The effects of the virtual community on changing worldwide global business and culture.

ABSTRACT

Because the Internet is the fastest growing new mode of technology since the industrial revolution, we all have an incredible opportunity to witness the massive change the metamorphosis is bringing to our culture on a worldwide basis. The effects and changes taking place in our culture and in cultures across the oceans are overwhelming, and the expansion of people partaking in virtual communities is phenomenal. The changes are here to stay, like it or not. This paper puts forward the birth of the virtual community, the controversy at the heart of online cultures, the psychological aspects of these unseen relationships, and the applications that benefit the people engaged in the communities.

1. INTRODUCTION

These days we are all immersed in waves of right thinking about technologies like virtual reality, broadband, global, and multimedia communication networks. In his book, The Wired Neighborhood, Doheny-Farina (1998) writes, "Techno-experts say that we are making the shift from the industrial society to the knowledge society." This change is so widespread, so rapid, and so applicable to our daily lives. He sums the subject up nicely: "It is clear ... that cyberspace will play an important role in knitting together the diverse communities of tomorrow, facilitating the creation of 'electronic neighborhoods' bound together not by geography but by shared interests." Speaking of the 'wired neighborhood,' the question is posed, "Are the relationships people have with their computers really changing the way humans really think and feel about things?" As Turkle (1997) asks in her book, Life on the Screen, "Are we living life on the screen, or in the screen?" Virtual communities and new modes of communication are affecting not only American culture in a catastrophic way, but also cultures on a worldwide basis. The authors will weigh the pros and cons of the virtual communities. Areas to be addressed include:

* The computer is an evocative object that causes our boundaries to be renegotiated in many aspects of our lives

* The revaluation of bricolage in the culture of simulation includes a new emphasis on visualization and the development of intuition through the manipulation of virtual objects.

* Learning and interacting with computer simulation abdicates authority to the simulation and provides willingness to accept its opacity. This new mode of acceptance carries over into the way we think about the real world in every area, from politics, to economics, to social interaction and to education.

2. THE COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION

In electronic document known as the "Magna Charta for the Knowledge Age," written by (Dyson, Gilder, Keyworth, and Toffler, 1995), the authors make the following announcement:

The central event of the 20th century is the overthrow of matter. In technology, economics, and the politics of nations, wealth-in the form of physical resources has been losing value and significance. The powers of mind are everywhere ascendant over the brute force of things. Again, the "Magna Charta" "It is clear ... that cyberspace will play an important role in knitting together the diverse communities of tomorrow, facilitating the creation of 'electronic neighborhoods' bound together not by geography, but by shared interests."

It is clear from this statement, that the revolution has begun, and the controversy is strong. The noted alteration in what we term success in our society-wealth-is losing value in the physical sense. More likely we now know and say, "Knowledge is Power." In the present and future virtual world, the powers of the mind represent true power, whereas, power in past generations has been measured more in a physical sense, by world economics, politics, money, and geography. What are we to think of the new virtual world that measures true power by those who possess a healthier stronghold over peoples' minds? Furthermore, the argument continues, "Does technology have us in a stranglehold? The old regime is crumbling away. Newspapers don't really give us 'real' news anymore, but censored, biased hyped up stories that are old before the ink meets the paper. Book publishing is fast becoming an antique medium for literature, and television networking is an avenue of the media that gives everyone the right to produce programming for everyone else. Doheny-Farina (1998) states, "Power goes to those who can control the flow of information. But when all information, all music, all art, all images, all ideas are digitized, then everyone can access, alter, create, and transmit anything, anywhere, anytime." And therein lies the extreme danger; the issue of control. As stated earlier, the danger in the new technological age is the matter of control. Who controls the digital media is who ultimately will control the people, as the statement cries, "Power goes to those who can control the flow of information." Some other serious questions have been posed by the neo-Luddites in the consideration of how the new virtual communities, which are the foundation of the population's acceptance of cyberspace, are changing the face of our culture. These questions include:

1. Do we share a daunting task of countering the destructive, globalizing seductions of cyberspace?

2. Is our involvement in the virtual community changing the way we physically interact with each other in a negative way?

