Toward inclusive dialogue: participation and interaction in face-to-face and computer-mediated discussions

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of IT to support organizational knowledge management by mediating discourse through GSS, E-mail, listservers, Lotus Notes, chat rooms, threaded discussions, and the like. But do these technologies foster more inclusive dialogue? Educational research has found that conventional classroom discussions often demonstrate a gender bias. Male participants are much more likely to dominate, often precluding meaningful participation by female members. These technologies may have the potential to reduce this gender bias, but there is little direct research that examines how the nature of the interaction changes in virtual settings and how efficiently or effectively these tools support inclusive participation and interaction. Using a Latin square design, this study compares the participation and interaction of 57 subjects discussing sensitive issues in a traditional face-to-face classroom discussion, supported by a synchronous EMS (GroupSystems), and an asynchronous Web-based threaded discussion. EMS users participated more and Web-based threaded discussion users less than regular classroom subjects. Subjects using technology produced discussions with the least gender bias in participation: EMS discussions produced the most uniform participation. Subjects preferred the EMS, they revealed more in the EMS, perceived higher quality participation with the EMS, and reported higher satisfaction levels with the EMS. Implications for systems developers and organizations are discussed.