Lurkers
I think the phenomenon of lurking is not at all an important
phenomenon of the communication in Cyberspace. It is a phenomenon of every
communication in groups. There is a compelling literature in small group
research back to 1952 where similar distribution patterns like in mailing
lists (Zenhausern in press) have been found in the participation in natural
discussion groups (Stephan & Mishler, 1952; Tsai, 1977). This research
has shown that people estimate there own position in the distribution of
power inside a group and according to this estimation they choose their
engagement of participation. The sadness in the case of
CMC is only that there in no nonverbal communication
signals from this lurkers that are available in the case of
ftf settings. Each sent signal must be a concious
communication act in the case of CMC and may be that causes the perceived
phenomenon of lurking.
I'm not a lurker, I'm part of your audience.
Why do I lurk? Well, lack of time is one of the main reasons.
I may have time to read (and in that way keep up with what is going on in
certain field), but writing requires more thought and time.
Lurkers who de-lurk are not quite like new members entering
the group. They have been in the group all along. I don't think the response
they meet with from the "core/verbal group" can be quite the same as in f2f
groups. Nor do I think their experience of "entering" the group is quite
the same. It's not as though a clear boundary has been crossed -- they've
been "there" all along. It's much more analagous to the cross over of unconscious
elements into consciousness.
There are often times when I post or ask a question of someone,
that I conciously consider the lurkers when constructing the post or asking
the question. I figure if I don't understand there must be a few others who
don't.
At this moment, and with limited consideration, my reaction
is that the lurkers affect nothing in terms of the group process.
Bion would argue that the lurkers _are_
members of the group and, as a result, have a _significant_ impact on group
process. In other words, because people _know_
that they are part of the group, it substantively changes the
group dynamic. In fact, Bion has observed that,
sometimes, the member of the group who is not phsyically 'present' (i.e.,
physically) can have more of an impact on the group's behavior that those
individuals who are physically 'present'.
I keep feeling as though some of us -- the active ones -- are
in an old-fashioned zoo cage, behind bars -- with all the silent 'lurkers'
enjoying our antics and turning away when we aren't lively.
is a key purpose of lurkers, if we are mindful of their invisible
presence, to keep the group large; psychologically so?
But joking aside (fat chance, he says under his breath), I think
it's natural to think (feel?) "everyone" to be only those who speak up. The
"monitors" really are on a "lower" level of group reality. (That's where
*I* feel myself to be when I lurk --oops, monitor. On the sidelines, or looking
up at the stage.) It's only the speakers who create the list by their _active_
presence. The audience is in a shadow-world, present but not-present. The
*only* possible effect they can have on group interaction is a fantasy effect
(not that I, of all people, would dare to denigrate fantasy effects).
In this room, you only 'exist' to the others when you post.
At last I'm able to make a posting! I've been lurking around
for ages
I don't know, maybe it's just my perceptions, but I invision
a group of lurkers, who may not particularly enjoy the directions the posters
give to this list, but do nothing to try to turn it into something that is
enjoyable to them, sitting back in front of their computers with a frustrated
look on their faces saying "We're not people, we study people".
I'm sure he didn't mean to say what he said but it was well
said and well....it was said. Out of the mouth of lurkers...(babes, all of
them - how you say?: Newbies?)
I am a LURKER. I don't even have time to read much of what is
posted so I just download it and hope to read it one of these days.
Are you willing to be the patient: to de-lurk, de-center, de-throne,
stop trying to be King?
NetDynam has just taught me something very practical about delurking
my small list. Surveys are wonderful delurk devices. Did anybody besides
me notice the increase and postings and the new names that appeared in response
to both recent surveys?
My guess is that the notion of "lurking" as used by
listowners and listactive is rather
self-flattering--somehow all those people out there who are subscribed but
not active--really, really are active/present somehow but don't for reasons
of their own choose to remain "cloaked".
A final note, is that the obvious association is of "lurking"
with voyeurism, solicitation, importuning...given the current drive by the
repressed and the repressors to "clean up the net"--this association, however
unconscious, only serves to reinforce and support those forces.
I do not store up energy at what I read and then suddenly post
and let everybody on the list, "have it." (although Harriet might beg to
differ) My experience is that some lurkers are hostile and do store up their
venom
Actually, upon deeper reflection, I also find the term "poster"
offensive. A poster is something to look at (lurk at?). I much prefer the
term "composer". Yeah, we can be a list made up of composers and monitors.
. . Wait a minute, I don't want to be monitored. Monitoring is something
my doctor does, or something my boss does. Maybe that's it. I work, my boss
monitors, - what a slacker. Maybe we should call ourselves workers and slackers.
Of course, nobody will know what in the hell we're talking about
anymore.
Well, back to lurking.
I have monitored the list from the beginning and have not
participated because for the most part the the discussions have had little
or nothing to do with my interests or experience.
A silent majority who sits and watches the exchanges of an
over-bearing minority group who tend to resent the interference of any
"outsiders".
After all this time of lurking and poking and following funny
threads, I'm ready to say "Hey! I'm here and I
want to play."
I have therefore made a leetle resolution. No more lurking,
I'm gonna get a litle dirt on these here hands,and I intend to make at least
one post per day, ignorance of my insights abroad, notwithstanding.
I believe the "core" group reflects the attitude of the lurkers
and changes in the lurker pool will be reflected by the posters.
The weight of projection-potential
has shifted from the active group to the lurkers. I've gotten to know the
active members well enough, over time and testing, to know roughly well where
my fantasy of them ends and their *reality* begins. But the lurkers? They're
still, and will remain, fertile ground for every conceivable projection I
have. There's no way to contain that, except by containing myself -- how
I present myself, to what degree I choose to
self-disclose. Steve suggested we "play to
the audience". Yes, this is so -- but it's a relatively constrained and measured
performance, isn't it?
I'm sure we each have different fantasies of who the lurkers
are -- what they represent. For me (and this is just me) some of my anxieties
about my own ambition (in the psych field) and concerns
about pleasing authorities (in the psych field) are projected onto the blank
screen represented by the lurkers. . . . So do I want to risk exposing some
of my deep, dark (and possibly troublesome) conflicts and ambivalencies about
authority figures? Or do I want to play it safe?
I want to play it safe. Now I've gone and exposed something that bothers
me even more than my conflict about authority figures! This nagging anxiety
that I have to play it safe. I envy (yes, envy) people like Simon and Stephen
and many others here (not in this wretched
"field") who don't operate with the spectre
of "networking possibilities" hanging over them.
I'm still intrigued at how some of us pay close attention to
what we say in relation to how it will be read by non-posters. This thought
rarely occurs to me. It's as if I were speaking to a room full of people
by talking directly to those with whom I have eye contact
I wonder if there aren't subtle advantages to hanging on to
"lurker" status
As one of the numerical contributors, I have to say that in the past few
months, it seems as if the contributors are a liability to the lurkers. Somehow,
we seem to get the blame if we don't happen to be discussing issues of interest
to some lurkers or if we're not discsussing them in the way they wish we
would