3. In moving from the old to the new technologies, are we increasing immersiveness and interactivity in a destructive way?

4. Is Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) a functional alternative to Face-to-Face (F2F) communication?

These questions require much serious thought and consideration. Let's consider the first question, "Do we share a daunting task of countering the destructive, globalizing seductions of cyberspace?" Slouka (1996) shares his viewpoint that in the inevitability of the new technological age his concern is not only about the changes the new virtual age is ushering in, but more so about how unconcerned people are about the catastrophic change taking place around them. He likens our plight to H. G. Wells (1988) book, The War of the Worlds, where people eventually lost their ability to separate reality from unreality. The actor, Orson Wells was so successful in creating an electronic illusion in a 1938 radio adaptation of this book about the Martians invading the world that people literally flocked north to escape the onslaught. Slouka believes that "we are all headed down a road of unreality that will make us stupid ... and collectively gullible as children". He believes that we will live in a society that simply believes everything we are told without questioning, and therein lays the danger. Respectively, if we don't recognize the predicament that we are in, that we indeed are ceasing to question things--and are losing our ability to make value judgments about major concerns in our private and communal lives--we are in grave trouble. Without even recognizing the seductions of cyberspace there is little hope of any possibility of countering those beguiling. The changing technology is not the issue here, but the consequence the technology is having on the moral, political, and psychological aspects of our lives is. SIouka records, "Because technology is never a neutral force: it orders our behavior, redefines our values, and reconstitutes our lives in ways we can't always predict."

Turkle (1997) calls to our attention the fact that we are in the age of the identity crisis, yet she portrays a positive message while at the same time sounding the alarm. Her alarmist counterparts, Slouka and Doheny-Farina sound some strong, noted points as to why we should seriously take to heart the hidden enemy who is silently marching in and restructuring our culture. Just as the impact written text had on the world's culture when communication crossed the line from orality to literacy, the crossover from literacy to the digital dialectic is having, and will have a phenomenal effect on world culture. Instead of feeling that we need to share a daunting task of countering the destructive globalizing seductions of cyberspace, we need to be open to investigating and learning everything we can about the new media, and with open minds assess that part which is destructive, and the other part which is constructive for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

This new form of technology is causing us to lose touch with the real, physical world. It is a technology that bypasses the senses and creates an alternate world, which is abstract, yet inhabitable. This alternate reality is only accessible via a computer screen that takes away the bond that physical interaction between humans requires for healthy, happy living. Rheingold (2000) articulates, "People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind." People brainstorm, argue, exchange gossip, fight, romance, play games, flirt, create, and conduct business, all by the exchange of words on a screen. Rheingold sees nothing wrong with our loss of the physical, while Slouka exclaims, "The net seduces us and further removes us from our localities." He goes on to explain that if we do not, as communities, and as a society, support this movement, we will risk the further disappearance of local communities within globalized virtual collectives of both alienated and entertained individuals.

In moving from the old to the new technologies, we are increasing immersiveness and interactivity in both a positive and negative way. Turkle suggests, "Computers would not be the culturally powerful objects they are turning out to be if people were not falling in love with their machines, and the ideas that the machines carry." We are slowly and steadily immersing ourselves into our computers, accepting the simulations as reality, and losing ourselves in the data sphere. On the positive side, when we buy a computer, bring it home, hook it up, and learn how to use it, we are participating in a new style of learning that stretches our ability to memorize and apply new information. Negative changes occur when we tie into the net and engage in role-playing games that involve the use of multiple personalities. We find our true selves becoming somewhat de-centered. Our identities become confused, as we become different people by simply using our fingertips to portray various characters. By the tone and style of our writing, we can be any type person we desire to be; we can build up and encourage people, or easily deceive and destroy those on the receiving end of our textual communication with the touch of our fingertips. We must remember that we need to live a rich life off the net, continue to partake in communal activities on a physical level with people, and not lose touch with what is the true community. We must be aware that there will be not a future of interpersonal bonding unmediated by systems, or a future of random, unexpected community-building of individuals if we delve further into the isolated cocoons of our homes and virtual communities.

