silence

Francoise Herrmann (fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org)
Fri, 17 Oct 1997 09:35:54 -0700 (PDT)

Hi all, I thought to send an empty message, but will pass on that idea.
There is a lot of writing about silence in e-mail communication.
The ambiguity of it (Murray), negative interpretations ( the "free-rider"
; "the lurker in a country club model; the "the shy participant in
a school dance model"; the "silenced, in ?repressive silencing";
charitable silence (two thumbs down!) all in Syverson; and some
positive interpretations of silence as active, unvoiced participation
(in DiMauro and Jacobs). I'd like to add what is in my book, but
feel a little reluctant to do so. If you are interested though
it is gleaned from an event cycling around issues of participation
and communities that occured here a while back.

The bottom line maybe, since we cannot read eachothers minds?, is
that it is ambiguous, so take your pick and do keep voicing what it
means, that is the data!

Incidently, the above mentioned are all women.

Francoise
Francoise Herrmann
fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org
http://www.wenet.net/~herrmann