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You've Got IM: Instantaneous Communication Among University Students

Student: Sophia Liu

Advisor: Paul Dourish

Abstract: Collaborating distributed groups have a variety of mechanisms at their disposal for computer-mediated communication. Electronic mail is well established and understood, but recently instant messaging (IM) has emerged as a new mechanism for interpersonal communication. The goal of this exploratory study is to investigate the opportunities and costs associated with IM use, based on empirical evidence from IM users at UCI. I was interested in questions such as: Why are people using IM as a communication medium? What types of people do users IM? Under what circumstances are they using IM as compared to other forms of communication? Where else is IM showing up? Based on my analysis, I found that instant messaging is not purely a means of communication; it is also used to support awareness and self-expression. At the same time, however, it requires users to work to explicitly manage their availability and competing activities. Studying student users of IM and emergent uses of IM in the classroom provides inferences applicable to the workplace, by shedding light on work practices of these future workers.

Bio: Sophia Liu is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Social Science specializing in Research
and Analytical Methods. She is minoring in both Information and Computer Science and Digital Arts. Ms. Liu will be studying abroad for the year 2003-2004 at University of Sussex. She plans to graduate when she returns in June 2004.