Rheingold (2000) states that, "The task of the twenty-first century will be to build the bitsphere--a worldwide electronically mediated environment in which networks are everywhere." We are living in this century where this bitsphere is indeed taking over the way we communicate with each other. The technology of the Internet is becoming a medium of convenience. Think for a moment. Colleagues who work down the hall from each other now e-mail questions for the convenience of saving the walk time down the hall. Children who live next door to one another prefer to converse in chat rooms rather than play outside together. It is no secret that American society is the society of 'fast fixes'. We can eat fast food, order movies from the cable companies for the convenience of saving drive time to the video store, and are now given the option to order food online rather than having to venture out to the grocery store. Eventually, we will all be able to live like happy hermits in our isolated dwellings, never having to open our doors to the outside world for want of anything. This is where we have to draw the line and consider where the loss of face-to-face communication is taking us. The fact that Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC) is replacing Face-to-Face (F2F) communication is inevitable. Is this replacement a functional alternative? Various important issues are presented in the study, Internet and F2F Communications: Not Functional Alternatives (Flaherty, 1998). These issues include the following:

1 Communication behavior is goal-directed, purposive, and motivated.

2 People are active in selecting/using communication vehicles to satisfy needs.

3 People are able to identify their own communication motives/gratifications.

4 The media compete with other forms of communication for attention, selection, and use.

5 People are influenced by various social and psychological factors when selecting among communication alternatives.

Because computer mediated communication (CMC) is becoming more popular for social interaction we need to understand why people use the medium for interpersonal communication. When surveyed, people responded with these statements as to why they are now more prone to communicate via a computer screen than go out and physically socialize for conversation. These statements were an extension of the clause, "1 use the Internet" ... "or talk to people on the Internet because ..." as discussed by (Flaherty, 1998) and depicted in Table 1.

Some of these statements were positive, while others were negative. For instance, one person found it easier to talk to strangers about his/her family problems rather than deal directly with the family about the problems. The fact is that the vast majority of people who troll the Internet's byways are there in search of social interaction, not just sterile information. An estimated 80% of all users are looking for contact and communality, companionship and community.

Relationships can be complicated in cyberspace because the very technology that draws most people together also keeps them apart. After some time, the safe distance that strangely seems so freeing to newcomers on the Net can become an obstacle to deepening the bonds of friendship, romance, and community. After a while, most net workers find a need to make personal contact with their cyber counterparts. Virtual encounters can lead to lifetime relationships, or temporary disastrous encounters. On the one hand, the main positive benefit of online communication is the way the Internet brings people together with mutual interests who would otherwise not have met. Virtual friendships can lead to physical encounters that may sometimes last a lifetime. Unfortunately, on the other and, there are relationships that completely cease to exist after a F2F meeting. Just like any other social interaction, people are people, and there are those that mesh, and those that crash. Whether the social interaction is F2F or CMC, the fact that human relationships are intricate and complicated no matter how they are birthed and conducted remains to be seen.

In the article, Internet and F2F Communication: Not Functional Alternatives, a research question asked if computer-mediated channels are functional alternatives for F2F communication. Examination of the intercorrelations between F2F and Internet motives would seem to indicate that they are alternatives, but t-tests were used to examine mean differences of the motives. If means on the Internet motives do not differ from means on the F2F motives, this would indicate the Internet is a functional alternative to F2F interactions for that particular reason for communicating. Mean differences were found for inclusion, control, affection, relaxation, escape, information, social interaction, pass time, habit, entertainment, and meeting people, indicating media specialization for these motives as shown in Table 2.

