Table 1 Comparison of Characteristics of...

Table 1

Comparison of Characteristics of Interpersonal Communication and Virtual Communication

	Interpersonal Communication	Virtual Communication
Immediacy	Synchronous	Synchronous or Asynchronous
Requisite Skills	Interpersonal skills Social skills	Interpersonal skills Social skills Technological skills
Media	Multi-sensory Multidimensional
Limited sensory Electronic Unidimensional or multidimensional
Flexibility	Fluid	Variable Technologically constrained
Protocols	Established Culturally bound Highly contextualized
Emerging Contextualized
Cost	Essentially free	Relatively costly
Level of Intimacy	Potentially high—typically not anonymous	Variable—very intimate to anonymous

	Interpersonal Communication	Virtual Communication
Immediacy	Synchronous	Synchronous or Asynchronous
Requisite Skills	Interpersonal skills Social skills	Interpersonal skills Social skills Technological skills
Media	Multi-sensory Multidimensional
Limited sensory Electronic Unidimensional or multidimensional
Flexibility	Fluid	Variable Technologically constrained
Protocols	Established Culturally bound Highly contextualized
Emerging Contextualized
Cost	Essentially free	Relatively costly
Level of Intimacy	Potentially high—typically not anonymous	Variable—very intimate to anonymous

Note: 1 Unidimensional in typical cases, but more than one medium or sensory input may be used simultaneously in some cases to create a multidimensional message.

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