Multicommunicating and Episodic Presence
Im glad this chapter started off by defining some of the vocabulary it was going to use, in detail. Chapter two could have used some of that. The chapter takes you step by step in an almost chronological order of the formation of the ideas or "constructs" that have evolved as researchers have studied the evolving use of CMC for multicommunicating and its implications on society. It would appear that as with a lot of CMC the data for this has been pulled from a variety of sources and fields. I don"t find it surprising that their was a generational difference in cultural norms as to what was considered rude in terms of attention while multitasking. I did find it interesting though that while everyone seems to think that multicommunicating helps productivity the research regarding cognitive switching seems to argue the opposite. I also found in the conclusion that their was quite the reaction to their data. I would have thought that colleagues in this field would have reacted with interest or fascination not alarm, and contempt.
Researchers take risks when they start to study new phenomenon that aren't well defined yet. It's a good thing that some take that risk! Sounds like their colleagues weren't convinced that the multicommunication phenomenon was here to stay - but the authors definitely got the last laugh on that one.
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