The Net is still the world we already know--a place that embraces and excludes, loves and hurts molds and breaks. The analogy can be made that the Net is a bridge that connects people. We can build all the bridges that we want, but if we don't cross them and interact with the people on the other side, the bridge is useless. Whether this connection is healthy or hurtful remains to be seen. SIouka (1996) sums the situation up nicely

What will technologies that alter our sense of reality mean, in the long run? What will they do to us? No one knows. Ask the techno visionaries how human beings might respond to existence in a physical environments or to the wholesale cyberization of human environments and they'll fall over one another in their willingness to admit they have no ideaby stating:

If in fact the effects of the new knowledge society will lead us into a civilization of peoples who lose our unitary selves in the bitsphere, and live as isolated human beings only making contact with other individuals through our computer screens, we will have little choice but to be assimilated into the machine. If the changes coming open up greater opportunities for our children to become better educated, lead healthy lives within the technology, and make the world a stronger place, then let the changes begin. Unfortunately, when this grand of a shift in a cultural change takes place, time is the only force that really holds the answer. We must remember that a culture consists of people, and that people have not changed. There are inherently 'good' people who live their lives to enhance other people's lives, and there are those 'bad' humans who live to tear down and destroy what others work to build. This is the greatest danger of all. These two kinds of people will still exist in online communities, and the warning needs to be heeded. These people will seek to destroy others through the virtual community in any way they can. The difficulty will be censoring their reach into our homes. Because technology is expanding at such an outrageous pace, the security needed to stop these criminals has lost the ability to keep up. We need to sit on our walls and play watch parents for our families as the virtual world enters our homes in all its glamour, seduction, innocence, and beguiling.

3. BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

Because most of us have to work for a living, the way the virtual business world is varying our occupations is eminent. Learning computer simulation abdicates authority to the simulation and provides willingness to accept its opacity. This way of acceptance carries over into the way we think about the real world in all areas including economics, politics, and business. As more people engage in online interaction, the rules in the business world are changing. Workers are more willing, whether consciously, or unconsciously, to surrender control to unknown powers.

People in our society have come a long way in their acceptance of our new technology. The age difference between Internet users is wide. Senior citizens are not afraid to buy a computer and learn how to go online, and children are learning how to push buttons at preschool age. By the time most American children reach the sixth grade, they already know how to use a word processor, and have been e-mailing their friends for months. With this wide age span of people learning all the dos and don't of the Internet, there has been a term established called "netiquette." Proper netiquette includes online manners and the proper use of cyber jargon. Technology is fertile ground for vocabulary. Technology and science, including medicine, together account for 50-60% of the new words in the addenda pages of Webster's Third World New International Dictionary.

In order for an older person to feel secure about establishing an online business relationship with a colleague, he/she has to spend a lot of time learning the rules, language, and netiquette of Internet communication. The vocabulary of electronic communication is different from ordinary English, and so is the way in which it is used. Certain kinds of speech have been created by electronic communications. The answering machine, or voice-mail, has prompted new versions of the monologue. There is a difference in the way a person greets others at a door, and how he/she greets them on an answering machine, So too is there a great difference in the way a person communicates with an online business partner. The point with online communication is simple-get to the point. Keep it short and sweet. Therefore we have developed a sort of 'staccato' style of exchange. An advantage to this type of communication is that writers can refine their words before electronically 'speaking' them; however, the disadvantage is that the key quality of tone of voice is missing. Online business colleagues have to work hard at maintaining the proper balance between what is acceptable electronic communication, and what is considered to be too dry and devoid of proper human interpretation.

