MSN Messenger的媒介訊息：從符擔性看MSN人際關係展演

The Medium Message of MSN Messenger: Affordance Theory and the Performances of MSN Relationship

MSN Messenger這一即時通訊軟體，今天在台灣有著廣大的使用族群。它與過去其他以網際網路為基礎的即時互動媒介，有著許多相似性，但也有著差異性。基本上，我們可以看到它們都提供了某種程度“無遠弗屆”的可能性，然而，相較於過去討論虛擬社群的匿名特徵所帶來的開放性，在本文看來，MSN所媒介的較屬於一種封閉的社群，也就是由以現實生活為基礎、不具匿名特性的人際關係所組成。這樣的媒介技術具有什麼樣的社會意義？或是借用McLuhan（1964）的譬喻，MSN的媒介訊息是什麼？我們又應該從什麼樣的觀點來認識這一訊息？本文試圖以符擔性理論討論之。從Gibson（1979）符擔性理論出發，本文認為我們應當將關注的焦點轉向人與媒介技術之相互遭遇。走出過去將媒介技術視為是促成或阻礙社會行為之工具的觀點，本文嚐試建立起以符擔性為基礎的理論架構，用以思考人與媒介技術間的關係。這一轉向認為人與媒介技術之間，存在的是共構、協作的關係，我們的生存體驗正是與各種媒介技術交織在一起。而MSN多樣的符擔性也就正彰顯出現代人的生活經驗，一種有距離的親密關係。

MSN Messenger is the most popular instant messaging (IM) service in Taiwan today. There are several common features as well as differences in MSN and other real-time interaction media based on internet. All these media, which are also called computer-mediated communication (CMC) media, facilitate the distant interaction. According to some past researches, we have learned about the concept of 'virtual community' grounded on CMC. In this article, I want to indicate that the nature of 'community' mediated by MSN has some different meanings. I try to discuss the interaction performances on MSN through Gibson's afforance theory. To borrow McLuhan's metaphor, I try to present the living experiences based upon the media messages of MSN.