Face-to-Face Communication over the Internet Emotions in a Web of Culture, Language, and Technology

                    

Social platforms such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have rekindled the initial excitement of cyberspace. Text-based, computer-mediated communication has been enriched with face-to-face communication such as Skype, as users move from desktops to laptops with integrated cameras and related hardware. Age, gender and culture barriers seem to have crumbled and disappeared as the user base widens dramatic- ally. Other than simple statistics relating to email usage, chat rooms, and blog subscriptions, we know surprisingly little about the rapid changes taking place. This book assembles leading researchers on nonverbal communication, emotion, cognition and computer science to summarize what we know about the processes relevant to face-to-face communi- cation as it pertains to telecommunication, including video conferencing. The authors take stock of what has been learned regarding how people communicate, in person or over dis- tance, and lay the foundations for solid research helping to understand the issues, implications, and possibilities that lie ahead.