BibSonomy ::  user :: philoscience ::

What is the role of language in social interaction? What does language bring to social encounters? We argue that language can be conceived of as a tool for interacting minds, enabling especially effective and flexible forms of social coordination, perspective-taking and joint action. In a review of evidence from a broad range of disciplines, we pursue elaborations of the language-as-a-tool metaphor, exploring four ways in which language is employed in facilitation of social interaction. We argue that language dramatically extends the possibility-space for interaction, facilitates the profiling and navigation of joint attentional scenes, enables the sharing of situation models and action plans, and mediates the cultural shaping of interacting minds.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When author Nicholas Carr began researching his book on whether the Internet is ruining our minds, he restricted his online access and e-mail and turned off his Twitter and Facebook

PLoS ONE: an inclusive, peer-reviewed, open-access resource from the PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE. Reports of well-performed scientific studies from all disciplines freely available to the whole world.

News last month of a pilot study suggesting that college students' use of Facebook was related to lower college academic achievement probably sent more than a few parents reeling. A new study may allay parental concern. Using three sets of relevant data, researchers failed to find evidence that Facebook use negatively correlates with grades.

Can online networking sites help new students settle into university? Researchers are now looking for first-year University of Leicester students who use Facebook to help their pioneering research into this issue.

An study of 100 teen bloggers from around the United States found that the vast majority use blogs to nurture relationships with their peers and build a sense of community -- rather than to admit misbehavior. This preliminary study suggests that blogging could be used therapeutically to help troubled teens express themselves in positive ways.