Do Mediated Contexts Differ in Information Richness? A Comparison of Collocated and Dispersed Meetings

This study examines the question of whether or not media difSer in the perceptions they generate among users with respect to social presence, communication effectiveness and communication interface. The study observes these factors over a four-session period among thirty three groups performing a collaborative writing task. Groups were assigned to one of three treatments, face-toface, distributed synchronous and distributed asynchronous. No significant differences were observed between distributed and face-to-face conditions in their patterns of change over time. Results do indicate, however, that mediated contexts differed in terms of perceived social presence, communication effectiveness and communication interface when considered on a session-by-session basis.