technologies are becoming more and more embedded,
saturated, mobile, transparent, etc.  Likewise, the frames of
experience are more transparent, invisible, and pervasive.  I make the
argument in another piece that everyday conceptualizations of digital
communication technologies are shifting.  Instead of conceptualizing
it as a "tool" or "place" separate from us, we simply experience it as
a part of everyday life, as a Way of Being.  (in other words, we don't
think of ICT/CMC as an "experience" in the same way we don't
experience breathing or blinking unless we catch a cold or get dry
eyes).  I'm not saying anything new when I say that as we learn more
about communication in the Internet Age, we're having to rethink our
basic theories and terms about everyday life and experience.  The
terminologies are jarring because they don't quite fit.

How does that translate to terminology with users?  It means that the
"experience" for each user is less related to the online/offline
distinction and is more related to the specific context of the
experience. The binary terms don't work very well anyway (the paradox
you mention is that the traditional definitions of terms don't mesh
with the descriptions of experiences, if I gather what you're saying,
right?).  Experience is that which is experienced, regardless of
experience is mediated (as you've already noted in your message).

Having said that, I think It would be interesting to see some of the
terminology being used by researchers to distinguish what people have
typically called online/offline.  Just to see the the list.

Thoughts?

Annette


> Thanks,
> 
> Mary
> ---------------
> Mary Bryson, Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator, ECPS, Faculty of
> Education, University of British Columbia
> "Queer Women on the Net" project: http://www.queerville.ca
> "GenTech" project: http://www.shecan.com
> 
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