Media Richness or Media Naturalness? The Evolution of Our Biological Communication Apparatus and Its Influence on Our Behavior Toward E-Communication Tools

Abstract

Abstract-E-communication in businesses hasThe main goal of this paper is to extend prior research on human evolution and behavior toward technology [16], [17] and offer a solid theoretical basis on which the mixed findings above can be understood. The paper provides an alternative to the media richness hypothesis, referred to here as the media naturalness hypothesis, developed based on Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Like the media richness hypothesis, the media naturalness hypothesis has important implications for the selection, use, and deployment of e-communication tools in organizations. However, unlike the media richness hypothesis, it is argued

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“…Media naturalness theory (Kock, 2005) holds that humans are biologically conditioned for face-to-face interaction, and digitally mediated communication should try to approximate a face-to-face experience. Kock (2005) outlines five communication elements to consider: colocation (sharing the same space); speech; facial expressions; synchronicity (the real-time back-and-forth nature of communication); and body language.…”

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“…Cho, Ramgolam, Schaefer and Sandlin [8] studying the way in which synchronicity affects communication overload, found that the communicants felt heavier load with low synchronicity media, than with high synchronicity media. For this reason, Kock [15] argues that due to the long experience of people with face to face communication, they are more likely to choose to communicate through a high synchronicity medium, since it gives a closer to face to face experience.…”

“…This shows a positive attitude towards VW since it provides a PAPER EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN VIRTUAL WORLDS AND VIDEOCONFERENCE game-like condition which reduces emotional stress. Based on MNT [15], VW is considered a more natural communication medium than VC.…”

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