November/December 1985 RAIN Page 31 along with "CBers In the Spotlight," a section that presents mini-biographies and interviews with CB users. Prepared by Terry Biener ("Cupcake"), a self- described suburban housewife. Cupcake's Column makes for fascinating reading. There is no more powerful demonstration of human beings using electronic communications itself to overcome the anonymity imposed by the medium. Keyboard Creativity To one degree or another, Harlan Ellison's phrase, "I have no mouth and I must scream" applies equally to all on-line communicators. Few experiences can make you so aware of how much we all depend upon non-verbal communications to put our points across. Trying to adequately express yourself using nothing but the characters on your computer keyboard can be a frustrating challenge. But solutions are being developed. Every society has its own repertoire of gestures, voice tones, and non-verbal noises. A Frenchman's "Gallic shrug" or the wide range of insults an Italian can deliver using just his hands are but two examples. In the electronic universe, things aren't nearly as far along, but already an accepted "vocabulary" of gestures and expressive techniques seems to be emerging. Brandy's on-the-spot creation of an arrow to symbolize handing the car keys back to The Saint, described earlier, is an excellent example of an on-line gesture. Arrows are also used to direct comments to individuals. Typing " = = = >BILL did you see that flick on HBO last night?" substitutes for the various physical gestures one might make to get BILL'S attention in a crowded room. Perhaps the original and most widely accepted convention is the use of twin asterisks for emphasis. Since it is not possible to transmit an underlined word most online communicators *frame the emphasized text* with asterisks. Any other symbol would serve equally well, but asterisks are what people have decided upon. The next most widely accepted convention is the use of "Heh, heh" to symbolize chuckles, winks, knowing nods, and a variety of other forms of self-aware, often devilish, amusement. And no doubt we have Charlie Brown to thank for the accepted cry of frustration: "AARRGH!" Exclamation points and question marks are used with joyous abandon, and three or more periods are used to indicate pauses or a trailing off of one's voice. Consider, for example, Y's response when someone asked him whether he was okay. Y typed in: "I'll live ..." Though unnecessary to the information content, those three little dots give the response a "tone" it would not have were they not there. Of course, all the adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs of the English language are also at your disposal. And most are vigorously pressed into service. The only real convention here is that the descriptors are set off in parentheses or greater-than/less-than symbols. Once when LADY LAWYER typed in "night, all," the chorus of responses included: "'Night LL," "'Nite, Lawyer <hug>," and "Nite Lady—you have nice torts." To which LADY LAWYER responded: "(Blush) Glad you like 'em, Glenn!" and signed off. Hugs, kisses, shouts, colons, equals signs, arrows, and carets—if it exists on the keyboard or can be composed of ASCII characters, it will be used as an expressive device on-line. Human inventiveness seems unending, as man continues to shape this new tool and is in turn shaped by it. There's a beaker bubbling away in the on-line laboratory right now, and things are still very much in flux. But if you own a communicating computer, you can not only be present at the creation, you can contribute to the development of the New Medium. At the very least, you're sure to enjoy yourself. And who knows? The New Medium might have as great an impact on you as you have on it. □ □ Alfred Glossbrenner is the author o/The Complete Handbook of Personal Computer Communications, How to Buy Software, and How to Get Free Software, all from St. Martin's Press, New York. CONNIE COHEN
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