In online business relationships, our ability to manipulate a large but limited set of feature objects shapes our online persona. We can self-construct ourselves within the virtual world that we enter. The issue involves these two questions: Does this game really connect me to others? How real are business relationships, when the two parties are only inter-relating through cyber world? One would think that the text-based net would enable disembodied individuals to relate to one another without the constraints of the biasing factors of age, race, and gender. This is not always the case. Psychologists have found that even though the body is anonymous in online relationships, it is very difficult for people to develop close relationships without the F2F connection. Secondly, cultural biases that exist offline are often carried over into the virtual world simply by the way our society has built those biases into us over time. These two factors have a great impact on the success of online business relationships.

With the advent of home Internet access, more and more people are opting to work at home. Because of the conveniences of a home office, and less commute time, telecommuting is a rapidly growing avenue for people to work. There is an estimated 20 million Americans who now work from home offices. Workers are able to save two to three hours a day in commute time, which enables them to do more work in less time, consequently, the productivity level of telecommuters is higher than those workers who work at an office. There is also a shift in the definition of workers' productivity. Most jobs done at a home office involve manipulating storable and retrievable knowledge. The results of that manipulation define productivity. The place where the work is done, or who overviews the work is of decreasing importance. This shift has powerful implications as to the changing role technology is having on the overall workforce.

Employers are able to cut down on their costs by allowing their workers to stay home by saving valuable dollars in reducing the costs of real estate, maintenance, energy, landscaping, security, and insurance. Large companies such as Compaq Computer Corporation, IBM, and Gemini Consulting have cashed in on their telecommuters. When Compaq reduced the number of salespeople from 359 to 224, the company cut sales costs by 10 percent. IBM-Midwest cut real estate costs by 55 percent and increased the ratio of employees to workstations from 4 to 1 to 10 to 1.

Corporations benefit the most by employing telecommuters because these at home workers can meet the demands of the market more productively than ever before; however, this new mode of employment increases the disparity between telecommuters and other workers. The rise of the digitally select, digital sweatshops and the nomadic workforce will have a direct effect on those workers who are not proficient with the new computer technology. This will force these workers to either go back to school to learn computer skills, or discourage them to the point that they will perhaps have to settle for lesser paying jobs. As technical communicators, recognizing the need for more software programs to prepare and train telecommuters how to deal with their new work situation is vital

Two major issues are becoming more prominent in the field of telecommunications. First, more and more telecommuters are feeling increasingly more isolated from other workers. Second, workers feel a constant tethering to their work. As companies make the shift in their work force from office workers to telecommuters, these companies face the challenge of building the sense of corporate culture through cyber world. What is happening is that as a company's workers work out of their home offices, they are finding that they feel they are always plugged in and connected to their work. These people have trouble separating their personal space from their workspace. Employers need to develop training programs to facilitate these two needs in telecommuters. Perhaps software programs can be written that could train home workers how to manage their time most effectively, and teach them how to emotionally disconnect from their work when they are not on their computers. Specific online chat rooms can be designed for telecommuters that would encourage them to discuss the problems they are experiencing with each other.

Along with the psychological aspects of how the current online business world is affecting people both physically and emotionally, we have to consider the ramifications of the virtual business world on the global level. With the fast growth of the Internet, global mergers of big companies are taking place on a near weekly basis. Along with these mergers are the various problems of cross-cultural communication. The magnitude of problems facing global mergers among non-English speaking partners is colossal. A merger today has to overcome not only usual corporate culture communication issues, but also a whole set of cultural and linguistic ones as well. For instance, consider mergers of United States companies with British companies. Because English is the language of both countries, we would not conceptualize that there would be a linguistic problem, but there is. For example, in the automotive industry, common automotive terms are very different such as the U.S. term battery. In Britain the word for battery is accumulator. The U.S. word for transmission is the word gearbox in Britain, and the American word hood is the British word bonnet as shown by (Friesen, 1993) in Figure 1. When the United States developed an operation in the United Kingdom, it found that there was no common language insofar as automotive terms were concerned. Considering that the countries of Britain and the United States share a common language, and there was such a linguistic problem, one can only imagine the linguistic difficulties that arise from mergers taking place between two countries that have totally different languages, in a merger between a German company and U.S. company, each party wrote their e-mail in their own language, passed through a machine translation system and enabled the employees on the other side of the water to read the e-mail in their own language.

