Contrast the media deficit approach and the media

augmentation approach. Include and explain the appropriate theories for each approach (social presence, social network, and media richness).

What will be an ideal response?

Students should explain how the approaches differ and explain three theories: media richness, social presence, and social network.

The media deficit approach argues that mediated communication is deficient when compared to face-to-face interaction. This approach argues that because CMC is filtered (lacks nonverbal cues), it does not allow people to feel close or get as much information from CMC. Social presence theory states that face-to-face communication is higher in social presence, or closeness, than CMC. Media richness theory describes the potential information-carrying capacity of a communication medium. Face to face is the richest medium, and all CMC media are less rich than face to face. Also, the media deficit approach argues that CMC is asynchronous, or that messages may be received at a later time. This can be problematic because we can never be sure that someone received our message, and delays in response can be interpreted negatively. For instance, if someone doesn't respond, we may think they are angry with us.

The media augmentation approach argues that mediated communication complements or augments face-to-face encounters. Social network theory supports this approach because it proposes that patterns of connections among people affect their social behavior and communication. This means that CMC does not isolate people, but brings them together insomuch that people with strong ties online can have strong ties offline. Rather than substituting for face-to-face interaction, CMC supplements the ways we have for relating to and with people.