Communication Theory Media, Technology and Society

two given interlocutors. For them, connectivity is more important than

interactivity, and the degree to which a given interaction transcends simple

reaction is decisive here.

As Tanjev Schultz (2000) summarizes their view:

Eventually, in two-way, or reactive, communication one side responds to the

other, but such communication remains reactive unless ‘later messages in

any sequence take into account not just messages preceded [sic] them, but

also the manner in which previous messages were reactive’ (Rafaeli and

Sudweeks, 1997). But Rafaeli also draws a ver y fine line between two-way

and reactive communication: ‘Two-way communication is present as soon

as messages flow bilaterally. Reactive settings require, in addition, that

later messages refer to (or cohere with) earlier ones’ (Rafaeli, 1988: 119).

Rafaeli’s model suggests that a lot of use of the new technologies is far

from interactive. (210)

As Schultz suggests, two-way communication does not, in itself,

guarantee interactivity. And to extend Taylor’s point, if an exchange does

not develop into a relationship where one utterance becomes a context for

another, the discourse becomes egological. Conversely, reactive commu-

nication is not just typical of broadcast communication, but is possible

within networks.

As we shall see in the next section, it is fanciful to see ‘interactivity’

as a precondition of virtual kinds of community. This is related to a final

problem that is endemic to dominant definitions of virtual community,

which is that it is confined to network forms of community. When instrumen-

tal views of virtual community are critiqued, it becomes clear that broad-

cast architectures also enable such communities. This further dilutes the

historical distinction between first and second media age, although, as we

shall see, the two forms of virtual community have their own specific

dynamics.

Broadcast communities

Virtual community is people all over the world gathered around television

sets to watch the Super Bowl or a world cup match. (Wilbur, 1997: 14)

A primary implication of the contrast between broadcast and network

communication discussed in the previous two chapters is the way in

which the study of communication architectures allows us to reconsider

broadcast as a technical medium of social integration just as computer-

constituted communication networks are today viewed as a medium of

identity and community. As we saw in Chapter 2, broadcast mediums are

not simply conduits for messages, but facilitate institutionalized spectacle

as well as constituting enclosed worlds of representation which may

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