Working on the first assignment, I got acquainted with Jennica Falk in Dublin and Gian Pangaro in Cambridge. My communication with Jennica outside the class started with an email that I received from her while playing around with a wireless iPAQ in the beginning of another class session the same day. Tiny letters on a small screen said "Hey, date!" - Jennica was asking what we were going to do. I suggested that we might go to the movies. When all classes were over, I located Jennica's web page to learn more about her. We exchanged a few emails over the course of the next few days. Surprisingly, neither of us was particularly eager to use the iCom. Instead, we stuck to forms of communications more habitual to us, namely, email. Jennica wanted to use some kind of instant messaging system to talk. I was trying to seduce her into talking over the RAT, Robust Audio Tool, a nice multiplatform unicast/multicast audioconferencing program. In the process we discussed computers and operating systems we were using. Jennica was surprised to learn that I didn't use instant messaging programs. I told her that I might install one of them at a later point. She said she would consider using the RAT. Apparently, it was nothing but sheer diplomacy on both sides, since last day before class we ended up chatting in a Unix talk on ml.media.mit.edu. Somehow, Jennica preferred it to iCom and I preferred it to MUD. I met Gian after the first class. We chatted for a few minutes when it was over. In a few days I got an email from him asking whether I wanted to meet and talk. I didn't quite get it why, but I agreed. When he showed up, he explained to me that we had to get to know not only a person on the remote end, but also somebody here in Cambridge. We talked for a while; at some point we went to the kitchen to get some tea and stuck at Parul's office on our way back. There I drew Baba-Yaga, a Russian folk tales personage, on a napkin. Though pictured wearing sunglasses and holding a cell phone instead of a conventional flying broom, she still looked exactly like an old good bony hag with a nose like a snag she was supposed to be. Next to Baba-Yaga stood her loyal spinning hut on hen's feet. Gian later scanned the napkin into his computer. Perhaps he will send you the file. After we parted, I took a look at Gian's web page only to realize with a surprise that if I hadn't done it, I might have missed some key details of his biography. Comparing the two acquaintances, I come to the conclusion that I got to know Jennica better than Gian as a personality, but I got to know Gian better than Jennica as a person. I have a very blurred image of Jennica and quite a sharp picture of Gian in my mind. At the same time, I feel that I have a clearer idea of what I can expect from further interactions with Jennica than of what my future interactions with Gian may be like. It is tempting to attribute this difference to the contrast between face-to-face conversations and asynchronous epistolary intercourse. However, I saw Jennica in class over the iCom, and we had a session of synchronous communication in talk. I also had a sizable email correspondence with Gian. On the other hand, iCom can only provide a very limited visual experience. It is obvious that the vibrant fabric of real face-to-face presence and slowly alternating low-resolution two-dimensional frames are not fully interchangeable. One way or another, real face-to-face communication is rich with a manifold of subtle cues diverting our attention from the logical exploration of people and situations that traditional asynchronous text-based mediated communication invites for. In between the two extremes there unfolds a range of different communication forms. I look forward to learn more about the forms and their characteristics both in the class and outside of it. Ivan