TABLE 1. REASONS PEOPLE SPEND TIME ON THE INTERNET

It's entertaining         It passes the time away   When I have nothing
                                                    else todo
So I won't have to be     To compare my ideas       For interesting
alone                                               things to say
Just because it's there   It's a habit, something   To get away from my
                          to do                     family
To procrastinate other    It is fun                 I can control time
tasks                                               sent on it
I choose when to          It is exciting and new    To help others
initiate talk
To let others know I      I need to talk about      To meet people
care                      problems
To participate in         To tell others what to    It relaxes me
discussions               do

TABLE 2. MEAN MOTIVE DIFFERENCES FOR INTERNET AND FACE-TO-FACE CHANNELS
M = MEAN, SD = STANDARD DEVIATION, T = T VALUES

                Internet      Face-to-Face   Mean    Differences
Motive          M      SD     M      SD      T       P

Pleasure        7.63   2.12   7.95   1.78    1.77    ns
Inclusion       3.94   2.43   6.62   2.56    11.88   0.001
Control         3.54   1.79   4.86   2.12    7.56    0.001
Affection       5.33   2.18   7.53   2.06    10.7    0.001
Relaxation      5.58   2.67   6.52   2.19    4.3     0.001
Escape          3.81   1.87   4.94   2.14    6.33    0.001
Information     5.54   2.11   7.65   1.59    10.48   0.001
Time-Shifting   5.2    2.25   5.57   2.17    1.61    ns
Social          3.54   1.98   5.24   2.43    8.04    0.001
Interaction
Pass Time       4.8    2.33   6.06   2.46    5.61    0.001
Habit           4.65   2.24   5.14   2.15    2.48    0.05
Entertainment   7.92   1.89   8.53   1.47    3.48    0.001
Meet People     5.76   2.25   7.27   1.82    7.5     0.001

FIGURE 1. WHICH ENGLISH IS ENGLISH?

The conventional wisdom is that developing a verbal identity
program is only useful if you work in languages other than
English. But British English and American English technical
terms are substantially different as the following list of
publishing terminology shows:

U.S.             U.K.
accordion fold   concertina fold
Def.: a paper with two or more parallel creases

U.S.        U.K.
thumbtack   drawing pin
Def.: an article that is clipped, or cut out, from a publication

U.S.   U.K.
foot   tail
Def.: bottom of a page

U.S.    U.K.
timer   grader
Def.: a technician in a film laboratory who examines negatives
to determine improper exposure

U.S.      U.K.
overset   overmatter
Def.: typeset copy not used and retained for possible future
use

Solutions to clashing cultures over the Internet include companies starting to employ a design group to tackle communication issues, developing a verbal identity, doing non-linear things to make a point, and learning how not to assume that having sensitivity training is sufficient.

As cyber-technology continues to define itself, the forces controlling the information by means of the digital dialectic are inherently to blame for the heavy American bias we see permeating the new online culture. Yes, it is a matter of global cultural change, but with a heavy U.S. corporate bias. Ultimately, we're getting one culture, basically one that comes out of U.S. culture corporations.

Regarding the work of technical communicators in the online business world, many communications that businesses face today will remain the same. Consequently, presentation will focus on textual again, just like in the days of catalog ordering. Written etiquette will be important and those businesses that have relied on person-to-person persuasion will now have to utilize personnel who know how to manipulate the language and communicate well via text and graphics. This is where further employment of technical communicators will change from accessory to essential. Technical communicators will no longer be additions to a company's staff, but rather complete necessities. Because of the strong emphasis on text and the proper use of netiquette in business transactions, technical communicators will need to gain knowledge of interactive communication; online web help includes e-mail and questions and answers, and requires the technical communicator to be able to communicate well on the fly. For instance, consider the software company Adobe. If a person is using Adobe Acrobat, he/she will notice that help support takes him/her directly to online help-not the prepackaged help that comes with the software. Much in the way of help, text is moving online as it is not being incorporated in the software packages sent out, as it has been in the past. The same change will take place in software documentation as well. Software documentation packages will be targeted more to accessible clients, not just to the average person who buys a CD ROM of Photoshop, but also to clients who have different versions of Unix or Linux, and to professionals in the business.

