Skills & The Process of Identity Performance

SKILLS: 

In McEwan’s second chapter about communication competencies, skills are found to be a crucial pillar in producing meaningful computer-mediated channel messages. In this section of the chapter McEwan outlines Spitzberg’s (2006) four critical skills : attentiveness, interaction management, expressiveness and composure.

 Attention deals with the concept of tailoring a message to a specific individual rather than a large group. Attention will ensure the individual feels important and cared for. Without attention to the internet’s customs and culture, individuals will easily ignore your message or remove themselves from your network .

On the other hand, interaction refers to knowing when and how to discuss different topics. Having strong interaction skills demands the knowledge of posting relatable and relevant information, without over-posting. Networks will be seen as incompetent if they post above the norm. 

Expressiveness refers to the skill of using expressive and specific language to convey non-verbal meaning through paralinguistic and chronemic cues. Paralinguistic cues such as vocal cues, lexical surrogates, emoticons and controlling grammatical markers are useful to help portray expressive messages on the internet. For example, writing “ hahaha” express a nonverbal cue for laughter and humour. These paralinguistic and chronemic cues help transcribe emotion, tone, and expression through a computer-mediated channel. Networks are seen as competent when engaging individuals rapidly and expressively. 

Lastly, composure refers to how decisive and confident a network illustrates themselves online. Avoiding mistakes, like misspelling words, can affect how credible facts are portrayed. Becoming an efficient communicator involves knowing the norms of the platform, audience, and society. 


THE PROCESS OF IDENTITY PERFORMANCE 

In the 3rd chapter, McEwan quotes Leary that the action of identity performance refers to "the process of controlling how one is perceived by other people" {(Leary 1996, 2),33} . in other words, the self is often managed through the eyes of the target audience. Scholars suggest that identity performance stems from the combination of self, and audience or network.  It combines the ideas of our identity and appearances, founded on the theory of symbolic interactionism, dramaturgical perspective and crystallization of self. 


-Charly Zuk

Comments

  1. Alessia PerriconeFebruary 7, 2018 at 7:26 AM

    Charly,

    I found that your content was structured in a way that allowed the reader to fully understand what was being presented, in which I personally believe is an important aspect, especially when wanting to get your points across efficiently. Also, throughout, you provide multiple examples, in which I found to be useful in terms of better understanding your explanations. Particularly, this is seen in your fourth paragraph when writing about the skill of using expressive and specific language.

    As a future reference, it is imperative that you check your work for possible grammatical errors, as this will make your work more reputable.

    A job well done!

    - Alessia Perricone

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 9, 2018 at 8:49 AM

    Charly,

    As Alessia said, I found your summary to have a clear and strong structure that made it very easy to follow. I found the way you split up the four critical skills into their own paragraphs particularly effective. I also appreciated the examples you provided of paralinguistic cues as it's not an everyday concept! The only gap I would possibly fill is a brief example of a chronemic cue as it's also a foreign term.

    Identity performance is something that I, as well as everyone else, engages in. It's interesting how we tailor ourselves to our audience. It begs me to question, who are we when no one else is around? I feel that only when you are alone, are you the most you; you are in your truest form.

    Once again, great job making a concise yet informative summary.

    - Katrina Robertson

    ReplyDelete
  3. Demi GeurtsenFebruary 9, 2018 at 9:12 AM

    Charly,

    I think that your content is very to the point and easy to follow. You outline the different skills in a clear manner, which allowed me to understand immediately what you were trying to get across. I find the point of expressiveness especially interesting considering how important it can be in online conversations. The amount of times I have had WhatsApp conversations in which messages were interpreted the wrong because a 'haha' was missing are uncountable.

    Furthermore, the notion of oneself being managed by the target audience is intriguing. It is strange to think that the audience can have such an influence on a person.

    Great job!

    - Demi Geurtsen

    ReplyDelete

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