Reeves, Byron, and Clifford Nass. 1996. "Ch 1, The Media Equation," pp. 3-18 in The Media Equation. Cambridge University Press.

I had never put any thought into the Media Equation until reading the three chapters of the book. At first I thought, no way...people don't treat media the same as they treat REAL people. But after reading the research and considering my own behavior, I must agree with the authors. It's amazing how our brains function. We know something isn't real, and yet it has the same effect on us as if it was. We don't like to be rude, and the closeness of something intrigues us. While there are always people who don't fit the rule, I, myself, fit like a glove. I hate hurting people's feelings and the closer something is to me, the more likely I am to stare intently at it. I'm not sure how I would feel about hurting a computer's feelings, but according to the research, I would most likely be sensitive the computer's "feelings" subconsciously.
I defintely believe the Media Equation applies to us as we create opportunities for our students to learn using technology in our classrooms. We need to make sure we take into consideration the findings of Reeves, Byron, and Nass. I feel this is especially true in terms of interpersonal distance. We need the items we want our students to focus on to be the optimal size to increase the attention of our students. Many times the bigger the size, the closer something seems and thus the more attention paid to it. I especially like the idea of cropped shots that brought the desired object into direct view. This research also showed me that is important to include pictures with text in order to increase attention (of course, only if the pictures have something to do with the text!).
These chapters pointed out that people do not consciously distinguish between real and media. Thus, it is important for us to follow societal rules when creating media in order to have the most positive impact on our students.