Face-to-Face Sociability Signs Made Explicit in CMC

Abstract

Abstract. This paper discusses how semiotic engineering can support the formulation of problems and solutions involved in handling face-to-face (F2F) sociability models in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Based on a case study where a group of users migrated through different types of CMC systems, we show that the designer's model of F2F sociability is extensively signified and encoded into technology, whether they know it or not. Users are deeply affected by the designers' F2F sociability models. Two qualitative methods of analysis are used to reveal the richness of interpretive and communicative processes in which online communities are involved, and the interplay of designers' and users' signs at interaction time.