HCC: Small: From Local Ties to Transnational Connections: The Role of Computer-mediated Communication in Relational Maintenance

美国是一个多元文化的社会，通信技术的使用已经变得无处不在和司空见惯。虽然已经有大量关于计算机媒介交流的研究，但在评估当前技术的使用和解释方面的文化差异问题上却很少有人提及。社交计算应用程序非常普遍，这使得研究它们在关系维护中的使用方面的文化差异变得困难。关注社会关系对生存至关重要的环境，以及计算机中介通信应用程序数量相对有限的环境，可以帮助我们检查文化偏好、社会需求和现有基础设施的限制如何影响使用计算机中介通信来维护关系。本研究的目的是通过对社交媒体在跨国背景下的作用的调查，为正在进行的关于网络沟通使用中的文化差异的研究提供经验和理论上的贡献。这项研究还将通过对非西方关系维护实践的实证调查，促进社会关系基本过程理论的发展。这项研究的结果将解决文化差异如何影响以人为中心的计算应用程序的未来开发和设计，并将加强正在进行的努力，以促进数字社会中以计算机为媒介的通信技术的设计和部署。通过将注意力转向技术用于维持关系的文化背景，我们还寻求与那些观点往往不为人知的人接触，包括跨国移民。互联网和社交网站使用的背景研究在一个不同于为当前大多数社交计算应用程序开发或提供模板的以西方为主的观点的文化中尤其有价值。

The United States is a multi-cultural society, where uses of communication technology have become ubiquitous and routine. Although there has been a substantial amount of research on computer-mediated communication, very little has been said on the issue of cultural differences in assessing the uses and interpretations of current technologies. The very ubiquity of social computing applications makes the study of cultural differences in their use for relational maintenance difficult. Focusing on environments where social relationships are paramount for survival and where computer-mediated communication applications are relatively limited in number can help us examine how cultural preferences, social needs and constraints of available infrastructure shape the use of computer-mediated communication for relational maintenance. The goal of this research is to make empirical and theoretical contributions to ongoing research on cultural differences in the use of computer-mediated communication through the investigations of the role of social media in transnational contexts. This research will also contribute to the development of theory of the basic processes underlying social relationships through empirical investigations of non-western relational maintenance practices.The results of this research will address how cultural differences can shape future development and design of human-centered computing applications and will enhance ongoing efforts to promote design and deployment of computer-mediated communication technologies in digitally nascent societies. By turning attention to the cultural contexts of technology use for relational maintenance, we also seek to engage with people whose perspectives are often unheard, including transnational migrants. Contextual study of Internet and social network site use is especially valuable in a culture that differs from the predominantly Western perspective that developed or provided templates for the development of the majority of current social computing applications.