I am also convinced by the many evidences that e-sociability doesn't replace classic forms of sociability and that people with mediated communications tend to be generally the ones with the larger personal networks. However, what if we restrict the analysis to work hours? If the time-budget is fixed? It's been established that groupware uses are time-consuming. So, it would be logical to make the inference that more "intranet communication" means less communications the "older forms", wouldn't be? Then, the question is wether the relationships with co-workers, and sense of belonging to a group inside the organization, might be affected. Again, thanks for those references. They provide a basis for reflexion and discussion. But I would be surprise not to find any allegation of the "negative impacts of CMC inside organizations" in the litterature! Guillaume
Barry Wellman writes:
PS: Nancy Baym discussed the Copher finding, "the more (online), the more offline" in Wellman-Haythornthwaite's Internet in Everyday Life. same finding appears in Quan, et al and Boase, Chen & Wellman, altho we didn't select articles on that basis. Pew studies find the same thing.
As does Castells, et al in Catalonia.
Bernie Hogan finds a softer version: Internet use doesn't seem to lower other forms of communication (ASA conf, last August). I am starting to think this is a reliable finding, at least in the soft version.
My colleagues and I also report the same finding in a college student sample (more use of internet is correlated with more f2f and telephone communication) in an article to be published in New Media and Society later this year.
Nancy