Computer Mediated Communication (original) (raw)

Communication in the Digital Age A Communication Revolution

Communication is the sharing of meaning through the exchange of information. The process of communication is defined by the technology of communication, the characteristics of the senders and receivers of information, their cultural codes of reference and protocols of communication, and the scope of the communication process. Meaning can only be understood in the context of the social relationships in which information and communication are processed (Schiller, 2007: 18). I shall elaborate on the elements of this definition in the context of the global network society.

Communication and technology

Language & Communication, 1989

The subject of 'transformations of the word' now leads beyond the traditional studies of orality and literacy to the new electronic forms which have now become part of the comparative study of communication. Walter Ong in his influential Ordity andLiteracy speaks of the patterned evolution over the ages through 'the sequels of literacy, print, and the electronic processing of verbalization' (1982, p.178. Methuen, London), and the planning document for the conference on 'Transformations of the Word' refers to 'the evolving technologies of writing, printing, and the electronic media'. So I will start with some account of the relevance of these recent electronic forms: both their development and the way we study them. I will then go on to consider some of their wider implications for the analysis of transformations of the word and of human communication more generally. Electronics and communication: the new 'information technology' First, some brief comments on the nature of these new electronic media. 1 am not going into their technical basis-which I am not qualified to do-but a couple of relevant points need stressing. Despite the impression often given that 'information technology' has suddenly burst on the scene, its roots of course go back some way. The nineteenth century developments in telegraphy, telephony and radio laid the foundations, followed by the development and widespread adoption of television-all in turn heralded as communications revolutions. Paralleling this was the development of computers. Their early beginnings go back some centuries-how far depends partly on your definition. In something approaching their modern form and usage they date from the late nineteenth century, but there was a great increase in their development and spread from the 1940s and 195Os, with mainframes, then minis and-by now extremely widespread in 'developed' societies-the micros. So talk of 'the new information technology revolution' is somewhat exaggerated if by this is implied (as so often) that electrical and electronic communication is something new to the last 10 or 20 years. We have been adopting and adapting to it for generations. But-and this is the second point to make here-there have also been some new and important developments over the last 20 years or so. Technological advances in a number of areas, in particular the miniaturization of electronic circuits and related computer hardware and software, have been promoted by a mixture of commercial and governmental investment, encouraged by the climate of the space and defence race. These technological developments have enabled the convergence of computing and telecommunications. Previously these two were separated not just technically but through being controlled and distributed by different industries and for different purposes: computers used for storing and manipulating numerical and (to some extent) textual data, telecommunications mainly for transmitting vocal messages between individuals (through telephones) or as audiovisual one-way broadcasts (via radio and television); and print was something else again. The

Converging forms of communication?

Interpersonal and mass mediated, 2007

Until the second half of the 1990s, the differences between mass mediated and interpersonally mediated communication were relatively clear, and mass communication was the main analytical focus within studies of media and communication. Studies of mediated interpersonal communication such as letters and phone-calls gained less attention (although there were exceptions such as Aronson, . E-mail and interpersonal, dyadic instant messages, sms/mms and phone-calls remain forms of media that support private communication between people (i.e. content is not generally accessible).

Barriers to communication in a computer age

AI & Society, 1992

J a c o b L. M e y I a n d H i r o s h i T a m u r a 2 Abstract. When people speak about "communication barriers", what they usually think about are such things as the limitations set by human nature itself, or the constraints that are inherent in the tools we use for communicating. As an example of the first, consider the limited range of the naked human voice; for the second, we may think of the limitations imposed by such primitive communicative devices as the bonfire, the heliograph, or an oldfashioned megaphone.

Archaic Elements of Computer-mediated Communication

Virtual seminars as a form of tele-learning are becoming a well-established instructional form within universities and educational offers for adults. The critical gist of many virtual seminar projects are two problem sets, typical for tele-learning applications: low media-competence and low participation rates. During a virtual seminar, based at the University of Goettingen and at the Rensselaer Politechnic Institute, Troy, New York, these phenomena were investigated. Communication media for the seminar were synchronous (chat) as well as asynchronous CMC tools. A clear positive result of media competence training was an overall good achievement and a higher participation rate both in off-topic, casual and in on-topic communication. The focus of the article is on the qualitative analysis of a chat-protocol, revealing a number of critical phenomena which should be considered in the planning and implementation of virtual seminars.

Computer Mediated Communication: Disseminating Information

Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 13(11 version 1.0), 58-64.

Social science and humanities view computer-mediated communication (CMC) as a hub for information dissemination. The development and diffusion of CMC can be divided into three phases: pre-Internet CMC (beginning in the 1980), Internet-focused CMC (roughly 1994 to date) and social-software-supported CMC (beginning around 2002). Email, online collaborative learning, and blogs (representing, respectively, pre-Internet, Internet-focused, and social-software-supported CMC) are three modes frequently studied in assessing asynchronous CMC. The current stage of CMC (social-software supported CMC) provides opportunities for research to investigate artifacts in newer domains such as YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr.