Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Assignment 1

Face to face interactions guarantee responsibility and accountability for statements made by individuals, whereas interactions via the internet may provide indemnity to statements made by a person. However, faceless interactions over the internet may allow people to express themselves more explicitly, which they can choose not to do in the case of face to face interactions. Nonetheless, face to face interactions retain their importance despite the presence of the internet. Interactions are not based solely on exchange of words, but body language, tone, and facial expressions play a key role in constituting exchanges between people. Thus, interactions over the internet are devoid of these factors, which makes these interactions less wholesome and more empty. In class the other day we were all confused as to what we should do and how we should react when we noticed the absence of Professor Dean, moreso when we realized it was by design rather than default. It may be argued that the absence of a professor empowered the class with freedom and gave it the opportunity to decide the course of the class for itself. However, the physical absence of the professor takes away the essence of a proper student-teacher interaction, where students can understand and interpret the professor through not only the words, but the expressions, tone and body language.