Title

Media Richness Theory

Description

According to the media richness theory, Fig. 4 shows how the richest medium is the face-to-face interaction, where verbal communication is enriched by behavior, presence, and other factors. On the other opposite, unaddressed written communication (like in the case of bulk e-mails or posters) is the less rich medium since it totally lacks the physical interaction between the recipient and the sender. All the other media (chat, audio conference, video conference) are positioned between these extremes since they allow more and more reduced parts of physical interaction to enter into communication process. 3D virtual worlds are not listed in the media richness theory. Anyhow we argue that they can allow a communication and an interaction richer than those of written documents, and of voice based channels, if they allow audio broadcasting among users or they just rely on text chats, and more close to the face-to-face experience.

Designer

Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel (original); Stefano Za & Alessio Maria Braccini

Date

1986

2012

Bibliographic Citation

Za, Stefano & Braccini, Alessio Maria. (2012). Designing 3D Virtual World Platforms for E-Learning Services. New Frontiers of Organizational Training. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. 103. 284-296. 10.1007/978-3-642-28227-0_21.

Information Flow

English Structural or Hierarchical