As of present, online business interaction has not replaced software engineers need to go out into the field and come face to face with clients and their problems, so documentation will still be necessary, whether in the form of manuals or on CD ROM. The time may arrive when there will be special websites with access only to software and hardware engineers. Engineers of these types may already be telecommuting with these two forms of communication helping them do most of the work. Technical communicator's roles in these helps will be in writing the manuals, and in working with the website's information centers.

To go a few steps further in the speculation of the future of technical communication, we must consider the existence of documentation in 3-D format, with three-dimensional animation. Technical communication will not only (still) contain the writing aspect, but will be integrated with 3-D and video presentation as well. This integration will particularly affect military and engineering areas of technical communication. Three-dimensional communication will be different than the typical two-dimensional aspects (top to bottom, highest to lowest), just as tri-dimensionality affects other fields. This can be compared to adding another factor in physics, besides friction and gravity. For a technical communicator, this would definitely be a higher level of complexity. This change to three-dimensional format is due to the impact of changing computer software, and 3-D becoming more available, and desirable for many applications. The help files will have to be capable of interfacing with 3-D objects, possibly in a different way than the present manner of pull-down or pop-up help files.

Technical communicators will have to work closely with applications designers in the future just as in the past when they had to work with graphics designers on a two-dimensional plane. This will be true until technical communicators are able to absorb some of the functions of the designers due to more 3-D based help applications. Beyond three-dimensional work is the notion of putting help in motion. Technical writing is usually thought of as stop-motion, rather like the freeze-frame effects in the Road Runner cartoons. Perhaps technical writing will be put in motion as well, through DVD applications. Instead of "Repeat Step 2," the options will be "Replay Step 2." To a limited extent, this is already happening. For example, how-to videos that accompany flooring installation. With DVD and video coming across the television and computer screens (a combined entity sooner than we think), the screen will become the master to the watching apprentice. Something like a "virtual return to the days of the Renaissance?"

In speaking of the virtual, we can combine 3-D and moving picture with direct tactile and visual involvement. A person could be taught to build or repair something via physical interaction with virtual reality. The person is thus receiving not only the information, but also the experience. We mostly think of virtual reality as a game novelty, but the practical applications are almost endless. Even in this forum, there will likely be narration.

The area of robotics will become more complex. Consider the new virtual robot pets that actually "react" to human movement and voice. These robots are quite remarkable in comparison to the robots of five years ago. People need instructions on how to "program" their pet robots with a variety of commands to meet their individual needs. Perhaps some pets will fetch the morning news, while others assist injured or disabled people with everyday tasks.

The technical aspect for the technical communicator, as for everyone else, will increase and broaden, just as applications and innovations in technology increase and broaden. The great challenge for technical writers will continue to be, and emphatically is, to seek out the cutting edge of technology and help the human race incorporate it as naturally and seamlessly as possible into everyday life. We need to be "in the trenches" with technology developers, as an interface to the users, and as a user advocate. Usability testing comes in--sometimes thought of as the realm of psychologists, but if there are only psychologists involved, and the company doesn't consult them, then why should technical writers be left to clean up the mess of poorly designed technology when we can help the technology itself be a communicator? Isn't that the ultimate in 3-D communication: 3-D, then virtual, then the technology communicating itself? At that time, the communication will be part of the technology, not detached. To some, this idea might seem like a scary fairy tale, but actually it is very exciting. Perhaps right now many of us do not want technology "talking" to us, but the possibility of this coming to fruition is very real in the not too distant future.

