Rethinking media richness: towards a theory of media synchronicity

Abstract

This paper describes a new theory called a theory of media synchronicity which proposes that a set of five media capabilities are important to group work, and that all tasks are composed of two fundamental communication processes (conveyance and convergence). Communication effectiveness is influenced by matching the media capabilities to the needs of the fundamental communication processes, not aggregate collections of these processes (i.e., tasks) as proposed by media richness theory. The theory also proposes that the relationships between communication processes and media capabilities will vary between established and newly formed groups, and will change over time.

Herding cats in a FOSS ecosystem: a tale of communication and coordination for release management

“…Furthermore, according to Dennis and Valacich [16], the development of standards and norms increases with the experience that a group gain, and as a result there may also experience an improvement in the interplay and the tasks they perform over time.…”

“…The "bandwidth" in a communication channel corresponds to the number of cues in which an information can be transferred [14]. The cues can be verbal (speech, writing) or non-verbal (seeing, touching, tone of voice, vocal inflection, physical gesture, smelling, touching) [14,16,17,62].…”

“…Furthermore, according to Dennis and Valacich [16], the development of standards and norms increases with the experience that a group gains, and as a result such a group may also experience an improvement in the interplay and the tasks they perform over time. This theory may or may not apply on how a successful FOSS ecosystem releases software on time and indicates a need to further understand the usage of channels for release management.…”

Audio vs. Chat: The Effects of Group Size on Media Choice

“…These factors are not considered by the media richness theory. The theory of media synchronicity [6] incorporates these aspects. Media choices are grouped along five factors:…”

“…Theories like the media richness theory [4] or the social influence model [5] are widely used but have been developed before the diffusion of modern internet technologies. More importantly, their applicability has been recently challenged [6,7]. This inconclusive picture has led us to study the effects of group size and task on the media between voice conferencing and chat conferencing, culminating in two series of experiments conducted in November 2004 [8] and November 2005 [9].…”