Assignment 11

It was the summer of 2004, and I was getting prepared to begin my freshman year at Cornell University in the College of Engineering. I received an email informing me about the Cornell University Class of 2008 website. Excited about beginning college, I visited the site to see what it had to offer. Users were able to search other members of the Cornell class of 2008 based on name, residence hall, and college, just to name a few search criteria. I began chatting online with a member of my class who was in my college and living in my dorm. We found that we had a lot in common, and decided that we would attend some orientation events together once we arrived at school. After moving into our dorm in August, our relationship moved from CMC to face-to-face. It was interesting, since we already knew so much about each other after chatting for several weeks on AOL Instant Messenger. We ended up having a couple classes together. After that first semester, we didn't have many classes together, and drifted apart. Over the last three years at Cornell, we see each other from time to time, and say hello, but that is about it.

The shift in our relationship from CMC to FtF aligns with Walter's Hyperpersonal Model. Once we met face-to-face, we found that we were not as similar as we had thought when we were talking online. FtF communication allowed for more of our characteristics to come across, ones that were not apparent in the online environment. And as we learned more about each other, we drifted apart.

Corresponding with the findings of Ramirez and Wang, we were both disappointed that we did not have as much in common as we had initially thought (online), and drifted apart. This could be interpreted as a negative effect. This individual was nice and there was nothing wrong with them, but the relationship that we formed online before meeting face-to-face did not translate in the real world.



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