Technology in some respects is moving toward accommodating itself to the user, but the technical communicator can have great impact in making that happen even more. If we are about communicating technology to the user, then should we not be involved more in the development of the new technology?

4. CONCLUSION

Virtual communities constitute a new and rapidly growing facet of not only American culture, but of many other cultures across the world. A thorough study of the many effects this new mode of communication is having on us, and people all over the world, provides numerable insights into the way computer technology is altering our very personhoods. There is a communication revolution taking place, and in this revolution we share a daunting task of countering the destructive, globalizing seductions of cyberspace. Other conclusions drawn in regards to the communication revolution include:

* We know that involvement of the virtual community is changing the way we physically interact with each other in both positive and negative ways

* We are increasing immersiveness and interactivity in a destructive way

* Computer-mediated communication is a functional alternative to face-to-face communication

Discussion of the various opinions of some of the most seasoned and experienced writers and researchers in the area of virtual communities has enabled conclusions to be drawn as to the validity, negations, and affirmations participation in CMC afford people. Computer simulations and how we both react and relate to them in our psychological, emotional, and physical aspects of ourselves are at the heart of the new mode of cyber communication. Learning and interacting with computer simulation does abdicate authority to the simulation and provides willingness to accept its opacity. People, both young and old, are learning that there is a new type of unspoken, unwritten authority.that comes along with their interaction with their computers. Boundaries in many areas are also renegotiated as a result of this new acceptance of the computer's invisible authority.

As online communication grows in other areas of the world, the need for a global standard and format has become a necessity. Without the ability for people in different countries to communicate in the same language and format, global communication will continue to be confusing and unproductive. English as the global language is suggested as the best linguistic medium.

In researching the effects of virtual communities on changing world cultures, we have gained a much broader insight into the magnitude of the alterations taking place in our American people and culture. I hope we can hang on to our traditional mode of communication and not lose our ability to talk face-to-face with each other over a cup of coffee, or at a picnic. We can keep the caution signs up for ourselves, and for our families, and try to keep the proper balance in our homes regarding the onslaught of this new cyber culture that is assimilating our children. Let us glean from the positive changes, and protect ourselves, and those we love, from the destructive ones.

REFERENCES

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Dyson, E.; Gilder, G.; Keyworth, G. and Toffler, A., The Magna Charta for the Knowledge Age, August 1995; www.feedmag.com.

Flaherty, L. M., Pearce, K. J. and Rubin, R.B., "Internet and Face-To-Face Communications: Not Functional Alternatives", Communication Quarterly, Vol.46 (3), 1998, 250-261.

Friesen, J.W., When Cultures Clash, Detselig Enterprise Press, NY, 1993.

Hayles, N. K., "The Condition of Virtuality", The Digital Dialectic, MIT Press, MA, 1999.

Hayles, N. K., How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies In Cybernetics, The University of Chicago Press, ILL, 1999.

Mitchell, W. J., "Replacing Place", The Digital Dialectic, MIT Press, MA, 1999.

Rheingold, H., "Introduction to the Virtual Community", Cyber Reader, Needham Heights, NY, 2000.

Wells, H. G., The War of the Worlds, The Bantam Press, NY, 1988.

Slouka, M., "The Road to Unreality ", Cyber Reader, Needham Heights, NY, 1996.

Turkle, S., Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, Touchstone Books, NY, 1997.

Janet Durgin, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Forth Worth, Texas

Joseph S. Sherif, California State University, Fullerton, California

AUTHOR PROFILES:

Dr. Joseph S. Sherif is a Professor of Information Systems at the California State University, Fullerton, California. He earned his Ph.D. at the Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas in 1980.

Janet Durgin is a Systems Integration Analyst at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas. She earned her MPM degree at the Keller Graduate School of Management in 2003.