Unit 1: Defining CMC: An Introduction to the Field
Computer Mediated Communication has been around since around the time of World War II, however, it has only began to be a big part of how we live for about twenty years. Before the 1990's, computers were strictly used for practical reasons, like designing hardware, information processing, etc. unlike today where computers are used a lot for entertainment. Computer Mediated Communication, the correct definition according to Susan Herring (1996:1), is "communication that takes place between human beings via the instrumentality of computers." A few examples of what Computer Mediated Communication entails comes from the Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication and is electronic commerce, law on the electronic frontier, studying the net, virtual organizations, online journalism, CMC and higher education, electronic commerce and the web, health and new media, and many more.
The core concepts of CMC, rather than the key principles and issues, is communication, mediated, and computer. The core concept communication is a difficult concept to exactly define besides saying that communication takes place with humans and with social interactions. Communication is dynamic; communication has a sender, a message, and a receiver, but it is dynamic because what is being communicated could change after being sent out from the sender because communication is interpreted different ways. Also, communication is transactional, which means that communication changes in conversation between two or more people. Communication is multi functional as well, meaning that communication has many different functions and can affect people differently, positively and even negatively as well. Lastly, communication is multi modal and the modes are nonverbal and verbal. Both are communication, but communication does not always take place when speaking with someone; it can come with facial expressions, messages, etc. Communication has many different traits and can be practiced in many different ways.
The core concept mediated, or mediation is the process of how something is transmitted. Communication is mediated through interactions and through conversation. Mediated is simply just how communication can be used and how it can carry on through different things, people, computers, etc.
Finally, the last core concept is computer. Computers are a big part of our lives today and technology is virtually in everything that we have in our lives. Technology is behind how we can see our tv guides, how we can see who is calling us, etc. But in CMC, the part of computers that we will be dealing with is the "informatics" part of computers, which includes receiving data, transferring data, and storage.
CMC has become more popular in the academic interest more than anything, which includes much research. CMC is very diverse and can involve many different things; it can include managing a business, storing data, browsing the internet for personal items, etc. Humans today are very dependent on CMC and technology, and we see how these have such an impact on our lives and how we may not know how much technology we deal with on a daily basis.
Unit 2: Situating CMC: Technologies for Communications
The definition of technology, according to the International Technology Education Association in the United States (ITEA, 2000:2), is "how people modify the natural world to suit their own purposes. From the Greek word techne, meaning 'art' or 'artifice' or 'craft', technology literally means the act of making or crafting, but more generally it refers to the diverse collection of processes and knowledge that people use to extend human abilities and to satisfy human needs and wants."
When people think of technology, they think of computers, iPods, TVs, video games, etc. but technology is almost everywhere we look. Technology is behind the paper we write on, being able to print, a doorbell, lights, knives and forks, etc. Communication technologies today have been rapidly developing, at great speeds, and involves greater amounts of people and includes greater amount of information. Newer technology includes: cable, radio, satellites, video games, home video, distance learning, broadband networks, etc. Communication technology is marked as 'new' if it is digital and computer based.
The Internet: Convergences in Cyberspace
The internet is a network that can be accessed globally and it connects millions of computers. The internet started by securing information exchange in the event of nuclear war, then became popular academically with researchers exchanging their research via the internet, and then started to become popular through personal communication with email.
The web is a system of computer servers connected through the internet, and which supports the exchange of files formatted mostly in a simple programming language known as HTML (HyperText Markup Language). The HTML files can be accessed through browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc. and can be edited to translate it from 'plain text' to formatted webpages. The web is the most dominant factor of the internet; the web is part of the internet, they are not two separate things.
Cyberspace is a part of the internet that is actually what the internet consists of; the web and internet is the hardware basis of it all. Cyberspace is about the people who use the internet and how they use it. A commonly heard term "cyberspace world" is what our world can be referred to sometimes and it just means that the world we live in is a cyber world, which means that the world is a internet based society.
The internet consists of many sub-systems because the internet is not a single communication technology, but instead made up of many different communication technologies. Internet and communication is used differently by every person because different pages (email, chat, home pages) have different communication goals.
CMC is changing rapidly and becoming more and more advanced daily. Newer technology has many different modes, so technology branches out from the original invention, then moves on from there with the many different modes.
