Fragmentation / Integration and Involvement / Detachment in Chatroom Discourse
Studies of the discourse of electronic chatrooms usually aim at determining how close this variety is to the prototypes of spoken and written language by analyzing a whole range of different features. The paper investigates four points of difference: fragmentation, integration, detachment and involvement, which reflect various types of cognitive activities entailed in text production and reception. Fragmentation and involvement are typical of speaking, while integration and detachment are associated with writing and this analysis aims at determining how chatting resembles written or spoken language in respect of the frequency of occurrence of certain features.
Linguistic and interactional features of Internet relay chat
L'A. prend pour donnees d'analyse un mode synchronique de Communication Mediatisee par Ordinateur appele Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Ces donnees sont en anglais (provenant d'un canal australien) et en francais. L'A. fournit une taxonomie des traits qui caracterisent ce genre de communication. Il souligne le caractere essentiellement oral de l'IRC en montrant comment les participants tentent de reproduire certains aspects de la langue parlee a l'aide de moyens graphiques et orthographiques
Efficacy for Dealing With Terrorism Precautionary Behavior: Laying the Groundwork for Communication Effectiveness
In order to formulate effective communication and intervention strategies to respond to the widespread lack of preparedness for public health crises resulting from natural and human-made disasters, researchers have developed models describing the interrelationships between factors associated with emergency preparedness decisions. Empirical research has generally assumed that two key elements of most health behavior theories—self-efficacy and response efficacy—additively influence the decision to prepare, despite compelling theoretical rationale for an interactive relationship. The few studies that have investigated interactions in preparedness outcomes have not tested the Social Cognitive Theory prediction that non-zero levels of both efficacy types are required before individuals will engage in any preparedness behavior. Based on the responses of 3,101 participants in the National Survey of Disaster Experiences and Preparedness, this study tested additive, interactive, and conditional main effect hypotheses about the influence of self-efficacy and response efficacy for dealing with terrorism on preparedness due to terrorism six years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A significant self-efficacy × response efficacy interaction effect on preparedness was found, in addition to a significant response efficacy effect when perceived self-efficacy was zero, contrary to the expectation from Social Cognitive Theory. These results offer insights into the cognitive processes underlying individuals’ decisions to prepare for disasters such as terrorist attacks, and highlight the importance of considering more complex theory-based cognitive interaction models in designing effective communication strategies to facilitate individual emergency preparedness.